New milestone for Great Yorkshire Show cheese auction
Posted by The Editor
Cheese loving visitors to the Great Yorkshire Show have now helped raise an incredible £70,000 for good causes over the years, with Field Nurse and Saint Michael’s Hospice set to benefit from the latest support for the Show’s ever-popular Cheese Auction.
The milestone comes after prize-winning cheese went under the hammer in the Great Yorkshire Food Hall on the third day of this year’s Show, raising a grand total of £8,315.
The Cheese Auction sees visitors bid for their favourite cheeses after judging has finished, in what is a standout spectacle of Thursday at the Show. Delicious lots sold for up to £400 this year, under the expert and fast-paced auctioneering of Ted Ogden and Sam Bradley. Each year proceeds from the auction are donated to nominated charities.
It was one of the highlights of the program inside the Great Yorkshire Food Hall, where the Cheese and Dairy Show featured more than 500 entries across 160-plus competitive classes, as well as cheesemaking demonstrations, tastings and chat shows with cheese producers.
Chief steward of the Great Yorkshire Show’s Cheese and Dairy Section, Caroline Bell from Shepherds Purse Cheeses said: “For the Cheese Auction at the Great Yorkshire Show to have raised £70,000 over the last 14 years is quite simply phenomenal! A huge thank you to show visitors for their generosity and to all the brilliantly talented independent cheesemakers across the UK whose cheese was kindly donated for the auction.”
Rachel Coates, show director and dairy farmer, added: “The success of the Show’s Cheese Auction adds another great chapter to the story of British dairy farming that the Show explains to the public: from the dairy cattle in the show rings, to the Lely robotic milking parlour, right the way through to the best quality cheeses and dairy products competing for rosettes in the Cheese and Dairy Show. For good causes to then benefit from the Cheese Auction, it’s such a feelgood story that captures the sense of community that the Show is all about.”
Kathryn Philips, trustee of Field Nurse said: “We are so very pleased and surprised to receive such an amazing amount raised by this year’s Cheese Auction. This will go directly to fund Field Nurse drop-in sessions in livestock auctions, enabling us to continue to support our farmers during such challenging times.”
Field Nurse, now celebrating its tenth year, is a charity employing registered Nurses to provide both physical and mental health and well-being advice to farmers and those living in rural communities. The team bring their health check trailer to the Great Yorkshire Show each year, and during the 2026 show, nurses carried out more than 300 free health checks.
Field Nurse can usually be found operating out of seven livestock auctions in Yorkshire, Lancashire and Cumbria. It provides up to eight weekly drop-in clinics and attends other farming events such as Young Farmers Clubs and farmer discussion groups, as well as agricultural shows and events. The charity has expanded its reach over the last decade with the help of funding from the Yorkshire Agricultural Society, Royal Countryside Fund and the DEFRA Farmer Welfare Fund, however much of its funding comes from donations from the farming community.
Linsey Trower, head of fundraising & marketing, Saint Michael’s Hospice said: “The Great Yorkshire Show’s annual Cheese Auction is a wonderful example of how our local community comes together to make a real difference. Every pound raised helps ensure we can continue providing expert care, compassion and support to local people living with terminal illness, as well as their families and those facing bereavement. We are incredibly grateful to everyone who takes part, bids so generously and supports this much-loved tradition. On behalf of everyone at the hospice, thank you for helping us be there when we’re needed most."
Saint Michael’s is the local hospice care charity supporting people affected by terminal illness across the Harrogate district. It is part of independent charity North Yorkshire Hospice Care, a family of services which also includes Herriot Hospice and Just ‘B’. Together, they offer vital hospice care, emotional wellbeing and bereavement support to local communities across North Yorkshire, as well as specialist services regionally and nationally. As an independent charity, most of Saint Michael’s care is funded by the generous support of its local communities.
Other recipients of the Cheese Auction at the Great Yorkshire Show over the years have included Addington Fund, Herriot Hospice Homecare, the Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institution (RABI), Samaritans and Yorkshire Air Ambulance.
The Cheese Auction will return to the Cheese and Dairy Show at the 168th Great Yorkshire Show, which will take place on Tuesday 13 July to Friday 16 July 2027. Tickets will go on sale in November.
