Page 14 - Simply Vegetables Winter 2024/25

NVS National Championships 2024
at Ardingly
It was just over two years in the planning and with a couple of hiccups along the way, the 2024 NVS National Championships were held at the South of England Showground in Ardingly
over the weekend of the 21st and 22nd September. Originally it was to be
held at the RHS Gardens Wisley but circumstances changed all of that and after discounting holding it the New Forest and Hampshire Show at the end of July a new venue had to be found. As I sit on the South of England Agricultural Society (SEAS) Horticulture Committee, I approached SEAS asking if it would be possible to hold the Championships at the Ardingly Showground to which they agreed. Our original dates of 21st & 22nd September fortunately coincided with the South of England Autumn Show and Horse Trials, so we would be part of a much larger event with hopefully, a big public foot-fall.
With the venue secured, it was a case of where on the Showground to hold it. Size wise, the Robins Building was originally selected, and a layout devised, however after the 2023 South of England Autumn Show we were offered use of the top part of the Abergavenny Building, which is totally enclosed and importantly, wind proof, which the Robins Building is not. With the building now decided on, all of the other matters relating to the Championships were discussed and agreed with SEAS,
i.e. overnight staging, passes for Show
and NVS Officials, judges, stewards and exhibitors. After several iterations, a final layout was agreed and tables, barriers, black cloth etc ordered. Now all we needed were members entry forms to come in. After a few worrying nights as the entry deadline approached, in they came and
we finally ended up with nearly 50 entrants and just under 300 exhibits.
Setup commenced on Thursday, 19th September and continued on Friday 20th, until we were all ready for staging to commence at 4pm, then exhibitors started to roll in to fill the benches. I left site at around 11pm on the Friday and returned at 7am on Saturday morning
and joy oh joy, the benches were pretty much full. A few last-minute adjustments by the exhibitors and they were all kicked out at 8am. In rolled the judges straight from their breakfast in the Stockman’s Building, final pairings advised, clipboards and results cards given to the judge’s stewards and off they went at 8.30am. One standout comment from all who attended was a thank you for the copious cups of tea/coffee available to all throughout the weekend (and setup), with the hot water boiler on the go 24/7, this was especially pertinent from those who had travelled
a distance to be greeted with a drink on arrival.
One feature of the Championships
was the low barrier segregating our
Show area from the rest of the building
and public, and I was amazed at the line-up of public viewing the judging as
it progressed sometimes two or three
deep and they were all chomping at the
bit to get admittance (Maybe something
to consider for future Championships). Finally at 11.30am, with judging completed, the Most Meritorious Exhibit agreed and rosette’s and place cards on the benches, the barriers were down and in flooded the public to Oohs and Arrs, especially from the children, who had never seen such quality and in some cases size of vegetables before. It was most interesting over the
two days to hear some of the comments from the public, some asking how do they get big onions, leeks and roots with others asking if they can be eaten. I do believe that for regular attendees of the Autumn Show, they will be disappointed that it is for one year only.
The Saturday evening social event was held in the Stockman’s Building where a finger buffet was provided with plenty of wine on the table. As there was no liquor license available, members were also invited to bring their own alcoholic drinks to supplement the wine. Once eating had finished, Simon Smith presented his quiz, and apart from some of his “Medwyn Williams” style jokes, received with groans and moans, was very successful with everyone split into about eight teams.
The “Team to Beet” team eventually won the quiz after a close-run thing between
2 or 3 teams. Once the quiz had finished, Chris Spree, our Sponsorship Manager set up a snail racing table and provided a number of pedigree racing snails specially bred from the depths of Kent, known as The Garden of England. Each team was made up of Country members, so we had Welsh, Scottish, Irish and English teams,
14 Simply Vegetables