THE sun shone brightly on another bumper Royal Welsh Show.

With more paying public coming through the gates, record livestock entries, and a first-ever visit from a serving prime minister, the show exceeded all expectations.

On the opening day of the show, David Cameron was taken on a guided tour of the showground before being welcomed into the main ring where he had the chance to watch the some of the classes and meet the judges of the Welsh Cobs and Welsh Ponies. From there he visited the cattle and sheep rings, stopping to talk to exhibitors along the way. The next stop was the food hall where Mr Cameron met producers and sampled some of the Welsh produce on offer.

“We are honoured and delighted that Mr Cameron has been able to visit what is considered to be the most iconic and prestigious agricultural show in Europe.” said honorary show director Harry Featherstonhaugh.

“The first day of the show is always a busy one with visiting dignitaries from far and wide and it has been our pleasure to welcome Mr Cameron to the showground.”

To round off his morning visit, Mr Cameron was presented with a hamper of Welsh foods.

Also visiting the show were key political figures including Wales First Minister Carwyn Jones, Elizabeth Truss, Defra Secretary of State, Stephen Crabb, Secretary of State for Wales, and Welsh agriculture and environment ministers Edwina Hart, John Griffiths, and Rebecca Evans.

The visit kick-started four days of high-standard competitions, top class attractions and quality produce and trade stands.

Rounding off the four-day event John T. Davies, chairman of the RWAS board of directors, who farms in Pembrokeshire, said “I am proud to be Welsh, I am proud to be a farmer and I am proud to be associated with the Royal Welsh Agricultural Society and the show.”

“Although figures are not always the best way to measure success, in the society’s 110 year history we have more members than ever before which is a gauge of people’s loyalty and respect and demonstrates their commitment and confidence in the future of the show.

“Being the greatest show on earth also brings us a duty and a responsibility to strategically look at and capture the energy and enthusiasm that makes this show happen each year. We are fortunate to be extremely successful, but we will not be complacent. We will build on our accomplishment and over the next few months we aim to put together a strategic medium-term plan to build on the success of the society and the Royal Welsh Show.”

In spite of the hot weather, which saw temperatures soar to nearly 30 degrees, there were no problems for the animals on the showground and the heavy investment in ventilating the livestock buildings worked well.

For the first time, free WiFi hotspots around the showground, saw more than 8,000 people surfing the web at the show. Once again the Royal Welsh App proved popular with 10,500 downloads of the handy bilingual tool.

Live streaming of the footage from the main ring and shearing centre was also a success.

“By Tuesday evening alone more than 30,000 people had viewed the live feeds from 34 countries across the globe, including The Netherlands, New Zealand, Russia, America, South Africa, Malaysia and Japan,” said chief executive Steve Hughson.