Showtime

The Horticultural and Craft show on Saturday was a great success.

It's a lot of hard work organising and making sure all goes to plan, but well worth the effort.

So many excited faces of the exhibitors as they pick up their winning rosettes and trophies and they tell you all about the gardening and craft plans they have for next years show.  Seeing what others enter, you can almost hear the cogs in their brains whirling away with excitement for next time.

 

There were 17 shows within 30 miles of ours this weekend alone.  Fully qualified judges who are trained to Royal Horticultural Society rules and standards and follow a 3 year course to become qualified judges are booked well in advance to attend.  We were a little down on entries from last year, a couple of major entrants were sadly unwell or in hospital and a couple were having a late holiday but there were still lots of nice things to see on the show benches.

We have lots of ladies who do some wonderful crafts in the community

Home Sewn Veg!

 

DD did well, her raspberry jam won 1st and also her decorated cup cakes took a 1st place rosette, she was thrilled.

Hubby only entered his tomatoes and cucumbers this year.  Both came 1st and he won the trophy for the best vegetable with his cucumbers. 

 

Disaster vegetable is a funny one, this carrot made us smile ...

 

 

Flower arrangement on a standard cup and saucer is a fun category

 

and this years themed floral decoration was Halloween

 

Shores was my only entry this year.  It did look lovely all framed and sitting on the bench. 

It's not the best feeling to win best hobby and handicraft section and also take the cup for the Best Exhibit in the Show when you're an organiser.  I tried very hard to bribe the judges after the room was re-opened after the judging had taken place to choose another winning exhibit, but they wouldn't play nicely.  You guessed it, that means the Best in Show sampler did come back home with me!

There were mutterings again about organisers not being allowed to enter as its not fair to those who are newcomers to entering, so we'll be discussing that as a committee again next year.  What's your view on that, should organisers be allowed to enter?  There are very strict guidelines for exhibiting that they adhere too and mark from.

After the show we auction off all the produce and flowers that have been exhibited and the proceeds go to a charity.  This year the money went to a local 10 year old little girl with Rhetts Syndrome.  They are trying to raise funds for a new motorised wheelchair for her and local people dug deep and we raised quite a bit to add to their fund.

Is there a show near you that you enter?  Do you go along to look or are you brave enough to enter and try to get a win?