Day 1 at the Balmoral Show with visitor interviews

Transcript

00:00Minister, what are your impressions so far?

00:30Really, really positive. There's so much to celebrate here and to showcase about Northern

00:34Ireland and our agri-food sector. It's important to me but it's important to the rest of the people

00:37of Northern Ireland. I know there's challenges and the difference here between this year and

00:42last year is you have ministers in post and I'm focused upon solutions. That's what we need over

00:46the time ahead and also listening. That's what this show is about, about me listening and also

00:51delivering solutions for the people of Northern Ireland. And it's already big crowds, it's still

00:55morning. So hopefully the weather stays good and it's really good to see people coming here. There's

01:00been so much work put into this. I want to thank the organisers for what they've put together

01:04and what people are going to be able to enjoy over the days ahead.

01:25you

01:55Hello, this is Rhonda Geary, Group Operations Director, Balmoral Show. We're in the opening

02:04morning of the Balmoral Show for 2024. Rhonda, how's it going so far? It's going great, thanks.

02:09We've just opened the gates and you can see the crowds are starting to throng in and we've a full

02:13packed programme for the day and I'm hoping the weather's going to be on our side as well.

02:17And what are the highlights for today that you think are the don't-miss

02:21events, Rhonda? On the opening day, we've all the beef cattle being judged, we've got all the sheep

02:26classes, pigs, goats and in the main arena we have our show jumping going on just behind us here.

02:32We have our national jumping and lots of various attractions that are on throughout the four days

02:37of the show. We have over 500 trade stands and we have the children's farm, the off-road driving.

02:45There's just something for everybody here at the show. And the off-road driving is a bit of a

02:48novelty for this year, just tell me about that. It is indeed, it's a children's attraction. It's

02:53the mini-land rovers and the kids get to go around in a bit of an obstacle course on the

02:59mini-land rovers. You're not stewarding that are you? No, unfortunately I can't take part either.

03:04Very good. So how many visitors do you reckon on the first day, Rhonda, you're likely to see?

03:09It's hard to say but we'd hope to have up to 30,000 on our first day.

03:14Very good, well it certainly looks as though it's heading that way so far.

03:16Thank you very much.

04:16... as well for jumping and just in some of the time

04:46...

04:56Doing a good job there.

05:17...

05:29I have

05:46...