Saturday September 18th was blustery and had a distinctive autumn feel, totally in keeping with our last show of the season which was held in the village hall. The Autumn Show was well attended and the hall was filled with a fine array of vegetables and colourful flowers.
Frank Venables carried off most of the silverware thanks to a fine display of vegetables and flowers while his wife Linda scored well in the domestic section. Frank won the Timberlake cup for the best onions in the show, the G A Usher Challenge Bowl for the most points in the flower section as well as the Silver Rose Bowl for the highest number of points in the combined vegetable, fruit and flower sections. On top of all that Frank also receives a load of manure courtesy of Roger Pritchard to help him prepare his garden for doing it all again next year. Mike Leon was a worthy runner up in the competition for most points in the show and took away the W Bates Cup while Mick Langstons fine display of dahlias was rewarded with the Dahlia Society Bronze Medal.
The Autumn Show is also the time to reward consistent performance throughout the year and Kathy Ward won the Peter Franz cup for the most points scored in the domestic section during the year while Leigh Tyler took the Junior Challenge Cup for the most points in the Junior section. We are always blest with some wonderful displays of flower arranging at our shows and this was to prove no exception with Eileen Foulgham once again showing her superiority by winning the C P Brousson Challenge Trophy for her efforts in these classes.
Congratulations to all the trophy winners and well done to all those who took part in what proved to be a most successful show. A special mention too for Pete Dormer who entered several vegetable sections for the first time and whose successes included a win in the well-contested tomato class. Well done Pete.
It may be the end of the showing season but of course gardening is an all year activity and there is still plenty of work to do. The Society shop remains open until the end of October from 10.OOam to I l.3Oam each Saturday morning and dont forget that your Society membership card can give you valuable discounts when you are stocking up on your spring flowering bulbs at several of our local garden centres and nurseries.
John Hopkins