"My father-in-law had tried to get me to steward for years but I had always refused, so in a way it was a kind of tribute to him. I feel it is a duty as it is the shop-window for agriculture in Wales.

I have worked in the cattle section for years and there is a great sense of comradeship on the show field, although we only meet up once a year. When the competitors arrive on the Monday, there is a great deal of tension and build-up running up to the competition. However, by the evening, it's all evaporated and there's a lot of fun, singing and celebrating until the early hours of the morning.

There have been so many characters involved with the show along the years who are completely dedicated to their job. Take, for example, one of our chief stewards - Pat Tantrum. He's had two hip operations and he's still going strong.

You also had a few old boys who we'll never see the like of again. There was Bleddyn Edwards from Bala and Ben Jones from Builth who was only 5' 3", whom everybody knew and had a whale of a time with.

Another character was Twm Jim from Bala who used to show sheep. One year, he drove his newly-washed sheep over in a lorry. He'd hemmed them in with a load of rusty gates. Unfortunately, it had been wet and the rusty water got onto the fleeces. By the time he arrived at Llanelwedd the sheep had a red tinge to them so he had to wash them all over again at a local farm and then turned them into the show ring to dry. This was strictly out of limits but Twm got away with everything - and he got first prize for his sheep!

I've shown Welsh Hill Speckle Face Sheep for many years and won on several occasions in the past but now I stick to stewarding and judging.

There's something for everybody in the Royal Welsh. All the farmers hurry to finish their harvest before show week - it's their annual holiday. You will find that families return year after year to help out and that the younger generation take over from the older, whether they're stewarding or making tea for the judges."

Emyr Leiws from Aberhosan near Machynlleth