The 46th Aldbury Garden Club Summer Show was held at the Memorial Hall on Sunday 28th August.

The summer had been long and dry - very dry - with no rain for weeks and we were all anticipating a poor display. How wrong we were. 

The Garden Club Committee had listened to feedback and had tweaked the programme: no sedum this year, only two floral arts classes and 3 Novice Classes as well as a ‘Bake-Off Challenge’ recipe. The start time was also slightly later, acknowledging relaxed Sunday mornings, and to allow Sylvia Wren and her able assistant Rose Allen to write out the 100s of competitor cards. 

The hustle and bustle in the hall were palpable and the displays rolled in; new faces, old faces and plenty of young faces. The time flew and at noon the doors were closed and judging commenced.

Brian Brightman judged the flowers and produce according to RHS rules and guidelines, Pat Quigg the Domestic Classes and Eileen Heylin the Floral Art and Junior classes.

The doors opened for viewing at 2.30 and people streamed in, welcomed by an amazing display of beautiful flowers and produce. Raffle tickets were purchased and prizes drawn.  Then the results were announced to smiles all round. This year the Junior classes were well supported, 5 entries were presented for each class and some ingenious and amusing creatures had been created from vegetables (see photos below). Each entrant took away a treat and Xanthe Cole won the Junior Trophy.  Ann Allsworth took the Joan Collins Cup for the domestic classes, Tess Alps won awards for floral arts, top veg and the Meade Cup for overall points but I was delighted to win the Challenge Bowl for best flowers – albeit by one point!

Congratulations to all who participated and a big thank you to the Aldbury Garden Club Committee and all the helpers for putting on a spectacular show. I look forward to the Spring Show 2023. 

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Annie Eggar