A fruit and flower show in the north of the island is returning after 19 years.

Jurby Fruit and Flower Show ran annually until 2004 when it stopped. But now, a committee has been set up and is bringing it back.

It’s an exhibit show with a number of categories or classes that range from vegetables and fruits to floral arts, crafts and photography.

Kelly Charman, chair of Jurby Parish Commissioners, is at the forefront of the committee.

She said: ‘I’ve lived in Jurby for a long time and am the chair of the parish commissioners as well, so when I got in I wanted to bring more community events back.

‘As a child growing up here, I used to enter into the show. My parents were heavily involved in it and it’s something that’s been missing from the community for such a long time.

‘It’s such a great thing, so I put the feelers out to the Jurby community page on Facebook to see if anybody would be interested in getting this set up again.

‘We got a significant amount of support and got a committee together. It’s now full steam ahead and are well on the way with our preparations.

‘That’s the great thing about Jurby is we have a fantastic community out here who will all rally round.’

The show ceased 19 years ago due to the number of committee members left, who weren’t able to sustain the running of it with the amount of work required.

Mrs Charman said: ‘It’s a smaller programme in comparison to 2004, with 122 classes, because we don’t know what the support’s going to be like, who’s going to enter and what classes are going to be popular.

‘We can build it gradually from there and see how it goes this year. If we need to add more classes next year, we will adapt as and when is needed.

‘We feel like things have changed, so we’ve added a class in the 13 to 16 age group with a class for most creative TikTok video. Plans are in place for a media sponsor for that award.’

She added: ‘People enter into the classes and then we have judges that judge those classes on the day. There’s trophies and awards for the best in show etc.

‘We’ve liaised heavily with Jackie Faragher, one of the committee members for the Andreas Produce Show, who has an absolute wealth of knowledge on this. She’s very supportive of neighbouring parishes and says we should all be working to support each other and that’s true because a lot of our farming community are up in the north of the island and put stuff into these shows. It’s good for the community up here.’

A number of the trophies salvaged from the last show ‘weren’t in the best condition’, so work is being done to save them.

Letters have been sent to businesses regarding funding, which has already received ‘lots of support’.

‘We’re asking for anyone that wants to donate a raffle prize or anything else, they’re more than welcome,’ Mrs Charman said. ‘We appreciate absolutely everything that’s given to us.’

The show will take place at Jurby Parish Hall on Saturday, September 30. Contact [email protected]