Our annual flower and vegetable show in mid August is a chance for society members and non members alike to show off their growing, baking and gardening skills and a chance for us all to come together to celebrate the gardening year, and the society. Classes include traditional competitions including vegetables and floral arrangements, as well as home baking, preserves and a children’s class which has seen some stiff competition in recent years. We also run a competition for the best kept allotment which our judges thoroughly enjoy invigilating in the sunshine and of course, we have plenty of tea and cake to be enjoyed by visitors on the day, and raffle prizes to be won. Our 2020 and 2021 shows were celebrated virtually due to the Coronavirus pandemic and you can revisit that via the tab above.

Everyone is welcome to take part in the summer show and volunteers are always needed and very appreciated. If you’d like to register your interest to help out, please contact Show Secretary Tim Prior on 01446 794421.

Check out our 2024 show report and photos below!

S U M M E R  S H O W   R E P O R T   2 0 2 4
Tim Prior - Show Secretary 

I think I will start this off by saying a big thank you to our exhibitors and visitors who either staged items or came along and supported the show. It is not just the show secretary who puts this on for our townspeople, it is also your committee and a small cadre of members who get stuck in. Without this support we would not have this event.

It has been another strange old year with the weather, I remember last year when it was a hot summer and the ground was cracking open, no rain and high temperatures. Bit of a contrast this year! Very much like a summer of yesteryear from my youth. How many times did we sow our seeds just to watch them fail, the unseasonal cold and incessant wet, and oh yes a
few very windy days beforehand. Lots of produce was late!

Our doors were open on Saturday 17th August for our exhibitors to stage their flowers, fruit, and vegetables. There did not seem to be a great many coming through the door and then the girls of CF61 rocked up, keen as mustard for their first show. Thank you, ladies, and very well done. Over the two-hour staging time we had a gradual trickle come in and they were ably helped by the registrars Sylvia and Liz, who then directed them on the various stewards to guide them. Judgement time!! Dennis Barry NVS, Keith Sweetzer FRHS and our very own Jayne Thomas all presided over the exhibits before them. And to be honest, though not great in number it was obvious that there was still the quality before us.

On all the tables there were gaps where no exhibits could be provided. The vegetables lacked cabbages, cauliflowers, shallots, and peas. But the potatoes, beans and onions were well supported. We had some good carrots and shapely beetroot and lots of cherry tomatoes, usually we have many plates of larger tomatoes, but this year they were late. My greenhouse is stacked with them now! There were lovely long cucumbers, leeks from CF61 and a variety of other vegetables and fruits. We had three entries for the Top Tray, not an easy class to enter, and the winner was Andrew Lewis and Mary Ponting was runner up. Well done to Alan Price, Alison Leach, Liz Rees, and Tim Prior who all managed to win a trophy to take home. The best vegetable exhibit was a plate of runner beans, staged by Tim Prior. These also won the best in show. Congratulations also go to Sylvia Comben who won the Novices
cup.

Our flower tables too had gaps, but what was before us was stunning! There were a couple of entries for the Top Vase from Chris Thomas and Sylvia Comben, beautiful blooms and beautifully displayed. We had lots of vases of cut flowers of various hues and shapes, including some very vibrant Sun flowers. Next to these were stunning Dahlias, Collarettes, Decoratives and Cactus dainty little heads of petals or pom poms, the colours were amazing. As were the Gladioli, I must admit I did not expect to see any after the winds of the previous days, but they were there, a good half dozen regal stems. Nice to see Roses this year too, another one that does not like the wind and rain. It was a shame that we were lacking numbers for the potted plants. Congratulations go to Chris Jones who won the best flower exhibit, Marilyn Alston for her sweet peas and Sylvia Comben for her exhibit of Flowers and Foliage. The best flower exhibit was awarded to Chris Jones.

There was one small cup awarded at our show and to earn it was no mean achievement either. I am talking about the Best kept Allotment award. This was won by Annette Smith, now Annette took over a jungle a year ago, taking over jungles on the allotment site is not unusual! It has been by shear perseverance and endless hard work by her that we are now blessed with a vegetable haven! Well done indeed.

Now, something close to our Chairperson, Bill Lee’s heart is cakes and biscuits, but we did not have any of these, especially the chocolate ones! To continue the trait, the entries in Section 7 Home Produce were also lower than previous years. Even so, there were some nice-looking Boiled Fruit cakes, Lemon Drizzle cakes, Victoria Sponges, Scones and Welsh cakes. We did have a good show of Chutney, Jams and Marmalades, also the Home Brew, this was won by a tasty little number of Blackberry gin, so the steward told me. I know Jayne Thomas really enjoys judging this section, which also has the children’s baking, only three exhibits this year, but it was said that the raison Flapjacks and the Queen cakes were well worth tasting. Congratulations go to Sylvia Comben, the overall winner of Section 7 and a Magnificent Lemon drizzle cake too. Also to Cath Thomas, Alison Leach and Chris Prior.

We were all pleased to see an increase in the number of exhibits from our younger members, there were six who stood up to be judged and they were: Renee Rees, Eira Rees, Ryan Smith, Eden Rudd, Tom Featherstone, and his sister Sophie. All your exhibits were imaginative and colourful and they very obviously took a lot of time to make. Thank you for supporting our show. Now not all can have a cup, but all went away with certificates and most too had rosettes. Eden Rudd and Eira Rees took home one or two cups, Sophie Featherstone won the Aberthaw Power Station Shield for the best exhibit in a child’s class.

So, ‘now the show is over’ to coin a phrase, all the work of your Show secretary and committee laid bare to the people of our town. I really hope that you who supported us enjoyed what you saw, some of you said that you would like to take part in the next one, please I hope you do. It is not difficult, just takes a bit of time and luck. Without you, our exhibitors of various ages between 4 and 84 and of our supporter, our show would not exist. It would be something of yesterday, so come on, come and give it a try. We will be waiting
for you on the 16 th of August for our 49th show.

Finally a few stats for you. There were 181 exhibits from 34 exhibitors, 6 of which were under the age of 16. We had 136 paying visitors, and the raffle raised £162 for our show.

I would like to take a moment to thank the following local businesses who provided prizes for our raffle. The Co-Operative group, Waitrose and Partners, Topstak, Hoselok Ltd, Bloms Bulbs, The Blacksmiths Arms, Waterstones, and members of our society.