Mobile sawmills, a wildfire‑fighting aeroplane and a timber‑extracting elephant: not your typical line‑up, but they all shared the spotlight at the first APF Show.
It was 1976 and the year of Brotherhood of Man, James Hunt and an incessant heatwave – and the year British forestry finally got its own industry showpiece on home soil. The National Forest Machinery Demonstration – as it was known then – came about after trade company representatives were brought onto the Association of Professional Foresters’ governing council.
Returning by train from a meeting in London, Association secretary Tony Phillips and John McHardy discussed the idea of staging an event where the trade could show off its wares and services. With the blessing of Lord Bath, the first APF took place on the Longleat Estate in September 1976, where John was head forester.
Gordon Little is the last surviving member of the original committee behind the Longleat APF. Just 31 at the time, he was drafted in to help when his company – Forest Thinnings – decided to arrange a managers’ meeting to coincide with the show. He remained involved with APF until 2016.
“The feeling amongst the exhibitors and the trade was that they wanted a shop window to show off their products,” Gordon said. “Mobile sawmills were just coming into their own then. Of course, there were quite a few technical innovations as far as chainsaws and winches were concerned. But it was before the advent of harvesters.
“It was manual operations. There were a few skidders working.
“It was fairly small and fairly restricted. We felt the first one went well.”
While today’s APF boasts hundreds of exhibitors, just 76 appeared at that maiden event (the visitor total is lost to history – nobody bothered to count). McConnel, TH White and the Forestry Commission were among the nine organisations that attended APF 1976 and still do so to this day, in one form or another.
For those hardy souls who turned up – and press coverage from the time suggests attendance was not quite at 2026 levels – highlights included an elephant called Womba, tasked with extracting timber, and a display of aerial firefighting; not that either proceeded without a hitch.
“I was parking cars when the aeroplane that was supposed to be a demonstration of putting a fire out missed the target and deposited thousands of litres of water on the car park,” Gordon recalled. “Up until then, it was quite a dry car park. After that we had quite a job getting all the cars home.
“We also all got soaked.
“An elephant came from Longleat Wildlife Park to pull timber out. It was just an added attraction.
“Someone had the idea of bringing an elephant onto the site. I don’t think it actually pulled anything out … the biggest problem was getting rid of what it deposited on the site.”
Forester Nander Robertson was also at Longleat with James Jones Engineering, one of the maiden exhibitors.
“There was a huge buzz about it,” Nander, now 83, recalls. “There was a huge anticipation. This was the first show of its kind in the UK.
“Quite a lot of people had been to Elmia. I’d actually been to one down in France in the south of Bordeaux.
“Back in the 1970s, we were not a forest country.
“What I particularly remember about Longleat is that I was in charge of demonstrating a thinning.
“What did people want the log to end up? Where was their landing? How many racks were they going to put in?
“You would teach people how to harvest a tree in a way that was going to suit the extraction system.
“I was amazed to discover the bloody brambles were up to my knees. They were fearsome.”
Princess Anne never did use the toilet*
That first APF whetted the industry’s appetite for a UK show. While there seems to have been some debate as to what to do next – a James Jones editorial from the time suggested it should only be held every four years – there was widespread agreement that it was here to stay.
The original committee – which included forestry stalwarts such as Roger Fitter MBE – decided that APF was to be held every two years and move around the country. In its five decades it has been staged up and down England and in Scotland twice. Windsor (1984), Dalby Forest (1992) and Zetland Estate (1998) are just some of the locations that have hosted the exhibition.
Despite its biennial nature, there has always been something new to see at each event, even between its first and second iteration in Penrith two years later.
“That was much bigger and saw the appearance of forwarders,” Gordon recalls. “There were even two or three purpose‑built forwarders. That was a huge step forward.
“You could see the difference in the industry already, just two years on.
“We still had horses pulling timber out. But it was nice to compare the developments.”
Picking out memorable moments from APF’s 50 years is no mean feat – for both good and bad reasons. There was Bracelands in 1980 and a lunch with the Duke of Gloucestershire that ended with ‘thousands’ of tiny spiders descending from the roof of a tent onto the gathered dignitaries. Or Beecraigs in 1982 that was so wet there is a rumour visitors are still drying out.
Beecraigs also happens to be the lowest‑ever attended APF and one of the reasons the committee was split on returning north of the border. But they did (after a casting vote). In 2002 the show rolled into the Scottish Borders and Lockerbie.
Things got off to a good start. A site was secured early. A civic reception was arranged for the committee. Then the foot‑and‑mouth outbreak took hold, and a large area of the forest was designated a burial ground for slaughtered carcasses. It was 'touch and go' if APF would happen at all.
Thankfully, it did, and for the first and only time (so far) the show was given the royal seal of approval when Princess Anne came along to open proceedings. Lockerbie also saw the introduction of events that would go on to become a staple of APF in the 21st century.
“We were told Princess Anne must have a private toilet,” Gordon recalls. “So we put a Portaloo and taped it round so no one could use it and had someone standing there, keeping watch. But Princess Anne never did use it. So it was a wasted effort.
“We decided to demonstrate how a helicopter could put out forest fires. We had Dollar Helicopters doing it.
“Afterwards the helicopter pilot came up to me and explained they had arranged for the helicopter to fill up a mile away down the river. But when he filled it up, he realised there was a chap fishing! When he returned later, the chap was gone. You can imagine the shock on the old man’s face, having a quiet afternoon’s fishing.”
Ragley and the modern APF*
Despite the challenges – usually weather‑related – APF has continued to deliver. Visitor numbers have climbed and climbed. The industry’s biggest names continue to use it to launch products (2024 saw Stihl debut a new saw on British soil for the first time). And it continues to evolve, with 2026’s edition set to boast more interactive components than ever before, including a first‑ever winch competition.
“I am very proud to be part of it,” says exhibition secretary Ian Millward, who first attended in 1980 and has been involved in organising it since 1984. “It is something that still excites me even although I am so long in the tooth now!
“It has stayed very close to what it was set up for. When it was founded in 1976 it was set up to provide a trade show for the Association of Professional Foresters (APF).
“We have stayed close to that. A lot of other shows have come and gone because they have maybe drifted from their original purpose or tried too hard to get the general public in.”
Today APF is overseen by Confor and the Association of Professional Foresters is no more, but the initials remain. It attracts around 300 exhibitors, tens of thousands of visitors and tens of millions of pounds’ worth of machinery, and since 2012 it has been based solely at the Ragley Estate in Warwickshire (which previously hosted it in 2002 and 2004).
“One or two stand out,” Gordon replies when asked if any APFs stand out. “Dalby was probably the wettest one we ever had!
“It was limestone but underneath that were potholes. It wasn’t until we got off the site that the farmer there told me they’d almost lost a tractor right under where the show was. He didn’t want to tell us before in case we got scared off.
“The APF has been run for many years by a team of volunteers. It owes it all to them.
“The volunteers made it what it is.”
As for Nander, there will be a sense of coming full circle at this year’s APF. An exhibitor in 1976, he is once again returning to the stands, this time with his own company and his own product, the Nae Mounder.
“Here I am going back to APF on its 50th anniversary but this time with my own stand,” Nander says. “So there is a funny twist in the tail.”
The APF Show takes place from September 24 to 26 at Ragley Estate, Warwickshire. For tickets and more information, visit: www.apfexhibition.co.uk
APF organisers are still on the hunt for several catalogues to complete their collection. If you have one from 1978 or 1986, contact exhibition secretary Ian Millward on info@apfexhibition.co.uk. There are free APF 2026 tickets in it for you.
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