The Harvest Show
All that's needed for a good Harvest Show is to bring together some happy
people, a few vegetables and flowers, cream scones, goodwill and a little
money. We had all that a-plenty at the last Village Harvest Show.
Apart from the fun and generosity I began to notice an interesting growth of aggressive competition (probably not very PC but very helpful for achievement). Two very different people, said to me in very different ways, but which in effect came to the same thing - "Why has Eric Day a monopoly on the Dahlias? I'm going to beat him next year." So watch out Eric. And our resident colonial Greg Cotner chastised me for the narrow unimaginative section "Cakes and Bread". "I just love to make a good tart" he assured me. So, if it's agreed, next year we'll have a new class "Any Tart" and possibly "Any Cake", and entries from Greg. Raspberries may also be introduced because of the new later varieties.
As for Class 1, "Mixed Vegetables", which is the premier class of the show, the Alex Kirby/Mike Maister partnership will have to be careful as the Bowers family and Latchford clan are closing in, though without quite the right presentational style at the moment. Give them time and things could change. And where is Eric Day? That's a challenge!! The Children's Section had more than the usual stars. In particular the "Vegetable or Fruit Animals" were outstanding -- not just outstanding but quite brilliant, wonderful, and very sensitively created. The highlights were made by Charlotte Fleming, Hester Bowers, Emilia Hubbard and Alice Hubbard.
The Teas were first class and much appreciated, the contents of the Raffle the best ever, and the Fun Quiz went down well. The winner was Greg Cotner who, after saying he knew nothing, came top. But, like any star rotter, he refused to accept the prize because he had nipped out and looked up everything on the Internet. What is so impressive is that he always appeared to be in the hail, so this is a tribute to the speed of Broadband (Editor, please note this plug). The authentic winner was Margaret Stanier. There followed the Auction which was supported most generously.
Altogether we made £222 profit. Some will go towards Village Hall maintenance and some to Farm-Africa which is the current favoured VHMC charity.