On the day of the Show the United Church Hall in East Street is always a delight with the scent and colour of flowers, the wonderful vegetables large and small and all the fruits of the labour of Bridport Gardening Club members and friends over the summer.
With figures overall very similar to last years with 59 exhibitors and 471 exhibits, a record number of entries in the horticulture classes made sure the Show was a success. Fine entries in flowers, particularly the dahlias and fruit and vegetables giving us a lot to admire. Pears were well represented, and a huge collection of mixed fruit and vegetables in the Harvest Home Class won best exhibit in vegetable classes.
Thank goodness we had a good display of roses, as this year we had a new prize, a medal dating back to July 1855 was donated to us for Roses. It is inscribed ‘Bridport Horticultural and Cottage Garden Improvement Society Medal’. Alison Graham and her brother Kevin Hunt found it in the Sherborne home of their Aunt Margaret Pike and have given it to the Club in her memory. The club as it is now, commenced back in 1928 and this medal was presented for the first time in 164 years. Congratulations to Cyril Whitlock who won the medal and was also the overall Show winner.
There were generous donations of plants, raffle prizes and refreshments. Celia and her volunteers made over £300 on the plant stall which will be donated to AGE UK in Bridport. We thank Sue for running the raffle and Lyn and her team the refreshments, all helping to make the Show a success.
Thanks go to our exhibitors for their wonderful displays and also our visitors for helping to keep the continuity of the club going for another 164 years.
Ann Brown, Show Coordinator
