Annual Flower & Vegetable Show - August 19th 2017.

After a year of mixed weather when the frost destroyed many a blossom, periods of rain pouring down followed by hot sun, damp and dry conditions, seeds not germinating, pigeons and pests taking their toll in a gardening year. Yet the gardeners and non-gardeners of Llantwit Major and the Vale of Glamorgan produced 248 wonderful exhibits from 35 exhibitors.  There was an increase from 2016 in the number of Flower arrangements, Flowers and Pot plants, Fruits, Home baking, Preserves and home brewing. Vegetable section exhibits down but the quality of exhibits. Exhibitors are to be congratulated on the standard of exhibits on show. Well done to all the exhibitors regardless of whether your exhibit was a winner or not, you made the show to be of a high standard, pleasing to the eye and the thanks of the chairman, committee members and the show secretary go out to you all.

The judges were very pleased with all the exhibits on show. They expressed their pleasure in judging such good exhibit displays that had made their task of judging difficult with a good deal of time spent in choosing which were the best. So close was some of the marking that a little defect in the exhibit made all the difference? I.e. rain spoiling a flower head, a loose petal or a slight scabbing on a potato.  Having remarked on this the judges highly praised the exhibits, finding judging a pleasure that was the show.

The number of people attending the show was up on previous years and hopefully this will continue to be the case in years to come. In attendance were three craft stalls selling homemade cakes, preservatives and displays of driftwood craft from nature. To add to the occasion was a very interesting and colourful flower arranging demonstration from Mrs Liz Evans who donated the arrangement as a raffle prize.

Within the show were exhibitors Elaine Brown, Stephanie Bagstaff, Vanessa Davies, Diana Gullett and John Walton, exhibiting for the first time whose exhibits gained prizes in a variety of classes.  One of which was a melon not seen at the show before.   Allan Davies won the best in show and best vegetable with two leeks. Liz Rees won best dish of tomatoes, dish of runner beans and the Banksian Medal in the vegetables, flowers and pot plant Sections.  Chris Jones by a large margin won the most points in the home baking, preserves and home brewing section, plus best decorative.    Barbara Payne won the most points in the Flowers and pot plants section and the most entries plus the most points in the show.

This year’s show is notably for the children’s section where Joseph Harvey Age 13 made five delicious herby cheese scones.  Most pleasing and heart-warming were the exhibits from Ella Stark Age 5, who made an animal from veg/fruit that was the best seen at the show in all its years, also she made a miniature garden on a base, an arrangement of mixed garden flowers, foliage and a miniature arrangement of garden flowers in an egg cup. The look of joy on her face and the excitement she showed when winning two trophies, four certificates and rosettes made all the work that goes into staging a show worthwhile. It was made more special when all Ella’s family gathered around her and shared the occasion with her.

Well done Ella. You were the star of the show!

The effort and enthusiasm by Ella, the exhibitors and the standard of the show is a credit to Llantwit Major and the community, an event that will continue for years to come as it is known unfortunately that many a town/village horticultural show is no longer in existence.

The society thank Harris Pye engineering, make a difference locally (Nisa retail), local shops for their sponsorship. A special thank you as always to Albert Payne for making the show happen every year. 

The society look forward to next year’s show that will be in the third week of August 2018.