Page 60 - Simply Vegetables Autumn 2024

The Southern Branch Championships 2024
Well, it is all over for another year. The team and I are exhausted, and I am trying to shrug off the desire to nod off in front of the telly, because Kelvin needs the show report tonight so it can go in this issue of SV instead of waiting for the next one. I just want to sleeeeeep!
It has been a fantastic show in so many respects and exceedingly challenging in others. The New Forest Show needed to make drastic cost cuts this year to survive. It was a case of cut costs or have no show. The veg tent was reduced to four bays instead of five. Being a “can do” team, I knew we would find a way to make a 20% smaller space work. However, I was wholly unprepared on my pre-show visit to find a vastly reduced amount of show benches too. Announcing that I didn’t have nearly enough for our exhibits, someone remarked “Well the tent is smaller, so what did you expect?” Obviously, I expected a smaller tent, full of show benches, d’uh!
It was time to pull rabbits out of hats and rattle cages. In the end, six folding tables were borrowed from Hants DA and every scrappy, leftover piece of staging was scavenged from around the showground (thanks to Annette and Michael from “Flower & Gardening” for their help sniffing these out). Some trestle tables I had ordered but been let down over, actually turned up and the electricians finally conceded to fit our power supply which they had forgotten to install. Covering everything with black fabric hid the carnage that lay beneath. It started to feel like we might be getting somewhere.
Through all this, the set-up team were absolute troopers. Sarah and Andy White from the Hants DA committee were new to the team – I hope it didn’t put them off.
From the moment the exhibitors started arriving, everything seemed to get very zen. Everything fell into place. A high
Jake Hutchings – weight lifting roots
Jan, Keith and Gordon
percentage of entries actually made it to the show benches, the quality of exhibits was wonderful and many people remarked it was the best ever plus we had attracted several new and recently absent exhibitors.
The judges did an incredible job, with no contentious decisions. Due to the incredible quality, they had to be meticulous and thorough which made opening the show a bit later than normal. Better
for providing the judges with a sumptuous breakfast when the roadblock scuppered all hope of eating at the hotel.
Nigel Gould, Lucy Nicholas and Harry Theobald did a wonderful job engaging with the public, getting them to guess the weight of the marrow and it wasn’t only the children wanting to have their photos taken with our “woolly” root veg.
that than dodgy decisions and disgruntled exhibitors. Many thanks to Barry Newman, Ian Clemens, Keith Hine, Richard Hilson, Dave Willox, Chris Spree and also to Jan Lovell for standing in for Graeme Hollingdale at the eleventh hour. Also to Judges stewards Marion Neden, John Trim, Gordon Cooper and David Shergold.
Due to the
incredible quality, they had to be meticulous and thorough which made opening the show a bit later than normal
Many thanks to all those who did such a fantastic job setting up, staffing the tent and taking down the show, in the hottest weather we can remember for a Southern Branch Championships. I am told it hit 32 degrees
C on Tuesday and we were totally melting. Wednesday and Thursday were not much cooler.
It was so humid in our
tent and tempers could easily have frayed, but the team remained friendly
Thanks also to Norman
Dickinson for results,
Helen Cox for “treasuring”
and Yvonne Newman for calligraphy and completing the prize cards under pressure.
and welcoming to visitors despite feeling physically drained. As well as those already thanked, many thanks to Kelvin Mason, Ros Holton, Sarah White, Andy White, Bob Marsh, Brenda Hope, Donald Chester, Rob Holmes, and the Brown family, Bob, Ann, Nicky, Kelly, Ellie, Mia and Millie. I hope I haven’t forgotten anyone, my apologies if I have but I am rushing to get this report to Kelvin before I turn into a pumpkin.
Last but not least, I would like to thank our sponsors for their generosity in supporting our show.
We thoroughly enjoyed hosting our visitor Geoff Hyde and hope he will visit again.
A big thanks to Barbara Gould for all her hard work as entries secretary and also
Adults love woolly roots too
60 Simply Vegetables