VISITORS to Bury Agricultural Society's annual show on Sunday will be able to buy into a bit of history.

A 44-page A4 booklet entitled Long Life and Success to the Farmer: A History of the Agricultural Societies of Bury, will be on sale to coincide with the show at Burrs Country Park

Based largely on reports from the Bury Times and Bury Guardian plus other local newspapers and illustrated with recent and earlier photographs, it has been produced on behalf of Bury and District Agricultural Society by committee member Alan J. Seymour and will be on sale in the small exhibition tent near to the main ring.

It gives an account of the various agricultural societies that have been connected with the town since the first one in 1850, when for a time it merged with the Radcliffe Agricultural Society.

After a break, the Society enjoyed a revival in the 1870s, before disbanding again. The Society was revived again in 1909 when it amalgamated with the Ramsbottom Agricultural Society, and remained operational for almost 20 years. The current series started as a Red Cross fund-raiser in 1943.

Copies are available from Alan Seymour, 166 Tottington Road, Bury BL8 1RU, price £4.50 plus 50p postage. Cheques should be made out to Bury and District Agricultural Society.

Showground opens at 8am on Sunday.