They say the show goes on . . . but will it? The Shropshire and West Midlands Agricultural Society may have been saved from the axe, but staging a new two-day event in just six months’ time with no staff, no cash and no, as yet, agreement from the 80-odd creditors left out of pocket, will be an unprecedented feat.
At a meeting last week which decided not to wind up the society but to plough ahead with a new show despite debts of around £260,000, a life member of the society, Richard Matson, posed the cut-to-the-chase question.
“How much is the show really wanted?” And it appears the truth is, nobody really knows.
Although there is no doubt that a hardworking core of members want to see the show survive, and there are many people with an emotional attachment to the West Mid Show, it remains a fact that only 50 of the 2,000-strong membership turned up to a crisis meeting which could have marked the end of the society.
And even when 28 voted to save it, not one hand was raised when acting show chairman Neale Sadler asked for volunteers for a new board of trustees and a new chairman. And 15 members, mostly well-known Shropshire farmers including former show chairman Tudor Bebb, actually voted to wind the society up.
Trustee Roy Dodd said for the new Shropshire Show to go ahead, it would need an army of volunteers.
But more than that, the show needs cash and it needs it now.
The society’s accounts are currently frozen. It can pay none of its creditors and accept no deposits from traders, exhibitors or the hundreds of members due to pay their annual membership subscription on January 23.
Moves are currently under way to create a new account to take those vital monies. Meanwhile water, gas and electricity bills at the Berwick Road site remain overdue, the landlord has not been paid and staff including show commercial director Gary Tudor, are still owed wages from last year.
Mr Matson, who is not on the 40-strong society council (which includes one member who lives in Barcelona and never attends meetings), spoke what many ordinary members of the society and supporters of the show were probably thinking.
He asked the trustees: “How many people from a business point of view would support a new show? Do the farming community really want or need it when it’s served by four other great one-day shows? Or are you just doing this because we want to see the show back . . . because that’s a bad reason.”
And from a business perspective, he is completely correct. Looking at the books, from a purely financial viewpoint, it makes sense to wind up the society, start a new company and launch a new debt-free show.
But that would mean nothing for individual creditors, owed anything from £11 to £20,000, many of whom are also society members and also have family connections to the trustees and members of the society’s current council.
Trustee Roy Dodd, the architect of the business plan to rescue the society and show, told members: “It’s not all about mathematics. It’s about people, and we have a collective responsibility to those creditors.”
Another member asked the trustees: “What are you going to do for working capital? As it stands at the moment, we’re bust. So where is the working capital going to come from?”
As of today, that question still remains unanswered although Mr Dodd says he is working on it. His business plan shows a projected profit for a new show of £36,788 from a loss last year of £58,959.
He told members Shropshire Council had offered its support and he would be approaching major food and agricultural companies, including Muller of Market Drayton, to ask for backing.
But Mr Dodd must be aware that both Shropshire Council and Muller have previously refused financial support.
Mr Tudor, whose job remains in limbo as he was told he was going to be made redundant as part of liquidation proceedings which have not come to fruition, held talks with both the council and the yogurt giant last year.
Risk
An email from Nick Taylor, assistant director strategy and development at Shropshire Council, seen by the Shropshire Star clearly states: “The council is unable to provide a grant or loan to cover working capital”, saying it is unable to provide or risk substantial funding to support the show.
So if the authority’s position remains the same, and neither the society nor Shropshire Council can currently expand on the support being offered, then could it be the council wants the lease for the showground from the landlord Berwick Estates in return for supporting the society?
That would mean a huge loss of income for the society, which relies on income from other organisations and events held at the showground, to support the annual two-day show. It would certainly take away any real means for the society to repay its creditors under a Company Voluntary Agreement currently in the pipeline.
Mr Dodd also wants to create partnerships with organisations including
Advantage West Midlands and the Heart of England Fine Foods, but unless they come up with some cash, and quickly, all the planning for the new Shropshire Show could be for nothing.
Of course the most obvious place to find money is with the members. All 2,000 of them. And many will find a direct debit for £22 coming out of their bank accounts on January 23 to pay for their annual membership.
However, nearly 1,200 are life members, some of whom are in their 50s and were bought a life membership for their 21st birthday. That’s decades of attending the show free of charge.
Is it now time for the members to step up? If all 2,000, who were sent a letter last year asking for a £100 donation to help the society, had agreed, then the society would have been able to repay its creditors and start 2010 with a clean slate.
Only a handful wrote out cheques, never banked by the society.
There has been overwhelming vocal support for the society’s survival, the farming community has thrown its backing behind the rescue plan, local authorities are making all the right noises about giving assistance and members voted to stick it out the hard way.
All of which is fantastic news for the trustees but no use whatsoever unless they all put their hands in their pockets and come up with the cash.
Ironically, it could be that the society has unwittingly sealed its own fate. By appointing insolvency practitioners Rimes & Co in November last year before switching to Barringtons, it owes Rimes & Co money for the work originally done by its staff.
It is understood that Rimes & Co, as anyone owed cash by the society has a right to do, is applying for a winding-up order in the High Court.
If that ends up before a judge before a legal agreement with creditors is made, then all the planning will be for nothing and 120 years of agricultural show legacy in Shropshire will end.
By Business Editor Amy Bould
Share this article:
What are these?