History

The first meeting of the Peterborough Agricultural Society- Electing its 1st president the 4th Earl Fitzwilliam. Membership at the time was set at one guinea, which equates to about £1.05, an amount that remained until the 1950’s.

The Society acquired 4 acres of land, their first Showground on Bridge Street in central Peterborough.

Move to New 8 Acre Showground (Boroughby) to allow for the expansion of the show. The first joint show between Northamptonshire Agricultural Society and Peterborough Agricultural Society took place.

Move to new 16 Acre site, just north of the City Center, known as ‘The Rink’ to accommodate the growing show and to get away from the housing development starting to surround the Boroughby site.

With the steadily growing economic and commercial importance of Peterborough as a City, the Showground moved to Millfield.

The Society’s new Showground at Eastfield on the northern edge of the ever-expanding City was opened by the President of the time, Lord Rothschild.

The Society did not hold its annual show due to the Great War, but held a number of smaller one day events.

Robert Bibby became Society Secretary, a position he held for 45 years.

WW2 resulted in no annual show, however, the following show in 1947 was a record breaker for attendance numbers.

The first show under legendary secretary Mr Roy Bird, who held this position for 44 years.

Move to Alwalton Site, citing the ever expanding show and city, as well as the benefit of the good road connections that came to the site.

The first East of England Show took place, a joint venture between the Peterborough Agricultural Society, and the Bedfordshire, Cambirdgeshire, Isle of Ely and Huntingdonshire Societies that took place at Peterborough’s Alwalton site.

1972 saw a further and final merger with the Northamptonshire Agricultural Society. Attendance figures at this years show topped 100,000 for the very first time.

The first Students touched down in England as part of the Marshal Papworth Trust.

The Winter Stock Festival was introduced. A show dedicated to the exhibition of the country’s finest primestock.

The final East of England Show was held on the 6th-8th July 2012. The event was attended by HRH Prince Charles who had to don his wellies due to a particularly wet show!

The first Kids Country Food & Farming Day rose in place of the Summer Show, an event dedicated to promoting agriculture and food production to primary-age children. After the Covid outbreak in 2020, the Kids Country Programme pivoted to be delivered in Schools.

Our first farming conference took place in 2015 aiming to inform and engage local farmers, landowners and individuals in the agricultural sector. Over the years some of the county’s most respected voices in the field of Agriculture addressed the conference.

Cultiv8 was a membership group aimed at under 40’s in agriculture. The programme delivered a mixture of guest speakers, visits and networking opportunities but ultimately tailed off after Covid.

EEAS moved to more modern offices on the showground site. The office has been named ‘FitzRoy House,’ reflecting both our long history with the Fitzwilliam family and former East of England Agricultural Society Secretary Roy Bird.

The programme was introduced to support people working within agriculture to attend life changing courses and events. Helping provide the opportunity to develop careers, skills and networks both personally and professionally, creating future leaders within industry.

The EEAS Board of Trustees agreed a change to the strategic direction for the East of England Agricultural Society. Focusing on the delivery of charitable objectives as a grant awarding foundation.