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THE AIM OF THE ASSOCIATEION OF SHOW AND AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATIONS IS TO....

Promote agriculture, horticulture and the countryside through shows and other events.
Encourage and share best practice between agricultural societies and related organisations.
Encourage and support education across the full spectrum of agriculture, horticulture and the countryside through shows, conferences, projects and initiatives.

The ASAO is run by show people for shows and gives the best value-for-money information service available to any event organiser.

Nigel Evans, Cheshire County Show

MEET THE ASAO COUNCIL

The ASAO Council is made up of Show representatives from across the country who are from a mix of one-day and multi-day shows. They represent members’ views and are happy to be contracted on all matters associated with the ASAO.

David Tite

ASAO Chairman

Denis Dooley

ASAO Vice Chairman

Paul Hooper OBE

ASAO Secretary

Diana Walton

ASAO Membership Secretary

David Tennant

ASAO Council Member

Sam Mackenzie-Green

ASAO Council Member

Christopher Riddle

ASAO Council Member

Alison Baylis

ASAO Council Member

Richard Heath

ASAO Council Member

Tim Ledbury

ASAO Council Member

Christine Knipe

ASAO Council Member

Mared Rand Jones

ASAO Council Member

Corrie Ince

ASAO Council Member

David Tite

ASAO Chairman

David Tite is the Chief Executive of Driffield Agricultural Society, based in the East Riding of Yorkshire. He runs the Driffield Show and the Society’s Showground.

David has been involved with the Society for over 30 years, coming from a furniture design background and after teaching design to degree level for over 7 years he took on the role of Chief Executive in 2006.

Leading on the development of the Society’s Schools Food and Farming Eduction Day, the construction of its new Events Centre and facilities whilst developing its year round activity on site and more recently designing a flood management system to protect the showground for generations to come.

He is married to Cara, they enjoy mountain biking, walking the Yorkshire Wolds and David continues to make furniture in his free time.

Denis Dooley

ASAO Vice Chairman

Denis Dooley is the Chief Executive of the New Forest Agricultural Show Society, organisers of the New Forest & Hampshire County Show, which is held in July each year.

Following a degree in Equine Business Management, Denis joined the Society in 2006 and was appointed Chief Executive in 2011. Denis has been instrumental in the creation of the Next Generation project which involves young people in all areas of the Society to keep the Show in safe hands for many years to come.

Outside of work Denis is married to Johanna and has two children – Bella and Jack, he enjoys cycling, visiting family and walking his Labrador, Woody.

Paul Hooper OBE

ASAO Secretary

Paul Hooper OBE is Society Secretary for the Royal Bath & West of England Society and a well-known figure in the shows industry. He began his career in 1977 and is experienced in most aspects of agricultural and country show organisation at national level. In 2015, he was awarded an OBE in Her Majesty The Queen’s Birthday Honours. Paul enjoys listening to military music in his spare time.

Diana Walton

ASAO Membership Secretary

Growing up, shows were in Di's blood and in 2009 she left her career as a Rural Chartered Surveyor and joined the Three Counties Agricultural Society in the livestock department. She was promoted to Head of Shows in 2016 managing a range of shows from the flagship Royal Three Counties Show to RHS Malvern Spring Festival and Malvern Autumn Show.
In 2022 Diana joined Hanbury Countryside Show Society as Show Manager alongside her ASAO Membership Secretary role.

David Tennant

ASAO Council Member

David has worked for the Royal Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland for 11 years beginning as an annual temporary member of staff before becoming permanently employed in 2015 and moving into his current position of Competitions Manager in 2019.

Along with looking after the competitive elements of the Royal Highland Show David is the lead on Scottish Show Forum, which holds an annual conference and provides a platform for the Scottish Agricultural Show industry to engage with each other and share good practice.

In 2019, David graduated from the Scottish Enterprise Rural Leadership Program, which focuses on self-development and self-awareness to empower individuals to effectively respond to the challenges and to enact positive change in the wider rural economy.

Sam Mackenzie-Green

ASAO Council Member

Sam Mackenzie-Green is the Show Manager for the Devon County Show. She was previously Show Secretary at Dorset County Show for 13 years before spearheading the project to re-start the Yeovil Show in Somerset in 2016, being Event Director for the event. She has a keen interest in marketing and brand promotion especially through engaging social media campaigns.

Sam lives in Dorset with her husband, Henry, and two sons George (10) and Tom (7).

