It is an honour to serve my second year as president of this organisation.

It has been very rewarding to watch and help each sub-committee organise this year’s three-day event. 

One presides over many meetings during the year, and if all the things discussed come to fruition, you think, well this should be a good 2014 show.

The committee has made some exciting changes during the year. 

Entry fees in most sections have been removed, including beef and dairy cattle, goats, sheep and most horse classes.

Hopefully this will see more entries in these sections.

Paul West from River Cottage Australia will be officially opening the show on the Friday evening of the show. 

River Cottage Australia has and will provide a boost to the local economy whether it’s food industry, tourism or real estate sales. 

A tremendous buzz for the local area. 

So thank you Paul for making your services available to the show society and we look forward to your involvement in the show.

As a dairy farmer myself and breeder of Holstein dairy cattle it is only fitting we help celebrate the 100 years of the Holstein Association in Australia. 

The local Holstein members will be having a small parade of the Holstein breed at the official opening of show.

Some new classes have been added to the show. 

In the pavilion we have the men’s chocolate cake class creating a buzz around local kitchens. 

In the dairy section we have added an Illawarra pen of three cows class. 

This will allow the dairy section to have a supreme pen of three cows. 

In the sheep section a maiden ewe class has been added and the prime lambs section has been modified to include an exotic pen of three lamb class.

Simon Marnie will return to the 2014 Bega Show to judge the oysters. 

Simon will be broadcasting live from the Bega studios on the Saturday morning of the show. 

We thank him for the publicity he has made towards the Bega Show. 

Simon will emcee a woodturning competition on Saturday afternoon put on by the local Bega Woodcraft Association.

I congratulate the five young ladies who entered the 2014 showgirl competition in January. 

We proudly support your involvement in the show movement and being great ambassadors for our show society.  

Brodie Chester was awarded the Bega Showgirl title. 

Last weekend in Crookwell I had the pleasure of accompanying Brodie to the Zone 3 finals. 

We are excited to announce Brodie will represent Zone 3 at the Royal Sydney show in April. 

A highlight at the 2013 show was to see the four horses circle the trotting track in the first race on the trotting track for 10 years. 

We have done our homework for 2014 to get the horses back to the track again for 2014.

In the pavilion we have an exciting new concept for Friday afternoon, Saturday and Sunday. 

Local handicraft persons will be creating a working handicraft section over these three days. 

This should create some interest for the young and old. 

Come and watch or even take part in a creating your own piece of handicraft. 

The entertainment committee has an action-packed weekend planned for the three days and nights. 

These include the Crackup Sisters, fireworks, FMX freestyle motocross team, demolition derby, woodchopping, street theatre, sideshow alley, Bega Cheese foot race and the young farmers challenge. 

Our commercial space has been inundated with inquires. 

Two tractor companies, VRA, Police and State Emergency Service are coming to the show. 

As well as coffee, food vans and clothing sites, tipping trucks, Waratah house cladding product, signs, and jewellery and Sapphire speedway cars.

Patrons will notice a new feature at the gate with the introduction of a ticket system with a printed receipt on all gates. 

Please be patient as our volunteers learn to use this new equipment. 

As a visitor you will receive a receipt and the show society will be more accountable with our monetary records.

Finally a big thank you to all the volunteers - the Far South Coast National Show would not run smoothly without the help of volunteers. 

Thank you to the wonderful committee for your comradeship, your support and endeavour to have a successful 2014 show. 

As president I welcome everyone to come every day of the show, enjoy the family atmosphere, greeting old friends, making new acquaintances. 

Enjoy the competitiveness of the show, to grow a good vegetable or breed a better a dairy cow, but at the end of the day enjoy the bringing together of people with similar interests from throughout the Bega valley. 

Have a great show.

- Norm Pearce