The first Yorkshire Aquarist Society was established in Leeds in 1936, followed by Sheffield in 1937 then by Hull and Bradford in 1938.
Shortly after this, however, the outbreak of World War II forced them to suspend their activities.
In the aftermath of World War II the Leeds and Sheffield society was eventually reformed in 1946. Year after year the fish keeping hobby continued to become increasingly popular, and in 1957 there were some 27 societies based in Yorkshire alone.
These societies became part of the Yorkshire Association of Aquarist Societies and by 1972 this comprised of no fewer than 157 separate societies registered in the Yorkshire region and by the mid 1970's just about every town and city across the region had its own aquarist society.
"The Premier Show"
Most of these held their own fish shows leading up to the "Premier Show", which was originally held at Doncaster Race Course and at one time was the largest show of its type in the UK with crowds of well over 10,000 people not being uncommon.
The "Fish of Fish" award at this event was given the Premier Trophy and entry to this part of the show was restricted to fishes that had gained best in shows at prior events.
The festival is now held each year at Stockton on Forest near York. Although the event is much smaller than it was in its heyday, it still attracted more than 260 entrants this year from across the north of England, with 11 fish challenging for the "fish of fish" trophy.
The winners of the trophy this year were Terry and Shirley Nelson, who, after 34 years of entering the competition won it for the first time.