2023 SUMMER SHOW
Our Summer Show was on Saturday 9th September, the hottest day of 2023. It was a remarkable end to a very unusual growing season. The committee had concerns that, after a very hot June, the cooler and wetter months of July and August, fewer exhibits would be entered; however, these worries proved unwarranted, for there was an excellent display of flowers, fruit and vegetables on day.
Clearly, 2023 was an excellent year for growing dahlias for visitors were greeted by a spectacle of colours from shades of purple, riots of reds and oranges all mixed with a variety of sedate pastel shades. Eddy Smith won first prize for his exquisite deep purple pom-pom dahlias, whilst Ken Elms gained a first for his large, ostentatious cactus-type dahlias bearing outer apricot petals turning into deep red centres. Dahlias in all classes were stunning and a pleasure to behold.
The were some magnificent specimens in the vegetable classes too, and stiff competition to win first prize among those entering: squashes, runner beans, French beans, beetroot, carrots, potatoes and onions. A good selection of tomatoes was on display: it is always difficult for the amateur grower to find five tomato fruits that are identical in both shape, size and maturity. A wide selection of apples there were too, despite that fact that this year we have been plagued by wasps and hornets. As evidence of global warming, there were bunches of ripe grapes and figs in the ‘Any Other Fruit’ category. The judge commented that the fruit and vegetable exhibits were of a high quality and as good as any he had seen this year.
The Homecraft section had a number of younger members enter, providing competition for the more seasoned competitors. The photography competition produced some charming images. In the ‘Single Flower’ category a delicate pale-yellow and white iris on a drab grey background won a first prize and the winner of the ‘Wildlife’ subject was an image of a shy frog. The theme ‘Garden Tools’ allowed the entrants to use their imaginations and an image of three well-used, pretty ancient shovels and spades leaning against an old shed was most evocative and caught the judges’ attention.
The Junior competition to construct a monster from fruit and vegetables was great fun allowed the children to use their imaginations and come up with some very scary-looking creatures. Cold Ash Pre-School took part with some very spiny specimens you would not like to meet. To complete the afternoon, Jane and Natasha ran a bijou plant stall selling a range of plants that had been grown by members.
Cup Winners:
Bryce Hamblin Cup – most points in vegetable collections Grahame Collins
Sir Henry Barclay Cup – most points in the Vegetable Classes 1-25 Lawrence Grew
Attfield Cup – most points in the Dahlia classes Grahame Collins
Dawson Cup – most points in the Flower Section Jane Geater
Mann Cup – most points in the Vegetable Classes V1-24 & Flowers Lawrence Grew
Edwin Etteridge Cup – the best Horticultural Exhibit Eddy Smith
Acland Cup – most points in the Homecraft Section Amy Collins
Carol Child Cup – for the Best Horticultural Photograph Anna Cload
Mrs A M Collins Cup – most points in Photography Section (exp P1) Amy Collins
Herbert Cup – for most points in the Show Lawrence Grew
Dorothy Walters Cup – most points in the combined Spring and Summer shows, excluding Vegetable Collections Lawrence Grew
RHS Banksian Medal – exhibitor winning most points in the Horticultural Classes, including collections. Winners in previous two years are not eligible. Grahame Collins
Rhona Tucker, The Gardening Club chairwoman, was delighted with the show and thanked everyone for their hard work in making the day such a success. She commented: ‘Overall this show provided an excellent example of what villagers produce in their gardens.’
2022 SUMMER SHOW
The Summer Show held on Saturday 10th September was a subdued affair, during the period of national mourning, but was well attended, with 17 adult exhibitors and lots of exhibits.
The high temperatures earlier in the growing season, the long drought and then the more recent torrential rain had made it an exceptionally challenging growing period, resulting in fewer flower entries than usual and some missing flower and vegetable classes. Roses especially had not survived the onslaught of the rain. Congratulations to everyone who was able to display what they had grown!
