Flower and Produce Show 2018

Thanks to East Garston Allotment Association for organising the event and to Martyn Wright for this report.

East Garston Allotment Association Flower & Produce Show Sunday 9 September 2018

Life is full of surprises. This was the ninth year that we have held our annual Flower & Produce Show, and with a summer that resulted in the land more resembling the Sahara than the “green and pleasant” that we expect, we feared the flower and vegetable exhibits would be rather sparse this year. How wrong could we be? The support for the Show continued its upward trend with an even higher number of people entering even more classes than last year. The quality of produce actually harvested from the parched earth was amazingly high with some superb specimens of flowers, fruit and vegetables.

As well as the usual support for photography, baking and children’s entries, the newly introduced classes for art proved to be very popular and will surely be repeated in future shows.

Visitors were also treated to two highly professional demonstrations. Lorna Murray gave a fascinating tutorial on Flower Arranging. Lorna and her sister Kathryn run the Skylark Flower Company specialising in beautiful seasonal English flowers, and they also provided an incredibly colourful display of some of these, all grown in East Garston.

Another treat was an excellent seasonal Cookery demonstration given by Oliver Shute of The Wild Fork catering company. Oli specialises in cooking game, so we were shown how to produce a delicious Partridge Stroganoff as well as being able to sample some equally tasty Partridge burgers.

We are very fortunate to have Oli, Kathryn and Lorna as members of our Allotment Association.

So, another very successful and enjoyable Show that brought the families of East Garston and local villages together for an afternoon of friendly rivalry and lots of fun, all wrapped up with Pat Murphy’s legendary and highly entertaining auction of all the produce to raise funds for the Association.

Finally, our thanks to all those who sponsored the show, judged the entries, helped in running the day, and most importantly, those who actually entered the exhibits. Without you, there wouldn’t be much of a show!

The list of winners and a selection of photos can be found below.

Martyn Wright

Results – EG Flower & Produce Show 2018 - Children's Classes

Results EG Flower & Produce Show 2018 - Open Classes       

Class Description		Winner	Runner up
Vegetables & Fruit
	5 Potatoes	Ray Plowman	Sue Lawrence
	5 French beans	Augusta Cobbold	Val & Monty
	5 Runner beans	Martyn Wright	Sue Lawrence
	5 Tomatoes	Martyn Wright	Sue Lawrence
	3 Courgettes	Sue Lawrence	Val & Monty
	3 Onions	Justin Percival	Ray Plowman
	5 Shallots	Ray Plowman	Martyn Wright
	2 Parsnips	Ray Plowman	Martyn Wright
	3 Carrots	Henry Matysek	Ray Plowman
	3 Beetroot	Martyn Wright	Ray Plowman
	1 Sweetcorn cob	Vanessa Lee	Richard Talmage
	1 Cabbage	Martyn Wright	Richard Talmage
	1 Butternut or other Squash	Nigel Gay	Vanessa Lee
	Vegetable collection,	Martyn Wright	Vanessa Lee
	10 Raspberries	Nigel Gay	Ann Phillips
	3 Apples	Jackie Breadmore	Sue Lawrence
	3 Pears	Caroline Bayly	Vikki Brooks
	Plate of mixed soft fruit	Martyn Wright
	Longest Cucumber	Justin Percival	Sue Lawrence
	Longest Bean	Ray Plowman	Sue Lawrence
	Heaviest Marrow	Karen Sperrey	Mr & Mrs Warrick
	Biggest Pumpkin	Ray Plowman	Joanne Rabbitts
	A perfect specimen! –	Roger Frith	Val & Monty
	Disaster Class!	Sue Lawrence	Bev Barrett
Flowers, home grown. A vase of:-
	1 single Rose	Roger Frith	Dawn Groves
	3 Roses of different varieties	Colin Pounds	Diane Vaughan
	2 Gladioli spikes	Jackie Frith
	3 Dahlias	Kathryn & Lorna Murray	Diane Vaughan
	7 Sweet Peas	Martyn Wright	Vanessa Lee
	1 Hydrangea bloom	Roger Frith	Lorna Murray
	A collection of flowers	Jackie Frith	Flanners

 

Class Description		Winner	Runner up
Flower Arrangements
	“Season of mists”	Dianna Pilling	Sally Wright
	Dinner table	Karen Sperrey	Dianna Pilling
	“All white”	Sally Wright	Karen Sperrey
	Miniature arrangement:	Linda Maynard	Jackie Frith
Cookery
	A White Loaf	Vanessa Lee	Alan Breadmore
	A Wholemeal Loaf	Monty	Alan Breadmore
	A Cherry Cake	Bev Barrett
	A Victoria Sponge	Vanessa Lee	Katherine Ashman
	A Fruit Cake	Bev Barrett
	4 Chocolate Brownies	Katherine Ashman
	4 Plain Scones	Oli Shute
	4 Muffins	Victoria Shute	Bev Barrett
	4 Rock cakes	Terry Maynard
	Jar of Jam or Jelly	Bev Barrett	Joanne Rabbitts
	Jar of Marmalade	Dermot Tredget
	Jar of Chutney	Terry Maynard
	A Quiche	Bev Barrett	Terry Maynard
Photography
	A Portrait	Sarah Reeves	Josie Taylor
	A Landscape/Waterscape	Sarah Reeves	Martyn Wright
	Night time	Martyn Wright	Sarah Reeves
	Animals/Birds/Wildlife	Sarah Reeves	Martyn Wright
	Any subject	Vikki Brooks	Sarah Reeves
Art & Craft
	Painting: Portrait –	Vanessa Lee	Theresa Hing
	Painting: Oil or acrylic	Carolyn Page	Robert Glover
	Painting: Water colour	Jane Matysek	Jon Hing
	A Drawing	Robert Glover
	A piece of sculpture	Sarah Whent