Diana Frost, Chairman of Gardeners’ Club, has provided an extensive narrative entitled ‘The Gardening Year 2011’ describing events in the garden during an exceptional year with periods of sustained and intense cold during the Winter, a warm and sunny Spring with a shortage of rain, then early Summer brought warmth together with rain, whilst late Summer and early Autumn remained exceptionally warm with the ground becoming very dry. Diana’s observations and tips make good reading for both seasoned and developing gardeners alike and I hope that this will become a regular feature of the Club’s entry for the Winter Edition of the Ambo.

The above makes my task in recording the events, since the last edition of the Ambo much less onerous, as there were only two events, which are summarised below.

Tom Cole, a former BBC presenter on gardening and a member of the management team at Writtle College, gave a very polished presentation on the subject of Fruit and Vegetables, which was totally interactive with the audience throughout. It more than fulfilled the expectations of those attending and it was a great pity that there were not more people to witness such a masterful presentation.

This evening event continues to attract the largest number of members and friends at any one time. Harris McCarthy, as an eleven year old, once again secured the Domestic Trophy with a spiced apple pie. Jess Long secured four of the trophies, namely The Harold Blyth Cup, The Mary Green Cup, The Coffey Cup & the Evelyn Arnold Cup. Sean McCarthy won the The June Jones Cup and Sue Bright won the David Haylock Rose Bowl.

The Trophies presented following the judging along with those gaining second and third places were as follows:

Interspersed with the viewing and judging of the seven classes above, there were opportunities to purchase various bulbs from Diana Frost, taste a range of red and white wines as well as soft drinks dispensed by Sue Ray and complemented with some delicious warm savoury snacks with dips and the well established hedgehog of mature cheddar and pineapple prepared by Sarah –Jane Davies.

The Annual Show in the Village Hall attracted a goodly number of entries from existing and new members of the Club in the Vegetable, Salad, Fruit, Flower, Cookery and Craft Classes, plus around 300 pupils’ entries in the Children’s Classes co-ordinated by Mrs Kate Hockley, a teacher at Radwinter C of E School and further entries from other children in the village. Our particular thanks go to Mrs Hockley, a teacher at the School, and to Niki McNeill and Sara Scott, who translated those entries from the school to the display in the Village Hall. As a consequence of the high number of Children’s entries, Angela Crane, who was judging the Classes for Children Aged 8 and under, was confronted with an almost overwhelming task in itself to complete it within the usual two hours; fortunately Joan Bannister, the Craft judge had agreed to take up the 50 remaining Children’s entries for those aged 9 to 11 years. The three other judges, Duncan Gates, Claire Watkins and Mary Green had more balanced portfolios. At the public viewing of the Show in the afternoon, there were around 60 visitors over the period and most stayed on for the presentation of the Awards..

There were two new lady members competing for the first time at the Annual Show, who were highly successful. Mandy Newman, who won the Jean Goff Novice Award for an individual not having won a Club Cup before, the Sidney Haylock Cup for Vegetables, the Salad Cup and the Harding Cup for Vegetables, Salad and Fruit and Jess Long, who won the Colonel Smith Award for Flower Arrangements and the President’s Cup for the lady with the most points. Julian McCarthy topped the male entrants winning the Domestic Trophy for Cookery and Crafts and the Ken Jones Cup for the man with the most points. The Committee was delighted with the number of older children entering Adult Classes and gaining first, second or third places. In the Children’s Classes Oliver McNeill wrested the Sue Walker Cup for Children Aged 8 years and under, in the usual tight contest with Dominic Easterbrook, the winner in 2009 and 2010. Hamish McNeill won the June Jones Cup for Children Aged 9 to 11 years and Isabel Rivers won the Margaret Lambkin Cup for Best Handwriting related to Age.

The complete list of trophy winners was as follows:

This year, despite the rain overnight, a blustery cooling wind and a couple of heavy showers during the day, the programme got off to a prompt start at 9 am on Sunday 17th July 2011 and largely kept to schedule throughout. As always, David, Meryl and Sophie Haylock had gone to great trouble in preparing excellent and challenging fences along with fine facilities for a superb day; spectator numbers were down somewhat because of the uncertain weather but the number of entries in the horse and pony events was similar to that in 2010.

The HDGC BBQ Cooking and Serving team had seen a number of changes in personnel over that in 2010 with Dave Boreham taking charge of the barbeque ably supported his sous chef, Ben Boreham, Sarah-Jane Davies, Julian McCarthy, Paul Davies, Diana Frost, Susan Ray, Nigel Smith and Brian Ray. There was much demand throughout for barbequed burger, sausage and bacon rolls with or without onions, vegetarian kebabs and stuffed mushrooms, prepared by Jan Rennie, and particularly hot tea and coffee at the expense of cold drinks because of the coolness of the day.

Autumn Show and Social Evening on Friday 16th October 2010

The continuation of the switch to a Friday evening in 2008 for this event has continued the trend to a much greater participation with around 40 members and friends being present and a good number of entries from younger members. This year Harris McCarthy as a ten year old secured the Domestic Trophy and was third in the The Harold Blyth Cup. Jess Long in her debut at the Autumn Show took the David Haylock Bowl and The Evelyn Arnold Cup. Diana Frost won The June Jones Cup and The Coffey Cup, whilst Sue Bright retained the Mary Green Cup and was a runner for two other awards. Debra Knibbs made her mark with an excellent photograph in the The Evelyn Arnold Cup.

The Trophies presented following the judging along with those gaining second and third places were as follows:

Interspersed with the viewing and judging of the seven classes above, there were opportunities to taste a range of red and white wines as well as soft drinks and complemented with some delicious warm savoury snacks with dips and the well established hedgehog of mature cheddar and pineapple was prepared by Sue Ray.

Brian Ray
Secretary

Horse & Pony Show Pictures 2010