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Meryl Cassie was MC for the 2021 show.
Warkworth A&P Show chair Allan Barber says the show urgently needs younger people with fresh energy, ideas and enthusiasm if the event is to have a future in the life of the local community.
Mr Barber will step down as chair at the annual meeting later this month. Also stepping down is secretary Penny Webster and treasurer Vanessa Barber.
Those likely to be nominated for senior positions on the committee at the meeting include Carl King as chair and Karen Black as secretary/treasurer.
Mr King is a manager at EnviroNZ and goat farmer and Karen Black is a former secretary/treasurer of the Kumeu Show.
Mr Barber says both came onto the committee last year with a view to learning the ropes.
“I was keen to see a seamless succession so the society was not left in the lurch,” Mr Barber says.
Meanwhile, Mr Barber plans to stand for A&P Show president. If successful, he will replace Warren Churches, who also steps down this year.
But while Mr Barber hopes to continue serving in the background, he says it’s “high time for a change of energy and a change of age bracket”.
He hopes younger people will come forward to serve on the committee and volunteer.
“Sometimes the A&P Show is viewed as a closed shop, but we’re keen to see new people,” he says.
Mr Barber says upcoming challenges for the new committee will be to negotiate a lease with Auckland Council for the use of the Showgrounds and bring back the animal events.
Currently, the A&P Show owns buildings at the Showgrounds but has no rights over the use of the land, except during show days. By securing land rights it could sublet use of the land to community groups, which would help raise money to sustain the show.
Mr Barber also noted that horses and cattle had been absent from recent shows due to a timing clash with the Horse of the Year Show and M. bovis disease. He says these problems are not insurmountable, but it would require sponsorship and younger people to step forward to take responsibility for them to see these animals return.
The Warkworth A&P Show annual meeting will be held at the A&P office at Warkworth Showgrounds on June 28 at 7pm.
