One of the Great Yorkshire Show’s most prestigious livestock competitions has been renamed in honour and celebration of the Show’s late Chief Cattle Steward, Margaret Chapman.
Show organisers, the Yorkshire Agricultural Society have announced that the Blythewood Pairs Trophy, awarded to the best pairs of cattle in the beef and dairy sections, will now be known as the Margaret Chapman Pairs for the 167th Great Yorkshire Show on Tuesday 14 – Friday 17 July, and beyond.
Margaret, who was born in Lincolnshire and lived in Bishopthorpe near York, gave more than 50 years of distinguished service to the Show as a voluntary official, up until her death in November last year aged 87. A former President of the Yorkshire Agricultural Society, Margaret originally introduced the Blythewood Pairs to the Show in 2008 during a visit by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.
Rachel Coates, Show Director said:
Margaret dedicated a huge part of her life to the Great Yorkshire Show and she is greatly missed, both for everything she did to make the cattle section of the Show run so smoothly and professionally, and as a person who was so generous of her time in support of her colleagues and peers.
It is only right that we celebrate Margaret and ensure that her name continues to be forever associated with the Show, by renaming the competition which she brought to the Show herself.
At the 2026 Great Yorkshire Show, the Margaret Chapman Dairy Pairs will be judged in the Main Ring on Thursday afternoon following the one of the Show’s greatest spectacles, the Grand Cattle Parade. Similarly, judging for the Margaret Chapman Beef Pairs will take place in the Main Ring on Friday afternoon. The Margaret Chapman Pairs are sponsored by ASDA.
Some 8,500 animals will be exhibited at this year’s Show in pursuit of prize rosettes, including the very best cattle from across the UK. Two national livestock championships feature in the show programme for 2026, for Charolais cattle and Zwartbles sheep.
Margaret first started stewarding at the Show in the early 1970s as an assistant ring steward, going on to become the event’s first female cattle steward in 1975, then senior cattle steward in 1985, before serving as Chief Cattle Steward for over a decade. Margaret also served as the Society’s President from 2021 to 2022, an honour she was incredibly proud of, and hosted many Royal visitors to the Show.
A fountain of knowledge and support for successive show directors, Society staff, stewards and exhibitors alike, Margaret was meticulous in everything she contributed to the Show, from coordinating the Grand Cattle Parade in the Main Ring to overseeing national breed shows.
Margaret followed in the footsteps of her father Frank Chapman, who was also a member of the Society’s Council and served as an assistant to the Show’s Chief Cattle Steward.
Margaret’s family connection with the Show dates back further, to her great-grandfather, Joseph Andrew Chapman who exhibited Dairy Shorthorn at the Show in 1910. Brought up on her family’s dairy farm in Bishopthorpe near York, Margaret worked alongside Frank in the pedigree cattle export business and in the 1970s, she was in charge of the business’ livestock exports.
