Page 28 - Simply Veg 4 2022

How many men - Keith, Kelvin and Nigel hang an Autopot poster
John and Julie with their Autopot prize for large onions
and Keith joined in hanging the show banners on the entrance to the veg section. Barbara set up the all-important catering area and provided refreshments to keep us all going amongst other jobs she took in her stride.
On Show Day, Ian Clemens took charge of the judges, pairing them as previously discussed with Barry and allocated the stewards to help them.
Keith Hine and Richard Hilson judged the potatoes and onions across both the NVS and New Forest open shows, then judged the Master Gardener before ending on the shallots. Jan Lovell and Marion Neden started on roots for both shows, then judged the top trays and most of
the remaining open show classes. Kelvin Mason and Paul Dalby took on the NVS collections then the remaining NVS classes and ended up judging the herbs on the open side.
It worked well having the judges work across both shows, to ensure consistency of judging. They did a wonderful job, and I am most grateful for their hard work and attention to detail to ensure the judging went smoothly and did justice to the exhibitors’ hard work producing the exhibits.
The Stewards also did a terrific job helping the judges and relaying the results; many thanks to Daphne Hope, Gordon Cooper, Brian Jeffries, and Brian Ruskin who was accompanied by his daughter Sarah. New to stewarding, Sarah was an absolute natural and a valuable member of the team.
Barbara was an absolute star once again as Entries Secretary. Her attention to detail ensured the exhibitors were correctly logged, received the correct passes to access the show, and helped Norman populate his results spreadsheet.
Norman, the show’s Technology Guru, arrived and set up his laptop, printer and various gizmos a computer wizard requires. At this point in the show, with fatigue
mounting and my brain starting to turn
to mush, I am particularly grateful for his computer knowledge and expertise which collates the results in a trice.
David Shergold stepped in to scribe winners’ names on the prize cards. These had been prepared in advance by Barry and Yvonne Newman with the class
names in beautiful calligraphy. It required someone with a good hand and impervious to pressure; there was no room for error as we could not replicate the calligraphy if a card was spoiled. David was the right man for the job.
My sincere thanks to Neil and Daphne for their valued contribution across 5 days. Neil maintained an “I’ve started so I’ll finish” approach to the Show Treasurer role, he and Daphne managed the exhibitors, handing out the entry cards carefully compiled by Barbara, and later, the prize money.
Over the course of the show, Barbara, Harry, Ros, Ted Perren, Eric Pickard, John Trim and Bob Marsh manned the tent, chatted to visitors, gave veg growing tips, promoted Hants DA and sold NVS seeds and “Getting Started” books.
Tony Stevens and Ian Clemens donated a cabbage and marrow respectively, which enabled Nigel and Harry to run the “Guess the weight” competition. They encouraged people to “Come and cuddle the cabbage” to guess the weight, and the slightly more dubious “Come and massage my marrow”.
Rob Holmes kindly explained to visitors
Sherie’s winning cucumbers
John Trim’s leeks
about carrot growing using a barrel of carrots grown by Nigel. The Brown family arrived en masse on Thursday and tackled the clear down with ease. My thanks also go to Donald and Brenda who always stay behind and help clear away.
Many thanks to Emily and Keith for their help gaining sponsorship. We are indebted to our generous sponsors and to the Southern Branch DAs who kindly contribute towards the prize money.
Special thanks to Sarah Cooper, my fantastic contact in the NF Show office, and to Beth for arranging the judges’ accommodation.
The results and photos of the exhibits are available to view on the NVS flickr account. Access these by going onto on the NVS website, then on the library tab, click into the “NVS Show photos (in flickr)” then click the link. Or just Google “NVS flickr” to bring up a link to “NVS Webmaster’s albums”.
So that is it for 2022 and the countdown begins to the show in 2023. Thanks Everyone!
Alison Clarke
Southern Championships – Show Secretary
28 Simply Vegetables
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