Introducing this year's Royal County of Berkshire Show president and chairman

Kirsten Lloyd and Judith Marcham are nominated for the roles

THE Newbury and District Agricultural Society has announced the names of this year’s Royal County of Berkshire Show president and chairwoman.

Show president will be Kirsten Lloyd, who grew up in Woolley, near Wantage.

Her A-level education in London was followed by an extended trip to Australia where she worked on a sheep and cattle station for a year.

The country life made her realise she didn’t want to go back to the urban life she led in London and so, upon her return to the UK, she attended Cirencester Agricultural College for a year and, during her time there, bought some mule ewes, which she kept on the family farm at South Fawley.

Ms Lloyd is very involved with the farm and said: “It’s a great honour to have been asked to become this year’s president and it is hard to pick out any single thing I am looking forward to.”

Show chairwoman Judith Marcham grew up in Kent and worked on a number of farms in Kent, Surrey and Sussex as a freelance farm secretary before moving to Berkshire in 1988.

She and her family have always been connected to farming and agricultural shows – her grandfather was a founding member of the Edenbridge and Oxted Show.

Ms Marcham first became involved with the Royal County of Berkshire Show in 1993 and spent most of her time in the cattle area, becoming its chairwoman in 2004.

In that time, she saw cattle entries grow to record numbers and introduced more breeds before stepping down in 2015 to concentrate on her vice-chairwoman role.

She said: “It’s a great honour to be chairman of the show this year and I am looking forward to my year with huge excitement.

“We have some wonderful outings to look forward to throughout the summer, as well as the very exciting programme for the show.

“I know Kirsten and I will have great fun working together and meeting as many people as we can.”