Anna May McHugh, who has been the managing director of the National Ploughing Championships since 1973, has been acknowledged for her selfless work at the Honorary Doctorate Awards Ceremony in TCD Dublin.
Anna May has also been the Irish Board Member of the World Ploughing Organisation since she was appointed in 1997 andalso holds the title of first woman on the board.
She has worked for the National Ploughing Association for over 70 years holding numerous roles in that time first as a secretary to the founder, then company secretary and finally as managing director.
Many have acclaimed her as the driving force behind the event’s spectacular growth.
In the 1970s there were 100 exhibitors at the ploughing and 21 counties competing, today the event hosts 300,000 visitors over three days, 1,700 exhibitors on 100 acres and 350 ploughing competitors.
At the ceremony she recalled the early days of the event and acknowledged how difficult they actually were.
She said: “In the years that I speak about, women were not at the top of organisations as such and I remember the days when there were only men folk coming to the Ploughing, and I thought we must do something about that”.
In the speech she attributed her success to the team of people around her from Ploughing Associations all across the country.
In 2024, she is still running the show, 24 years after the national retirement age and has become a representative for older people as an Age Friendly Ambassador for her home county of Laois.
The Public Orator Dr Anna Chahoud said: “The worthy recipient of countless honours for her seventy years of services rendered to Irish agriculture and culture.”
“She has peacefully transformed Irish society by fostering its core values and helping recognise the invaluable work of women in a previously male-dominated world.”
Anna May is pictured below as she receives her award.
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