ONE of the most prestigious agricultural shows in the country is asking a local authority for assistance following a decline in attendance.

The Bedwellty Show asked Caerphilly council to consider helping out with the running costs of the show this August.

Following disappointing visitor numbers last year organisers of the agricultural show are contemplating holding a free event in a bid to boost popularity, and want the council to underwrite half of the £20,000 it will take to stage the event.

They also want the council to assist with the presentation of the event in effect from August 2006 onwards.

Despite attracting prominent figures such as David Broome and Colonel Harry Llewellyn in its 132-year history, a decline in the agricultural industry in Gwent, their charging policy and the emergence of the Big Balloon Festival - a free event held on the same site and in the same month - are being blamed for a decline in fortunes for the Bedwellty Show.

If the council agrees to the proposal put forward by Bedwellty Show organisers, the event will be held at Blackwood Showfield on the same weekend as the Big Balloon Festival to cut down on running costs, such as hiring marquees.

The cabinet of Caerphilly council are to consider offering assistance at a meeting tomorrow.

Blackwood councillor Leon Gardiner said: "It would be very sad if the Bedwellty Show went. We don't have a lot of activity of this kind anymore, and these people have worked so hard over the years to put the shows on.

"At one time it was the finest show of its kind in the country, so if there is a way to save it then I'm 100 per cent behind it."

He added: "If we lose it, it will never be the same again and a generation will grow up the poorer.

"It is the equivalent of the Chelsea Flower show in this valley."