There were some wonderful exhibits; I especially liked the beautiful dahlias and the bowls of summer flowers. I was impressed by the larger vegetables, such as Grahame’s longest carrot, Laurence’s squash and Clive’s marrows – not easy with the heat, drought and the subsequent hosepipe ban. Chris Jones’ runner beans were decided by the two horticultural judges to be the best horticultural exhibit in the show. The judges commented “Well done. Very good for this year.” The photography classes were well represented and there were some lovely photographs, my favourite was a close-up of a dragonfly, taken by Daniel Collins. It was nice to have Homecraft in the show again and the Bara Brith was the most popular homecraft entry, with six for the judge to choose from.
This year we also included junior classes. Lots of children, mostly from Cold Ash Pre-School, had enjoyed themselves making monsters out of fruit and/or vegetables, making a colourful display – well done to them all. Judging the entries was tricky, as they were all very good. Ezra won first prize in the aged under 5 years category for his monster with plum tomato ears, Gloria won 2nd prize for her monster with baby sweetcorn tentacles and Elizabeth Grew won 3rd prize for her monster with gold courgette spines. Albert Grew won 1st prize in the aged 5 to 7 years category for his monster with baby carrot spines and legs.
The full list of cup and medal winners:
Bryce Hamblin Cup – most points in the Vegetable Collections Grahame Collins
Sir Henry Barclay Cup – most points in the Vegetable Classes 1-25 Laurence Grew
Attfield Cup – most points in the Dahlia classes Jane Geater
Dawson Cup – most points in the Flower Section Chris Jones
Mann Cup – most points in the Vegetable Classes V1-24 & Flowers Laurence Grew
Edwin Ettridge Cup – the best Horticultural Exhibit Chris Jones
Acland Cup – most points in the Homecraft Section Jacqueline Smith
Carol Child Cup for the Best Horticultural Photograph Daniel Collins
Mrs A M Collins Cup – most points in the Photography Section (exp P1) Amy Lamden
Herbert Cup for most points in the Show Laurence Grew
Dorothy Walters Cup for the most points in the combined Spring
and Summer shows, excluding Vegetable Collections Chris Jones
RHS Banksian Medal for the exhibitor who won the most points
in the Horticultural Classes, including collections. Chris Jones
Winners in previous two years are not eligible
Spring Show 2022
After an absence of two years, it was lovely to be able to hold the Spring Show again on Saturday 2nd April and to see so many people. The recent warm spell and subsequent colder weather meant that we had a range of interesting flowers and flowering shrubs, including fritillaries and tulips, primulas, magnolias and camellias. Beautiful narcissi included some later-flowering varieties, together with the usual trumpet and cup forms. There were some beautiful floral arrangements – I especially liked Jane Geater’s ‘Spring Green’ entry. We also had some wonderful handcraft exhibits, including some imaginative designs.
There were 100 entries at the show, and four different winners of the cups:
- Grahame Collins won the Hardwicke cup for the most points in the Narcissi classes.
- Chris Jones won the Hillman cup for the most points in the Flower section.
- Jane Geater won the Mann cup for the most points in the Floral Art Section. It was a close competition and she won by a single point.
- June Hiscock won the MacDonnell cup for the best handcraft exhibit for the second successive year, this time with her most unusual painting combining a person in profile and a tree.
I would like to thank the judges – Kelvin Mason (Flowers), Diana Amesbury (Handcrafts) and Becky Boswell (Floral Art), the exhibitors, the committee and everyone who helped on the day. In the afternoon sunshine we had lots of visitors to the hall. Our plant stall was busy. The sale of seed packets raised £28 for the Newbury Foodbank, there were wooden hedgehog houses, bird nest boxes and even a wooden wheelbarrow planter available made by Alan Smith. We also had delicious cakes, refreshments and a raffle. The children were very busy with colouring activities, too.
A very enjoyable day was had by all!
