Our Mini Show has, for several years, been held at Trelawney Garden Centre, Wadebridge however, this year due to commercial pressures we were told with less than 24 hours notice before setting up the show that they could not accommodate us.  The space allotted to our show would have been sufficient enough for about 30 vases of entries.

 I would like to say a special thanks to Simon Nute and David Jasper who, after receiving this news, drove and rung around to try and locate another venue – not an easy task at 3pm on a Friday afternoon with the show setup needing to start at 10.00am on the Saturday.

 They did it however and succeeded in relocating the show to the Shuttleworth Hall in Sladesbridge.

The hall was superb and we had a fantastic show with an unexpected high number of interested visitors.  Thanks Simon for getting the change of venue mentioned several times on both Radio Cornwall and Pirate FM.  Thanks also to the staff at Trelawney who placed posters everywhere informing the public of the change of venue – most of them were also very disappointed that our show was not being held there.

 Thanks also to everyone that helped setup the show and the committee members that were there to dismantle everything at the end on the Sunday including Simon and Donna Stidwell.

The show was brilliantly organised with over 200 vases entered and ran smoothly thanks to the hard work of Pat and Simon.

 Most points in the show was awarded to Roy Knight and runner up most points awarded to David Jasper.  Best Exhibit in Show was won by Dr Mike Bryant with a fantastic vase of 3 blooms of Collerette which he had bred himself.  Second best Exhibit in Show was won by David Jasper with a vase of 3 blooms of Pompom Moorplace.

 The bowl class, judged by public, was won by Pat Knight.  Prize cards were also awarded to Walter Read, Terry Stephens, Stuart Inch, Roy Knight, David Jasper, Che Stephenson, Julie Inch, Mike Bryant, Simon Stidwell and Nathan Mitchell.  The trophies were presented by Madge Howard from the Wadebridge Garden Society.

Our main show, held over the August Bank Holiday weekend, was also at a new venue this year, although we had been planning this for nearly a year.  I would like to say a huge thank you to Alasdair Moore, Katie and all the staff members at the Lost Gardens of Heligan for all the help they gave us in making our first show there such a great success.

I also thank Pat Knight for all her hard work in organising the show and being there everyday in the lead up and on the show days.

 Thanks to Simon Nute and John Colling for designing some great “pop-up” stands which proved a hit with the many thousands of visitors to the show.  Simon also produced a great TV display of photos and videos.

 Thanks to Roy Knight for his help with making the new tiered staging and his help with the show.  Also, I would like to thank Mike Bryant, David and Lorraine Jasper, Simon and Donna Stidwell and Terry Stephens for all their help during the show days and for being there to help dismantle the show on the Monday.

 Not only was the show itself a huge success, with over 330 entries, but everyone was delighted and surprised by the wow factor when they visited both the show and the walled garden where they found a display of over 1000 dahlias in flower.  All of these plants were provided by the society, namely myself, Roy Knight and Mike Bryant.  Thanks to those that helped with both providing the plants and planting them all.

 The trophies were presented by Alasdair Moore, Manager of Estates & Gardens at The Lost Gardens of Heligan and the results were as follows:

 Cyril Watkins was awarded Best Vase of Small Cactus in Show (Polventon Joel, Kiwi Gloria and Barbarry Pip), Cornish Seedling Trophy, Cyril Watkins Trophy – Open Small Decorative (Polventon Joel), Harold Wilkinson Trophy – Open Ball (Seedling and Marys Jomanda), Irene Batson Trophy – Open Medium Cactus (Hillcrest Candy), Karsalan Challenge Cup (Polventon Joel, Kiwi Gloria and Barbarry Pip), Best Exhibit in Class 22 (Small Cactus) (Kiwi Gloria), NDS Silver Medal for best exhibit in Show (Polventon Joel, Kiwi Gloria and Barbarry Pip), NDS Bronze Medal for best runner up exhibit in Show (Kiwi Gloria), Penhaze Trophy – Open Miniature Decorative (Polventon Kerren and Marston George) and the The Penhill Trophy – Open Small Cactus (Kiwi Gloria).

 Roy Knight was awarded Best in Class 27 – Fimbriated (Raspberry Ripple), Best Vase of Poms in Show (Noreen, Willos Knight and Gurtla Twilight), Best Vase of Small Semi-Cactus in Show (Cherwell Skylark), Ivor Kitchener Trophy – Open Waterlilly (Taratahi Ruby), Most points in Section C – Members, Most points in Section E – Single Bloom and The Pompon Trophy – Open Pompon (Noreen, Willos Knight and Gurtla Twilight).

 John Patrick was awarded The Ray Adley Memorial Trophy for Best Vase in Show (Ryecroft Brenda T), Best Vase of Small Decorative in Show (Ryecroft Brenda T), Clarence Ellis Memorial Trophy,

Eileen Boswell Trophy – Open Miniature Cactus (Carle Exe and Ryecroft Pixie), The Cornish Open Championship (Sir Alf Ramsey, Ryecroft Helen, Ryecroft Brenda T and Deborahs Kiwi) and The Cornish Miniature Championship Trophy (Jomanda, Ryecroft Jan and Tom McClelland).

 Congratulations also to Donna Stidwell for most points in Section D – Novice, Mike Bryant for winning the Collerette Trophy (seedling) and Cat Miles for the best exhibit in Section D – Novice (Moorplace).

 Other prize cards were awarded to:  Cat Miles, Che Stephenson, Colin Skelly & Julie Kendall (Eden Project), Cyril Watkins, David Jasper, Donna Stidwell, John Patrick, Julie Inch, Mike Bryant, Nathan Mitchell, Roy Knight, Simon Stidwell, Stuart Inch and Terry Stephens.

 The results of the Bowl of Dahlias class judged by the public were as follows: Saturday 25 August – 1st Bowl 10 Lorraine Jasper (156 votes) (winning the Bruallen Trophy), 2nd Bowl 15 Pat Knight (100 votes) and 3rd Roy Knight (56 votes).  Sunday 26 August – 1st Bowl 15 Pat Knight (67 votes), 2nd Bowl 10 Lorraine Jasper (58 votes) and 3rd Bowl 13 Roy Knight (33 votes) and Monday 27 August – 1st Bowl 15 Pat Knight (111 votes), 2nd Bowl 10 Lorraine Jasper (99 votes) and 3rd Bowl 13 Roy Knight (76 votes).  The total number of votes cast over the three days was 1260.

 Congratulations and thanks to everyone that took part and I look forward to seeing everyone again in 2019.

Show Photos