‘Back with a bang’
HAGUE, Trelawny
Minister of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries Audley Shaw has commended stakeholders for the successful execution of the 64th staging of the Hague Agricultural Show on Ash Wednesday, which showed a marked improvement over recent years of decline.
“I am really impressed at the fact that we have come together, all the stakeholders, the JAS, the Ministry of Agriculture, our custos, our mayor, our sponsors — we can’t work without our sponsors — everybody has come together in what is clearly a very outstanding attempt to bring back the Hague Show to the stage where it was some years ago,” Minister Shaw said during his remarks at the opening of the show.
“It had gone into decline, but it is clear now that with this cooperation and the initiative and enterprise, Hague show is back with a big bang.”
Custos of Trelawny, Paul Muschett, also expressed that this year’s staging of the event was reminiscent of its former glory days.
In fact, Muschett noted that he had been forced to withdraw his patronage from the show due to the sharp decline of its standard in recent years.
“It gives me great pleasure for the second year running to support this the 64th staging of the Hague Show as patron, and again as we have been aware for many years the show has not been the type of show that we could all be proud of. In fact, it became a fair. The lack of funding for many years, and the lack of accountability along with it, led to a serious decline in sponsorship and participation by the farmers. In protest, I gave up my patronage of the show,” Custos Muschett explained.
Mayor of Falmouth, Councillor Colin Gager and president of the Jamaica Agricultural Society, Lenworth Fulton, also commended the show organisers.
“Thank you all for coming to the show, it is the beginning of the Hague Show coming back to what Hague Show was and today’s (Ash Wednesday) show is a return of the old age, of the vintage of what agriculture ought to be. A Hague Show should not be taken lightly. I have to say special congratulations to president of the Trelawny ABS (Associated Branch Societies of the JAS) and the executive of the Trelawny ABS and by extension all the branches and farmers of Trelawny to put this show together,” Fulton said.