Summer Show 14th September 2019
We had a good level of participation, with 21 adult exhibitors, 6 juniors and a total of 168 items on display. The mostly dry summer had made for challenging growing conditions for some vegetables; however, the flowers were spectacular, especially the Dahlias. One member was overheard commenting that they looked just as good as those we had seen at the National Dahlia Show at RHS Wisley the previous week! There were lovely Fuchsias, a beautiful Orchid, lots of wonderful flowers. The vegetable collections were fiercely contested with nine entries. Ray Plowman’s root vegetables were huge, as were his leeks. Pauline Cload exhibited some blue potatoes – apparently they retain their colour when cooked! The homecraft section was hotly contested, too, with several entries for bread, scones and biscuits, jams, jellies and fruit curds. The home-made liqueur class was popular with those committee members who were lucky enough to judge it! The juniors aged 8-11 had painted a flower on a pebble – very pretty.
Ray Plowman – a new exhibitor at our show – won the most points in several of the cup classes, however the Society Rules state that only members can win cups. As he chose not to join (he lives in Great Shefford), he was not eligible. In view of this, the cup winners are listed below:
Juniors – Jarratt Cup for juniors aged 8 – 11: Anna Cload
Bryce Hamblin Cup for most points in the Vegetable Collections: Grahame Collins
Sir Henry Barclay Cup for most points in the Vegetable Classes 1 – 25: Trevor Eggleton
Attfield Cup for most points in the Dahlia classes: Mark Elms
Dawson Cup for most points in the Flower Section: Mark Elms
Mann Cup for most points in the V1-25 and Flower Section: Mark Elms
Edwin Ettridge Cup for the Best Horticultural Exhibit: Mark Elms
Acland Cup for the most points in the Homecraft Section: Jacqueline Smith
Carol Child Cup for the Best Horticultural Photograph: Amy Lamden
Mrs A M Collins Cup for the most points in the Photography classes P2-P7: Amy Lamden
Herbert Cup for the most points in the entire Show: Trevor Eggleton
Dorothy Walters Cup for the most points from the Spring, Rose and Summer Shows combined, excluding Collections: Marguerite Shave
RHS Banksian Medal for the most points in the Horticultural Classes including collections: Trevor Eggleton
For two of the cups the point scores were tied between Mark Elms and Trevor Eggleton and we had to count the number of first prizes to decide the winner.
Many thanks to the judges – Homecraft: Jenny Butler, Flowers: Roger Butler, Vegetables and Collections: Eric Pickard, Photographs: Jeremy Dick, Juniors: Molly Davison. My thanks also go to everyone who helped on the day in their various roles and to the many exhibitors without whom we would not have had such a good show!
The photos of the show are on the Summer Show page.
Rose and Sweet Pea show 21st June 2019
On Friday 21st June, we held our Rose and Sweet Pea Show in the Fisher Room. The judge, Ray Broughton, judged in front of the audience, giving us the benefit of his expertise. There was a good selection of flowers on display – roses, sweet peas, shrubs, perennials, summer bulbs and, for the first time, we included summer berries. It was good to see some new exhibitors – all of whom won prizes. The judge complimented us on ‘a good village show’. He commented on the quality of the exhibits, especially Mark Elms’ sweet peas, which he said were of National Level; this is praise indeed!
The Laurence Date Cup for most points in the show was won by Rhona Tucker. The Sinclair Bowl for the best rose exhibit was also won by Rhona for her lovely bowl of roses. The Siddons Cup for the most points in the sweet pea classes was narrowly won by Grahame Collins, with nine points from three entries, compared to Mark Elms’ eight points from two entries. Many thanks to everyone who took part and who helped organise the event. The evening was rounded off with an interesting talk by Ray Broughton on lawn care and upkeep.
Summer Show 8th September 2018
Cold Ash Horticultural Society Summer Show was held on Saturday 8th September. We had a good selection of exhibits. I would like to congratulate the growers – after the long hot summer we’ve just experienced, each horticultural exhibit represented an awful lot of extra work to keep the plants healthy and growing steadily. The judges agreed that Mark Elms’ Spray Chrysanthemums were the best they’d seen this year.
