Lincolnshire Great Exhibition event will return says Mayor
The Lincolnshire Great Exhibition will return, says Mayor Dame Andrea Jenkyns
The Reform UK Greater Lincolnshire Mayor ran for office with a pledge to create a business showcase event styled on the Great Exhibition of 1851.
It was held at the Lincolnshire Showground in October and the Greater Lincolnshire Combined County Authority (GLCCA) business and infrastructure board has reviewed its success.
The plan is to make the exhibition an annual feature and Dame Andrea says she is liaising with the showground to look at the most appropriate day close to Lincolnshire Day (October 1), as the venue is already booked for that date.
There were a total of 45 exhibits at the event, including British Steel, Associated British Ports (ABP) and Made Great in Grimsby, and around 700 attendees. “It was a great first event and clearly it just shows what can be achieved in a really short space of time,” said North Lincolnshire Council leader Coun Rob Waltham (Conservative).
“I have to say I wouldn’t have come up with the idea myself, so I do give you a bit of praise for that,” he said to Dame Andrea, who beat him in the mayoral election.
The board learned the event cost £69,000 to put on, but with £23,750 in private sponsorship, and £5,000 in-kind sponsorship for the likes of VIP catering and technical support. The GLCCA itself spent a little over £45,000 on the Lincolnshire Great Exhibition. Siemens Energy and Associated British Ports (ABP) were event sponsors.
Dame Andrea said she would like to see it self-funding in the future. She also teased potential overseas investment deals that had come about since.
“We have got some exciting things going on. It’s quite sensitive that we can’t bring it out in the open as yet, international type deals,” she hinted. There were two governments from other countries, she reported, who wanted to bring a delegation across to Lincolnshire to look at ag-tech and defence.
She added there were discussions with the US and Taiwanese governments. She said there were “strong conversations going on for potential investment” with four embassies.
Some board members’ feedback called for greater detail in future on spend, such as sponsors’ contributions broken down, and what the Lincolnshire Great Exhibition actually achieved. “To me, a measure of success is that it more than pays for itself in investment in our county,” said Dame Andrea.
“Later in the year, when we make an announcement, it would have paid for itself with what we are doing. I’m very confident of that.”
Deputy Mayor of Greater Lincolnshire, Coun Ingrid Sheard (Reform UK – Lincolnshire County Council), said: “We need to appreciate that it was seven weeks that we had to pull this all together. Yes there are lessons to be learned, but I don’t think we should detract from the fact of how beneficial this was to the county.”