Monday 5 August 2019

Entering Things In The Show

For as many years as possible I've been entering vegetables and cakes in Produce shows.
It all started way back in the early 1970s when I was with someone whose Dad and Uncle were  really into growing and showing. Bacton show back then was just a produce show in a school hall with childrens races on the playing field. Cliff and Bill would vie with each other and a few other men from the village for the big overall prize - The Presidents Challenge Cup.
The day before the show would be busy with harvesting produce, cleaning, polishing and preparing. There was a special way to show onions, tops bound with garden string and shallots all neatly stood in a small box full of sand. The tray of vegetables would be lined with parsley before displaying a mixture of the best vegetables. It was tense stuff.! I didn't enter anything back then but the memories of rushing into the school hall to see if my then Father-in-law had won stayed with me.
 
After 45 years vegetable grower Bill is still remembered with the William Steel Memorial Salver.

Fast forward to the 1980's, after 8 years away from the village during which Cliff's son and I had divorced and I'd married Colin and we moved back to that village and were there for 10 years and I often  entered something in the show, especially as the children got older and I had more time.

Onto 1992 and I was very pleased to find that the smallholding we moved to near the coast was in a village that also had a Flower and Produce show and before long I was entering as much as I had time to bake and harvest. Sometimes Col would help by having the Friday off to wash up all the baking utensils as I used them. The children entered things in the Childrens sections, painting stones, garden on a plate and similar things and we would all rush down to the village hall to see if  we had won anything.......... The excitement of seeing the red FIRST sticker on the entry card!
I used my experience to write a piece for the Suffolk Smallholder Society newsletter all about entering shows......the unseen rules like calyxes must be on tomatoes and vegetables entered in a class should all be the same size.

So here I am after all these years, back in Mid Suffolk less than 8 miles from that first village where it all started and where we lived and where I was Cub Scout Leader for so many years and where I go to Big WI. I asked Colin's brother to watch out and save  the schedule which comes with  his Parish Magazine in May or June and then I'm ready to enter again.

12 classes entered this year (9 last year)  including a "chequered sponge cake" which involved covering a sponge with chocolate buttercream and rolling it in toasted coconut! You should have see the mess in the kitchen!

Below is what I entered and what I thought after taking everything to the marquee on Saturday morning and seeing all the other entries
  •  3 courgettes - and despite having 7 plants the only 3 ready on the day were teeny - no chance of winning
  • 5 Tomatoes - 4 were perfectly ripe but the 5th wasn't quite there
  • 6 Cherry tomatoes - I entered the yellow Ildi - they stood a chance
  • 2 Cucumbers - 1 perfect the other a bit marked on the end - maybe not good
  • A Tray of vegetables - my tray looked a bit pathetic compared to the others
  • Any other vegetable - I entered 2 pointy peppers - but there were loads of better entries
  • The Chequered Cake - No idea what it would look like inside
  • WI members only - Coffee and Walnut - A Hopeful possible as there were only two entries
  • 6 Suffolk Rusks - They looked OK but LOADs of entries
  • Cut and Come again fruit cake - again loads of entries as it was a sponsored class with a £6 first prize!
  • Jar of Strawberry Jam - mine was too dark compared to the others - obviously over cooked - damn!
  • Vase of herbs.Looked OK


And how did I get on?..............better than I thought!

2 Firsts, 1 second and 4 thirds.
Even the teeny courgettes got a 3rd!

The one I was most pleased with was my second prize in the class for a Cut and Come Again Cake, not just because it was a special sponsored prize and won me a Fiver but due to the big prize money and easy recipe there were loads of entries. A 2nd prize out of 15 entries is almost better than a first out of 5 entries!
I think mine is second from the left at the back? I feel sorry for the cake judges who have to try a bit from every cake!


More photos from the show tomorrow.


Sue




45 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. p.s. I do know how seriously those judges take the job, so really well done.
      (I wish we still had our village show - darned hard work to organise, but such fun for everyone.)

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    2. Luckily the local Rotary Club do a lot of the organising and share in the profits and all village organisations do something to help. One particular car showroom company do much of the sponsorship.

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  2. Well done, that's a brilliant result.

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    1. Thank you, it's all good fun to enter and even better to win a few classes

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  3. These shows are always a good day out. There are several within 7 or 8 miles of us. One year daughter entered some decorated buns (cup cakes to non-Yorkshire people) determined to better her friend who seemed to win something every year. It was football World Cup year so she did flags of the countries in the final. I think she would have won too, but it rained so heavily overnight they had to cancel the show.

