A love of the countryside and a passion for all things equestrian are the characteristics of the new President of the Yorkshire Agricultural Society.

Chris Hall

During a formal ceremony on the last day of the 2007 Great Yorkshire Show, Christopher Hall took the Staff of Office from retiring President Michael Abrahams.

During his 12 months in office, Mr Hall is keen to further enhance the close links between the Society and agriculture. The Society organises the Great Yorkshire Show and its sister event, Countryside Live, which are platforms for the farming industry and provide an insight for the general public into agriculture and food provenance. The role is very familiar to Mr Hall as he was the Honorary Show Director from 1997 - 2006.

He said: "Paramount to me is the Society's contribution to agriculture and the rural industry. I see us as standard bearers for farmers in the north of England, promoting the fantastic job they do in providing our food and caring for the countryside.

"Farming has been completely revolutionised during my lifetime, but what makes farmers tick is still very much the same as it was 50 years ago. The whole question of sustainability and conservation is becoming more and more important and we need to take climate change seriously. Anything that the Society can do to promote conservation combined with developing the core farm business will gain my full support," he commented.

Mr Hall was born into a family with, on one side, centuries-old connections in York, and, on the other, of yeoman farmers in Kirkbymoorside. The family tannery business, Henry Hall & Son, was established in York in the 1780s and was an important factor both in the local economy and in the family's business life until changes in the sector nationally resulted in its closure in the early 1950s.

Mr Hall spent his working life supplying equipment to the printing industry, and saw the transformation of the business, as it moved from an entirely mechanical process to computerised systems. In the 1980s he established his own company, Typetronics, based in Wetherby and then Leeds, which was successfully brought to market in 1997.

In 1996 he followed the family tradition by becoming a Governor of the Company of Merchant Adventurers of the City of York, a post held by both his father and grandfather.

Now retired from business, Mr Hall has had a long association with the Great Yorkshire, working originally as a horse steward before being appointed Honorary Show Director in 1997.

His seven years as show director were extremely varied, and ranged from hosting royal visits by both HRH the Prince of Wales and HRH the Duke of York, to dealing with the cancellation of the Great Yorkshire Show in 2001 due to Foot and Mouth Disease.

A keen horseman, Mr Hall became one of three Joint Masters of the West of Yore Hunt in May last year, and he and his wife Jackie keep horses and ponies at their farm near Ripon. They are both involved with fundraising for the Ripon Cathedral Development Campaign.

The Yorkshire Agricultural Society was formed in 1837 and is a charity dedicated to supporting the farming industry and rural life. The value of the support it provides to regional farming and countryside initiatives has risen year on year to nearly £1m.

The Society is the organiser of the annual farming and country show case, the Great Yorkshire Show and its sister event, Countryside Live. This year Countryside Live takes place on Saturday 27 and Sunday 28 October and the 2008 Great Yorkshire Show runs from Tuesday 8 - Thursday 10 July. This will be the 150th show. Both take place at the Great Yorkshire Showground, Harrogate, North Yorkshire and are flagship events for agriculture and rural life.

Yorkshire Event Centre Limited (YEC) is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Society and all YEC's profits go to fund its charitable work.

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