Carla Madley with a Long Horn Cow.

Sunshine brought the crowds in their thousands to Builth Wells today for the first day of Wales’ premier agricultural show.

And organisers of the 2009 Royal Welsh Show promised the four-day event would provide something for everyone. Gates opened at 8am however, some show-goers faced delays in and around Builth Wells as traffic queued.

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Hayden Jones, RWS publicity officer, said the society hoped to attract bumper crowds this year.

He said: “Today’s events have sunshine and we’re hoping for a good turnout today. The weather forecast is predicted to be a bit unsettled throughout the week which means we could have a few showers but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

“If it remained sunny throughout the week then the farmers would be less likely to attend  because they would be busy with harvesting. But then again, if it is unsettled then urban visitors are unlikely to turn up.”

He said a new bus service had been introduced for this year’s show aimed at reducing some of the traffic congestion.

Mr Jones added: “We have introduced the new bus service which includes extra buses taking people to and from the car parks. We hope that by doing this it will help reduce the traffic problems which we have had.

“This morning we did have a lot of people queuing but we don’t know yet whether the attendance figures for the first day will be higher than previous years because this could also mean visitors were all arriving at the same time.”

Young farmers visit the show in their thousands each year and in a bid to prevent any security problems in the Young People’s Village, Dyfed-Powys Police has stepped up patrols.

Detective Inspector Owain Richards said: “The officers, in plain clothes, will be patrolling the Young People’s Village in the evenings. Their patrols will be in addition to the regular uniformed patrols.”

By Anwen Evans