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    1. What a shame about that cancellation, seem to have been lucky with the weather for show day in Bacton so far

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  4. So many memories you have reminded me about. It was early in the 1980 when I first joining WI I too won cups for the most points in the show. Like you and your husband I would do the baking and he did the washing up. My husband died about 4 years after I had started WI but still loved showing and cut a long story short I was asked to be a Handicraft judge for WI. I had lots of fun and learnt how to make so many things - you couldnot judge if you couldnot make things- I had a friend who was judging vegetables and flowers you have just had a lovely we did lots of showing from small events to big county show and it was enjoyable. I use to love the children's exhibits and made sure all children won an exhibit it was lovely to see the smiles on there faces when they saw the exhibits cards. Happy days
    I am so pleased you had a happy day and did well.
    Hazel c uk

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  5. Co ngratulations! Very well done indeed!

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  6. Our lists of how to show vegetables came in over the weekend. Never entered a show with anything but it is intriguing to see what is on offer. Well done on ALL your wins.

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  7. Well done! BUT I have to confess that I misread the bit about the Ildi cherry tomatoes. I thought it said lidl. "Surely Sue isn't trying to pass off supermarket stuff as homegrown?" I thought, and had to go back and read it again more carefully!

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    1. I hope no one cheats...but you never know. The Ildi tomatoes are a mini yellow plum and taste delicious

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    2. There would be no point in cheating - homegrown wins every time on flavour.

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  8. Well done, some great results, I would love to see the recipe for the Cut and Come Again cake, please. Helen S.

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    1. It was just a simple fruit cake in a loaf tin - nothing unusual

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  9. What a brilliant result, very well done! It's sad that a lot of these shows are quite poorly attended these days, it's good to see that one still thriving, as is the one here too, though ours isn't until September.

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    1. There seemed to be several people there so I hope they made a profit for charities

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  10. Well done.....I wouldn’t mind taste-judging all of those lovely cakes.....

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    1. I think I'd get a bit sick after all those tastes!

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  11. I understand the satisfaction about the cake; I would have been pleased about that too. I have three shows like that within four miles of me, and more if I spread the net six miles. They keep going and are popular.

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    1. I;m glad this one keeps going - over 100 years I think

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  12. Such a good post ! I remember getting a Second for my cheese scones when the parish ladies twittered and fussed cos I had foolishly entered them on a RED plate ( the horror ! ) instead of using village hall bog standard white. I was robbed ! Love entering these shows, its great to see them still going strong and that kids still " have a go " with the painted rocks and mini gardens.

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    1. Yes always a white plain plate - I just use cardboard plates as I had a collection of cheap white china plates from charity shops but left them in the shed at the smallholding because I never knew I'd need them again

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  13. Well done! Sounds like you had stiff opposition with the cake especially! When we first moved here I entered our local show with jam and chutney and got two firsts - much muttering as the first year the jam was any variety and I put in Banana Jam which no-one had ever heard of!! Next year the entry was change to Strawberry Jam, which is more difficult as it barely needs boiling if you are to get a lighter colour!

    I hope you will spend your winnings on a treat for you!

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    1. I knew my jam was too dark but couldn't be bothered to start again.
      The winnings got spent at the car boot sale on Sunday - mostly on the grandchildren!

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  14. A lovely history, and a Very Well Done to you! We don't seem to have anything like this directly in our village, but we do have an Eisteddfod in March.

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    1. I watched a Welsh choir competition on S4C TV the other night it was very good

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  15. Oh....well done you...that's a fabulous result.
    Hugs-x-

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  16. Great job! A lot of prizes for you and some spending money for the next boot sale.

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  17. Congratulations, what fun to have won so many.

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  18. Well done! I’m not sure what a cut and come again fruitcake is. Coffee and walnut is a family favourite and my mouth is watering at the mention of it.

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  19. Wow! Well done, a great result! Our village is having it's first show in over 10 years on 1st September but I don't think I dare enter anything. I will get a schedule anyway tomorrow to see what the categories are. I'm not very brave ...lol...x

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  20. Congratulations! I bet you were on cloud 9 on the way home.

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  21. Brilliant - well done. It's such a great feeling getting an award. I am taking a back set at our show this yer after ten years as Show Secretary. I am still helping, and have spent the day entering the show entries in the ledger as they arrived. I took that on as I am central in the village and the new Show Secretary lives a bit out of the way. I've entered several classes, but not any of the Home Produce classes.

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  22. well done ! you must be really chuffed, quite rightly so xx

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  23. Oh what fun, my twin sister and her boyfriend enter in their local show in Pembridge Herefordshire every year with much the same things except the baked goods. I entered once when I was there on holiday, a mini floral arrangement. Here in California they also have classes that are very similar. But a big drawback they have only "county fairs" which are held in one place in the county once a year. So unless you live close to where the fair is it is too stressful to deal with. No small shows all over like in England.

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  24. Very well done! Congratulations.

    God bless.

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