EDITOR’S COMMENT: Could 2015 be my first show-time?

I have a secret. It’s a shocking secret. I need to share it.

I have never been to the Suffolk Show.

I have been to the East of England Show on numerous occasions along with many (many!) local horse shows - a close family friend was President of the Suffolk Horse Society, judged, showed and bred Suffolks. Am I forgiven?

But a mix of midweek work and more work has meant the Trinity Park spectacular remains on my ‘to do’ list.

So a meeting a few weeks ago with the show’s new chief Nicola Bateman intrigued me. She wants to open up the show to West Suffolk, being an ex-St Benedict’s scholar.

A mix of her enthusiasm and a wish to have our corner of Suffolk better represented at the annual showcase may well see me motor down the A14 this year as a show newbie.

If I’m like a number of locals, I sense we may be missing an opportunity. Yes, there will be the usual tractors and livestock, but the networking potential for business is huge.

The Bury Free Press Business Awards (this year on October 9) are the final act of our local business festival and I dare wager a few quid that the real value of this bonanza of business is not just in the seminars and in winning an award, but the face-to-face contact which all too often we miss out on in this age of social networks.