Britain’s unseasonal summer downpours have left the organisers of many public events counting the costs.

Incessant rain over recent months led to flooding in some areas, West Yorkshire being one of the worst hit.

In Hebden Bridge, homes and businesses suffered damage from torrential rain causing the river to overflow. And earlier this month homes in Manningham were hit by flash floods.

The downpours also had a significant impact on the summer’s agricultural show calendar, with many events cancelled.

Keighley Show, due to take place on Saturday, was cancelled last week, because of rainfall saturating the ground. Show secretary Katrina Thackray, says cancelling the event – now in its 55th year – has been “disheartening” for all those involved.

She said organisers didn’t want to risk damaging the sports field, adding that they have to respect other users of the site.

The cancellation of the event is expected to cost several thousand pounds but Katrina says they are now looking at pooling ideas with other agricultural show federations, such as investing in ground tracks to prevent the site being churned up by vehicles in future.

“The climate is changing and so they are looking at ways of trying to ensure the future heritage of having agricultural shows,” said Miss Thackray.

“We are very grateful for the support of everybody, and particularly at times like this. Everybody pulls together.”

The Great Yorkshire Show, usually a three-day event, opened for the first day then closed. It was the first time in the show’s history that it had been cancelled due to poor weather. Many organisations took the decision on grounds of health and safety.

There was a great disappointment that some classes, including showjumping, had to be cancelled, and those exhibiting at the show lost two days of trading.

Show director, Bill Cowling , estimates that the Yorkshire Agricultural Society, organisers of the Great Yorkshire Show, lost around £2m.

He said the cancellation also had an impact on the local economy, particularly hotels and restaurants which benefit from the show trade.

Mr Cowling said that, while the organisers can’t control the weather, they are putting in contingency plans to avoid a similar situation next year.

“We are putting in extra roads in the car parks. We had quite a few roads but we didn’t have enough. We have got a heap of nearly 6,000 tonnes of limestone to make roads in more of the car parks,” he said.

Organisers are also looking to see whether improvements can be made to the drainage. Mr Cowling said that, as with most agricultural shows, when the ground becomes muddy it is difficult for people to park cars. “If you can’t park, you block the whole of the town – that is one of the great problems.

“We are a charity. It is an agricultural, rural charity and we had funds set aside for many years for such an event, so it is not going to break the Society – but if we have lost £2m we have £2m less to carry out our charitable aims,” he added.

The weather also called a halt to Bingley Show, Bradford’s largest agricultural event. Chairman, Leslie Gore, explained that because it is a long-established show, organisers had reserves to cover the costs of the loss – estimated to be around £40,000 – but he says it would have a serious impact on reserves if they were faced with a similar situation next year.

With the 2013 show already in the planning stages, he said organisers are currently in discussions with Bradford Council over possible improvements to drainage in Myrtle Park where the show is held.

“We are having to recognise that we have got extremes of climate conditions now. It is a question of how we are going to manage it,” he said.

Organisers of Bradford Mela were also forced to cancel the popular family event due to rain affecting the ground in Peel Park. The Mela has been running for more than two decades. It was cancelled six years ago due to similar conditions.

Vanessa Mitchell, major events programme manager for Bradford Council, says their costs were covered by insurance, but adds that it caused great disappointment for those who had spent several months planning the Mela. “It was a total disappointment, right from the community groups involved, to the people who had been planning it and the artists,” she said.