The closing Essex County Show of the Millennium ended on a high note of optimism with a predicted climb in attendances above the 100,000 mark for the first time in several years.

To help it on its way it had a big name, the Archbishop of Canterbury Dr George Carey as special guest, plus some really big wheels to keep up the interest in the main arena. Dr Carey said as an Essex lad from Leytonstone it was good to be home in the county where the spirit of Jesus was fully evident.

Show chairman Tony Peel said the archbishop and his wife were "delightful guests" during their two hour stay before going on to another engagement in Braintree.

Investment, by Essex County Show Ltd boss John Holmes, of nearly £500,000 in the showground at Great Leighs was greatly in evidence - new seating for the jumping ring audiences, stylish new equestrian jumps and floral displays, and a tighter layout to the whole big weekend.

The aim was to create a county show reflecting all aspects of life - still focussing strongly on farming and rural pursuits but recognising that the "other Essex" is also interested in razzmatazz, motors, and really big rigs and they could not have been bigger than the Monster Action vehicle giants in action this year.

Big name sponsors included AON insurance, Britvic, Lookers Land-rover and Countryside Properties and all sponsors are to be asked to "help pull off something special for the 2000 show," said chief spokesman Anthony Fairbanks-Weston.

There were just two sad notes: the death of a Sussex man who had a suspected heart attack while preparing a steed for an equestrian event, and the loss, hopefully just for the '99 show, of cattle and sheep showing.

Mr Fairbanks-Weston said he was extremely pleased with the attendances, up a fifth on Friday, and more than 40 per cent on Saturday above 1998 he believed. The show cost £250,000 to stage and he even thought there was a chance that because of tight budgetry arrangements it could break even this year and may start to enter profit in future years which can be ploughed back into even greater improvements.

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.