A YEAR of remarkable success for the Westmorland Agricultural Society was topped off with the appointment of a royal president at 2018's annual meeting.

The Countess of Wessex attended Lane Farm, at Crooklands, to formally begin her tenure, where she also heard about the work done by the highly-regarded society over the course of last year.

"It is a huge privilege for me to be with you today," said the countess, who has a background in supporting agricultural industry and shows. "Growing up in rural southern England I know that shows are where many memories are born. I remember going annually when I was a child and having free rein to run around.

"Beyond that, shows have a really important role to play in reminding people of how vital their food sources are and how much hard work goes into producing every day to the level of expectation that people have come to have when they see the food on their plate.

"This society provides people not only with the experience of going to shows; it has an understanding that young people can gain from coming on school trips to open farm days and takes agriculture out to towns and places that need it most.

"So I am honoured. I have some very big shoes to fill."

The countess had lunch with the members of the society after the meeting was concluded.

During the general meeting, outgoing president John Geldard, who farms at Low Foulshaw, Levens, and runs Plumgarths farm shop, Kendal, was made a lifetime member.

Chief executive Christine Knipe gave a presentation on how the society and its many events had fared over the course of the last year.

She said: "This was the fifth year that we have had more than 30,000 visitors to the Westmorland County Show. A few years ago that would have been completely unheard of.

"The build was exceptionally challenging because of bad weather, but the sun shone on the day and we had record entries.

"The show returned a surplus, which would be the envy of quite a few agricultural shows around the country.

"We had record crowds at Country Fest. With a turnout of more than 15,000 the festival has established itself on the events calendar.

"Promoting agriculture and education remains at the forefront for us, and June saw Heaves Farm at Levens become a hive of activity. More than 16,000 children and teachers from local primary schools attended our open farm days.

"We have been doing these for 25 years, and seeing the smiles on everybody's faces makes it so worth it.

"We also did our Farm to Fork roadshow, showing people all over the country where their food comes from. It is hard to put into words how rewarding this was."

The meeting also saw Sam Raynor, of Lakeland Ltd, made president-elect. He will take over once the countess' tenure is over.

Susan Bagot, MBE, was made deputy president, filling in for the countess on duties where she cannot attend.