RECORD crowds flocked to one of the region’s largest agricultural shows this weekend.

Stokesley Show is one of the last shows of the season and one of the region’s biggest – but even by its usual standards, the event managed to attract record numbers at the gates.

With cars filling all the car parks and every space on green verges leading to the showground, Saturday’s last blast of summer was enjoyed to the full. Organisers estimate in the region of 25,000 visitors passed through the gates.

Show secretary Janette Hugill said: “We have had a wonderful day. Everybody seems to have been in their summer outfits and we’ve just had such a really nice time; the weather has been amazing.

“I think we’re up to record numbers - up to about 25,000. We don’t know officially until we have done the gate figures, but we think it’s the best it’s ever been.”

In one craft and produce tent, the photography classes attracted enough entries to fill a 140ft of boards, displayed alongside several hundred jams, wines, chutneys, cakes and crafts.

Craft tent secretary Jean Hugill reported higher numbers of entries in many sections, buoyed by the current resurgence in interest in crafts and handmade produce.

“Some of the classes have been very hard to judge,” she said. “There’s a lot of publicity for crafts at the moment and this is just showing itself in the number of entries we’ve had.”

Other attractions on the day included show-jumping, chainsaw sculptures, motorcycle stunts from Jason Smyth Adrenalin Tour Show and the Preston Gavioli Steam Driven Organ, which provided accompaniment for a group of can-can dancers.

This year also featured laser clay shooting, run by Miss Gun Events. Run by Sheryl Hutchinson-Gilbert, she encourages people of all ages, male and female, to try the sport in a safe environment. She set up her business two years ago when she bought her shooting simulator to use in marksman training. Her staff are mainly female and she encourages female participants in what is considered by some to be a mainly male sport.

“I travel all around the country,” she said. “And I encourage families to try the sport together. It’s safe for children too.”

Rishi Sunak, the MP for Richmond, visited the show with his family.

After touring the showfield, he visited the NFU stand and met the Dairy Girls, a group of dairy farmers’ wives campaigning to highlight the current milk price crisis.

The group represents a number of farms in the North York Moors National Park who are receiving some of the lowest prices for liquid milk paid to farmers in the North of England.

Mr Sunak, who recently published a ten-point plan of practical measures to help the industry, said: “These farmers are facing some of the worst trading conditions in living memory. We have to work with them to find solutions and secure their future.”