Tullamore Cocktail goes down a treat

WHAT do you get when you mix an infectious rural spirit with a heritage of producing quality food and animals, nourish it with good whiskey and add an invigorating range of country lifestyles?

You get a Tullamore Cocktail, which was tasted by up to 40,000 people yesterday on a splendid 200-acre site in Charleville Estate, one mile outside the Co Offaly town. Despite heavy showers, this marvellous feast of rural pursuits proved to be yet another huge success. The statistics behind Tullamore Agricultural Show, incorporating the Powers Gold Label National Livestock Show, gave a flavour of what was involved. It cost over €350,000 to organise and had a total prize fund of €120,000 for 850 classes.

Overall entries of 7,500 including 1,300 cattle and 1,100 horses were up 6.8%. There were 300 trade stands. And there was a tented village covering four acres. A total of 650 stewards, helpers and executives were involved in running the country’s premier show, organised by an executive committee of thirty-five people.