Our 2013 Produce Show (Saturday 17th August)
and the Open day (Sunday 18th August)
We all felt that there was a lovely atmosphere this year, right from the communal putting up of marquees on the Friday afternoon, through to packing them away on Sunday evening. Quite a number of newer members of the WGHA joined in, as well as many “regulars”. We had the highest number of people enter exhibits for several years, and a good number opened up their gardens on Sunday.
Produce was bought in from 10:00 am until 12:30. The marquee filled up and exhibits had to be shuffled to make room. The weather was good to us, the rain occurring only during the judging! As usual, we had an independent judge for the produce, who does not know the identity of the exhibitors in any category. He finished his task about 3:30 pm and then the certificates had to be written out for 1st, 2nd and commended in each of the classes, these gain 3, 2 or 1 points respectively. The points were added up, and the garden with the most points wins the Whitemoor Challenge Shield and some shop vouchers. This was won by Hilary & Phil Clare of garden 30. Second were Rachel & Sheldon of garden 84 and commended were Fran and John of garden 68.
The “Best Allotment competition” was judged by our longest serving member, Shirley Stokes. There were 22 allotments gaining maximum points from both the spring and August inspections, so a shortlist of about half of these was prepared for Shirley to view. Garden 63, tended by Wolfgang Raine and Louise Clarke was awarded the Plaque and certificate for “Best Allotment” and a Wilkos gift voucher. Second was garden 69 (Nigel, Rob & Cathy) and then garden 23 (Tony).
The Secretary’s Prize for “Best Newcomer”, a certificate and shop vouchers, went to the Ribeiro family on garden 118, who have worked really hard to turn a disused plot into a multifunctional garden.
The “Best in Show” was in the “Collection of Produce” category and went to the Nottingham Organic Gardeners team along with a certificate and a shop voucher.
The “Tallest Sunflower” category was this year sponsored by Ken & Sue Dyke of the “Roots” store in Sherwood, who donated a gallon of sunflower oil. The prize went to Hilary Clare for a height of 114 inches. If your sunflower was taller, remember, you need to enter the competition to win it!
Phil and Rachel presented the prizes and certificates to the winners, and we all enjoyed the food at the “bring and share” feast served up by Su & Hilary, especially the fruit supplied by Mr Ali.
Sunday saw a good attendance and excellent weather. Many gardeners found time to visit each other as well as showing their plots to members of the public. Charlie provided a shuttle service so that visitors could get to the far end of the site. Refreshments were provided by a team of volunteers. There were stalls in the main car park and two groups provided musical entertainment – more detail on these when we put the photographs together on our ‘Show and Open Day page’.
Our new composting toilet with wheelchair access was much appreciated!
Check back soon for more pictures!