Her year in office was a successful one with an excellent Show in August and a number of other events held on the Showground. Unfortunately her father Richard passed away suddenly in early December last year and he will be missed by all of us involved with the Show being a stalwart of the Council and a past President and our sympathies go to all his family.
The accountancy skills that Nicola brings is helpful to maximise any support that exists to help the Society deal with the loss of income it is experiencing.
Mervyn Strand also passed away last Autumn after the 2019 Show, he was a great character known throughout the County, a former President and he and his wife Megan who died some years before him where very dedicated supporters of the Show. I counted them as family friends and Mervynwould preach quite regularly in Martletwy Baptist Chapel at the request of Joyce my wife.
During our brief ceremony Mansel Raymond took on the role of President elect and we look forward to working with him and Rosalind, two people I count as friends and colleagues whom we've worked closely with for a number of years. Angharad Edwards will be our Ambassador at the next Show, she is member of Llysyfran YFC and was last year's YFC Rally Queen, works for the S4C programme Ffermio and helps out on her partner Roger's farm at Moat Grange.
I write this during the most unprecedented time I have ever known, hopefully most of us will survive and not experience anything like it again. The Show of course has experienced many unfortunate times during it's 200 plus years existence, two World Wars, Spanish Flu in 2018, the 1930sDepression a number of Foot and Mouth epidemics but this Pandemic will be recorded as one that has had a massive impact on Pembrokeshire and it's Show both socially and economically.
But the 'Show must go on' and will, but when will depend on all the guidelines issued by our Governments in the next twelve months or so. There are many if's and buts and one of the key ones is the test and trace scheme's success in allowing life to get back to some sort of normality. BrianHarries in his regular 'Blogs' has kept us updated on some of the key decisions he and his fellow Board members have had to make in these difficult times. There is no doubt that the Show we have all come to love will see some drastic changes for the next few years, Charles Darwin wrote in hisOrigin of the Species 'the species that survives is the one that is best able to adapt to the environment it finds itself in'.Joyce and I are disappointed that there will be no Show this year we had planned some events including a Sunday lunch in April, a schools event in June where 2000 pupils and their teachers had agreed to descend on the Showground to learn about food and farming. The planning for the eventwas well ahead and hopefully it can happen next year to help the group of primary school children understand where food comes from and to offset the vegan and climate change misrepresentations that we see on TV and in the Press.
We set up a working group and worked closely with the Showstaff to establish links with schools, coach companies, the local Shows in Pembrokeshire and many others to help make the two days of the event a success.
The Pembrokeshire Show has been important to us as long as we can remember as active Young Farmers in our day we spent hours preparing the stand and I remember meeting Princess Anne back in the 80s. I spent some years announcing and commentating on the parade and in my NFU days, it is a platform to get messages to politicians and others on the plight of farmers and their families.
Our children have been brought up realising that the Show was an essential part of their calendar as important as Christmas and Alice was the Lady Ambassador some years ago. It's the place where you meet old friends and make new ones, where you can see some new and innovative ideas, where you can do some business taking advantage of the 'Show Offer'. Two years ago I was honoured toreceive the Idris Davies Memorial award at the Show and of course it's the place to see the best of Pembrokeshire's produce and livestock all displayed to the highest standard.Finally, to quote Vera Lynn's immortal words 'we'll meet again don't know where don't know when but I know we'll meet again some sunny day'.
I wish you and your families well during these unprecedented times.

Stay safeStephen James
President,Pembrokeshire Agricultural Society
Image taken at the 2019 show Behind The Lens Media