Two former chairmen of the West Mid Show, which has gone bust with debts of £160,000, are calling for the event to be replaced with a one-day county show devoted to agriculture.
Farmers Tudor Bebb and Henry Yates claim there is the desire and expertise in the rural community to stage what could be called the Shropshire Show or the Shrewsbury Show.
And Roger Angell-James, owner of the Berwick Road showground, has indicated he might be interested in backing the plan.
It follows last Friday’s shock announcement that the Shropshire and West Midlands Agricultural Society, the registered charity behind the 120-year-old West Mid Show, was going into voluntary liquidation.
It is believed the 2009 show made a £90,000 loss and debts had risen to more than ££160,000.
Mr Yates, who was president in 1999 and show chairman from 1991 to 1997, said it was time for a fresh start.
“The West Mid Show should be allowed to die and the old brigade who ran it should be cleared out,” he said. “We need a new, young, vibrant lot of people to pick up the mantle.” Mr Yates said traditional one-day agricultural shows like Minsterley and Burwarton proved such events could be a success.
“The expertise is there for us to have a one-day county show organised by a few paid staff and a lot of volunteers.”
Mr Bebb, who was West Mid Show chairman from 2001 to 2004, said: “I think we have got to go back to the grassroots, a 1950s-type show based around agriculture and livestock.”
He said creating a new show out of the ashes of the West Mid largely depended on negotiations with Mr Angell-James, whose Berwick Estate leased the showground to the agricultural society.
Mr Angell-James said: “It’s too early to commit ourselves until the administrators and insolvency people are finished.
“But I would not be against it. Some of these Shropshire farmers have to be applauded.”
Mr Yates suggested that Shrewsbury Flower Show, which came into being through the help of the Shropshire and West Midlands Agricultural Society in the 19th century, should be invited to bankroll a new county agricultural show.
Colonel Mike Carver, flower show chairman, said his committee had only recently declined to give £50,000 to the struggling West Mid as an “inappropriate use of charitable funds”.
“With the state they are now in, I think that decision was the right one. The West Mid Show has been an important part of the fabric of the county for many years and it would be a pity if it died.
“But I don’t think there is any possibility of us providing guarantees that bills will be paid,” he said.
What do think of the new plans - e-mail pjohnson@shropshirestar.co.uk
Visit the West Mid Show website www.westmidshow.co.uk
By Pete Johnson