Christopher Riddle

ASAO Council Member

Chris Riddle has been Secretary of the Royal Cornwall Agricultural Association since 1989 and is only the ninth person to hold this position since the organisation was founded in 1793. He is married to Thelma and has two children – Emma and Harry and Emma has recently been appointed as the RCAA’s Pavilion Centre Manager.

Chris is a former Chairman of the ASAO and a former Trustee and National Chairman of the Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institution. He is also a Trustee of the Royal Agricultural Society of the Commonwealth and Deputy Chairman, Trustee and Honorary Life Member of the Royal Smithfield Club as well as being an office holder with various other organisations.

Alison Baylis

ASAO Council Member

Alison has been the Show Secretary of Bucks County Agricultural Association since 2011 and appointed onto the ASAO Council in 2019. Alison is the ASAO’s Regional Champion for England.

Richard Heath

ASAO Council Member

Richard is the Show Director at Moreton In Marsh Show but is a volunteer at many other regional shows, He is a keen poultry keeper and eagerly awaits the return of the poultry sections at our shows.

Tim Ledbury

ASAO Council Member

I have been Secretary of the North Somerset Agricultural Society since 2008, responsible for the delivery of our annual Agricultural Show which is one day event held on the first bank holiday in May, the North Somerset Ploughing Match which takes place on the first Sunday in September and the development of a large educational day for Key Stage 2 pupils, as well numerous other smaller events. I am responsible for the management of the Showground and we are currently looking at ways to utilise this asset to create additional income for the Society to further its charitable activity. I also run a country educational charity called FarmLink which is active within Somerset, Staffordshire, Devon and Cornwall delivering its programme to over 42,000 pupils during the course of the last academic year, the majority of these are primary students. We are currently developing a FarmLink programme for secondary schools and this will be launched at the start of the next academic year.

Christine Knipe

ASAO Council Member

Christine Knipe has been Chief Executive of Westmorland County Agricultural Society since 2005. Married to David, the Knipes live on their upland sheep, beef and poultry farm in central Cumbria.

Christine is a former Chairman of the ASAO, a Fellow of the Royal Agricultural Societies, a Trustee of the Royal Agricultural Society of the Commonwealth, secretary for the North West Federation of Show Societies and Chairman of the national Access to Farms partnership. She is also ASAO’s Education Champion and is keen to develop educational opportunities to promote agriculture within our shows and events.

Mared Rand Jones

ASAO Council Member

Mared is a dairy farmers daughter and lives in Ceredigion in West Wales. Mared has been working as Head of Operations with Royal Welsh Agriculture Society for 3 years. Her main role includes leading the livestock, shearing and tradestand departments for the Royal Welsh Show and lead on the Winter Fair. Mared also lead on the Welsh ASAO and has organised the annual Welsh Conference at the Royal Welsh showground for shows in Wales. Mared was part of a small team of staff that organised a National ASAO Conference in 2019 which was a great honour and she thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

In Mared is previous roles she worked for nearly 11 years as a Development Officer for Ceredigion Young Farmers Clubs and then as a County Executive Officer for Farmers Union of Wales for nearly 3 years.

She is very passionate about Agriculture Shows and have attended many shows for personal interest and within her professional roles.

Mared has been a member of Lampeter Agriculture Show for over 20 years and have been a Horse Steward since the age of 10. She also helped to begin a Youth Forum within the Show to encourage younger people to be involved within the Show and the Youth Forum were responsible of organising the Show Dance and organise the 7 a side rugby competition.

Corrie Ince

ASAO Council Member

Corrie has been working in events since 2006, starting off with the Edenbridge & Oxted Show, where I was involved in all aspects of show organising.

In 2012 she moved to working in more commercial events for a Brighton based manufacturing company, organising their events in the UK and Internationally.

In 2016 she moved back into the “show business” and become Sales & operations Manager at the South of England Agricultural Society, responsible for booking and managing of trade stands and content for their 4 annual shows. Living only a few miles away from the showground all her life, she had grown up around the show, and having attended pretty much every year since childhood, in some guise or other, whether it be as a visitor or competitor, she has had a life long affinity and passion for the show.

In July 2020 she become Show Director at the South of England, with overall co-ordination and management of the 4 shows. Corrie was thrown very much in at the deep end and tasked with running two shows at the end of 2020, following all the government guidelines and required safety measures and procedures. Together with her amazing team of staff and stewards this resulted in 2 very successful and safe events.

Outside of work Corrie other passion in life is horse riding, having ridden and competed in many different disciplines from an early age.