In the Homecraft section, you could tell that we are in “Bake Off” season – we had five cottage loaves, seven plates of cookies and seven vegetable cakes, with varying ingredients. It is amazing what vegetables can be used in cakes!
The juniors were separated into two age groups: under 8 years and 8 – 11 years. They made monsters or aliens or animals out of fruit and vegetables. I particularly liked Katharina’s tortoise, Shelley!
I’d like to thank the judges: Homecraft: Jenny Butler, Flowers: Roger Butler, Vegetables and Collections: Eric Pickard, Photographs: David Smith, Juniors: Molly Davison, and also the committee members who acted as stewards.
My thanks to Jane, Marguerite and their junior helpers on the very successful plant stall. I’d also like to thank Anne and Janet for doing the refreshments and everyone who contributed the delicious cakes.
Here’s hoping that the growing conditions won’t be quite so challenging next year!
List of cup winners:
Juniors – Herbert Cup for juniors up to age 7 : Katharina Pongratz
Juniors – Jarratt Cup for juniors aged 8 – 11 : Skye Collins
……
Bryce Hamblin Cup for most points in the Vegetable Collections: Len Beach
Sir Henry Barclay Cup for most points in the Vegetable Classes V1-V25: Jane Geater
Attfield Cup for most points in the Dahlia classes: Grahame Collins
Dawson Cup for most points in the Flower Section: Mark Elms
Mann Cup for most points in the V1-V25 and Flower Sections: Mark Elms
Edwin Ettridge Cup for the Best Horticultural Exhibit: Mark Elms
Acland Cup for the most points in the Homecraft Section: Jacqueline Smith
Carol Child Cup for the Best Horticultural Photograph: Marguerite Shave
Mrs A M Collins Cup for the most points in the Photography classes P2-P7: Amy Lamden
Herbert Cup for the most points in the entire Show: Mark Elms
Dorothy Walters Cup for the highest total points in the Spring, Rose and Summer Shows, excluding Collections: Grahame Collins
RHS Banksian Medal for the most points in the Horticultural Classes including collections: Mark Elms
Rose & Sweet Pea Show 22nd June 2018
The judge, Ray Broughton, complimented us on the quality of our exhibits – some of which he said could have won prizes at the recent National Show!
The cup winners were:
- Sinclair Bowl for best Rose exhibit – Natasha Wilton
- Laurence Date Cup for the most points in the show – Rhona Tucker (this included several first prizes for her roses and also a first prize for her clematis).
- Siddons Cup for the most points in the Sweet Pea classes – Grahame Collins
Ray rounded off the evening with an amusing presentation of his experiences of 35 years of judging and public speaking at floral events.
Rhona Tucker, our Chair, thanked Ray, the exhibitors, the committee and the audience for a most enjoyable evening.
Spring Show 24th March 2018
There was a lovely display of floral exhibits including: Narcissi, Hyacinths and other pot plants, plus some gorgeous Camellias, Hellebores and other spring flowers. Members must have made use of horticultural fleece, greenhouses and poly tunnels to protect plants, plus indoor heating, where necessary, to encourage bulbs into full bloom just in time for the show considering we had just had several inches of snow the week before.
The floral art classes were very popular with miniature arrangements including eggs, pretty decorated Easter bonnets and spring arrangements. We also had handcraft exhibits, including a lovely tapestry sampler, a beautiful patchwork quilt, knitting, paintings and drawings. The categories for woodwork, metalwork and beading did not attract entries.
The cup winners were:
- Hardwicke Cup for most points in the Narcissi classes: Grahame Collins
- Hillman Cup for most points in the Flower classes: Molly Davison & Cheryl Green
- Macdonnell Cup for the best Handcraft exhibit: Anne Wallace (a wonderful patchwork quilt)
- Mann Cup for most points in the Floral Art classes: Rhona Tucker
Kate Miller, our Show Secretary, thanked the judges: Kelvin Mason, Diana Amesbury and Barbara Hunt, the exhibitors, the committee, the cake makers and everyone else who helped on the day.