How cheese-loving visitors to Great Yorkshire Show helped raise £70,000 for charity

Cheese-loving visitors to the Great Yorkshire Show have now helped raise £70,000 for good causes through the event's annual auction.

The milestone was reached after this year's auction raised £8,315, with proceeds set to benefit Field Nurse and Harrogate-based St Michael's Hospice.

The auction takes place after judging in the Cheese and Dairy Show has finished, giving visitors the chance to bid for prize-winning cheeses donated by producers.

Cheeses sold for up to £400 this year, with Ted Ogden and Sam Bradley overseeing the auction in the Great Yorkshire Food Hall.

(L-R) Kathryn Philips and Richard Schofield of Field Nurse, GYS Chief Cheese & Dairy Steward Caroline Bell and Lucy Wiltshire of Saint Michael’s Hospice

Caroline Bell, Chief Steward of the Great Yorkshire Show's Cheese and Dairy Section, said: “For the Cheese Auction at the Great Yorkshire Show to have raised £70,000 over the last 14 years is quite simply phenomenal!”

Field Nurse, which is celebrating its tenth year, provides physical and mental health and wellbeing advice to farmers and people living in rural communities. St Michael's Hospice provides care and support to people affected by terminal illness across the Harrogate district.