Royal Welsh Show 2016: More than 60,000 flock to event

More than 60,000 people attended the event at the Royal Welsh Showground in Llanelwedd, Builth Wells, yesterday.

It was day two of four for the largest agricultural show in Europe and the main ring was packed full of activities for crowds came from across the globe.

But while many people at the show were having fun, the serious side of farming was also being debated.

A number of farmers raised the issue of poor mobile phone signal in rural areas.

They stressed that due to the nature of their business, they rely heavily on their mobile phones especially if they get into trouble.

However, because of the rurality of their locations, farmers are often left struggling for reception.

These mobile "not spots" were discussed by the communications regulator Ofcom in partnership with the Farmers' Union of Wales (FUW) at a panel discussion at the show with representatives from the four mobile network operators – EE, O2, Vodafone and Three.

Rhodri Williams, Ofcom's director in Wales, said: "Improving mobile coverage in Wales is more challenging but no less important. Wherever Ofcom can meet those challenges we will. There are of course steps that can be taken by organisations in Wales to help facilitate the extension of mobile networks. One example is ensuring that planning regimes make it as easy as possible for the operators to build masts."

FUW deputy president Brian Thomas said: "This is the sixth consecutive year at the show that the FUW has collaborated with Ofcom in providing a platform for discussion on the wide ranging communications issues facing rural Wales. A lot of work has been done over the past five years to improve services for mobile phone coverage and broadband access but with ever increasing demands on the farming community to carry out their business duties online more needs to be done to accelerate the process by which these 21st century services are reliably available."

Meanwhile, on Monday the Royal Welsh Agricultural Society presented a series of honorary awards to people who have given exceptional service to the society.

The awards included one honorary life membership, five honorary life governorships and two honorary life vice-presidency. They included Dame Shan Legge Bourke, the Lord Lieutenant of Powys.