Growing in Capel St. Mary
Show Secretary presentation 2023
Good afternoon everyone and thank you for attending our 45th Village Show. This is my 8th year as Show Secretary and I cannot believe it has been so many. Every year I learn new things about the organising of the Show or we change the way we do a part of it to improve the experience to all. This year, for example, as part of a ‘comments’ sheet from 2022, there were remarks and suggestions as to how we could improve the organising and layout of the Photography section. It had up to this year been a bit of a scrabble to find a space on the board and somehow secure the entry form to the photograph. The photographs were arranged in an ad hoc manner, looked rather messy and definitely needed improvement. Thanks to Phil and Jenny Hickley, Martyn Dowsett, Philippa and Mike Brandon and myself, we now have a much-improved system that is less stressful for the entrant as well as the Stewards, whose job it is now to mount the photos in a tidy and organised system.
Our Oasis program that we use to run the Show is also tweaked every year to incorporate additions to the system to make it work for us and we have Martyn to thank for this. I know I certainly keep him on his toes with demands to make my life easier when sorting out aspects of the Show.
Our Sponsorship every year is vital to allow us to run the Show and without the huge efforts of Angie Armitage we would not have such brilliant prizes to provide you when you are lucky enough to win, from the sale of our Draw ticket.
Without our Treasurer Geoff Cox, we would not be so organised in sorting out the show finances and making sure all those of you who have entered, have your winnings before you leave the Show. There are many hours spent behind the scenes ensuring the books are in order, thank-you Geoff.
This is just a sample of committee and volunteers involved.
Now let’s look at numbers… We had another good response to 2023 with 76 Entrants providing 581 Entries to the Show. These numbers are on par compared to previous years.
Comparing the figures with last year…..
Vegetables Group A We were up 16
Mammoth Group B Was a record year with 41 entries. Up by 20.
In this Mammoth Group there were 3 Record Breakers.
A Marrow entered by David Page with a weight of 35.4k (77.88lb). This broke David’s previous record of 31.95k (70.29lb) in 2017.
A Truss of tomatoes entered by Andrew Warner weighing 2.3k (5.06lb). This broke a 2006 record previously held by David Cole of 2.12k (4.66lb).
A Kohl Rabi entered by Rob Birnie weighing 6.1k (13.42lb). This broke Andrew Tokelys’ record in 2019 of 4.9k (10.78lb), when we added this vegetable to our Mammoth Records.
Longest Runner Bean Group D we were up by 8 this year.
The Novelty Classes in Group I were down by 16.
Group K Flowers & Foliage were down by 5.
Cookery Group L were up by 8..
Group M Handicrafts were up by 7
Group N Art were up by 3
The most surprising change in numbers compared to last year and previous years was Group 0 Photography. We were down by 64 entries. We wondered if this was the subjects and hope that next year the titles will improve this normally very popular group of classes.
The final Groups P & Q The Childrens classes were on par with last year and it was great to see photography subjects included which has proved popular.
Opening the doors to the Village Hall on Friday from 1600-1800hrs is becoming increasingly popular particularly for those with large amounts of entries and/or who were unable to get here early Saturday morning. I think this change is now here to stay. There is a lovely calm relaxed atmosphere with entrants focusing on placing or arranging their entries without the rush that is more apparent on Saturday mornings in some cases.
Now to the Presentations
Before we start the Presentations can I say a big thank you to all who have helped us create another brilliant Show. Committee, allotment members, volunteers and the people who come and look around and support us. Thank You.
Wendy Russell
Show Secretary
This year's winner of the prestigious RHS Banksian Medal presented to the person winning the most prize money in the Vegetable, Fruit and Floral classes was David Page, and here he is with his medal
David Page
The following resources have been made available for download
Click here for details of the major prize winners
Click here for details of the winners of the individual classes
Click here for the Best Kept Allotment competition
Click here for details of the Mammoth Vegetable Record Breakers (We had three new records this year, Truss Of Tomatoes, Kohl Rabi and Marrow)
The winner of the "Name The Teddy" competition was Chloe Lieberman, the teddies name was "Lilah"
The winner of the "Football Game" was Sandi Uttens and the winning team was "Blackburn Rovers"
The Prize Draw winners were as follows:
|
|
Prize |
Winner |
|
1 |
Tubtrug |
Colin Ball |
|
2 |
Tubtrug |
Mr Cobner |
|
3 |
Tubtrug |
Margaret Brazier |
|
4 |
Tubtrug |
Jo Crapnell |
|
5 |
Tubtrug |
Mr G Baldry |
|
6 |
Tubtrug |
Sue Dale |
|
7 |
Wildlife Camera |
Mr B Soulsby |
|
8 |
£25 Bypass Nurseries Voucher |
Charles Heath |
|
9 |
Beth Chatto Voucher |
Jo Crapnell |
|
10 |
Knoll Gardens Tickets |
Mr & Mrs Lockwood |
|
11 |
£30 Gladwells Voucher |
Mike Garrod |
|
12 |
Afternoon Tea Voucher from Capel Bakery + Kneeler from Harrod Horticultural |
Jackie Woolener |
|
13 |
£25 Place for Plants Voucher |
Mary Setterfield |
|
14 |
Bay Tree and Pot |
Colin Hayward |
|
15 |
Bouquet of Flowers |
Mr Page |
|
16 |
Basket of Fruit |
Baz Root |
|
17 |
2 Large Garden Pots |
Brenda Green |
|
18 |
2 Garden Torches |
T Bloomfield |
|
19 |
Pot of Chocs |
Brian Marr |
|
20 |
Pot of Chocs | Jade Boyle |
|
21 |
Pot of Chocs | Gordon Mower |
| 22 | Pot of Chocs | Mary Cracknell |
