The 88th Alderley Edge Village Show was hailed a great success on Saturday, 1st September, attracting 490 entrants and the numbers of visitors to the Festival Hall was well up on previous years.
Mike Dudley-Jones said "2018 has been a great summer and everyone in the Village must be thankful for that. Long hot days don't always make for the best display of produce in early September - but despite these challenging conditions the standard and quality of the entries was very high. Perhaps the flower classes suffered the most.
"All that said, it was a great day. Many people commented on the wonderful 'community feel' to the event and applauded the wide cross section of visitors both young and old."
He added "But there was a sadness too as we were missing our famous and exceptional Chris Yearsley this year. Chris has not been as well as he would like and in recovering from treatment has found that his energy levels have been a little below par this year. He was greatly missed but he will be back, to be sure! The cups and trophies he usually wins have gone elsewhere this year but he certainly will be keen to be reunited with them in 2019!"
Lucy Allen took the Peet/Percival Memorial Shield this year for the Best Horticultural Exhibit of the Show whilst Mike Ockelton won the Stockport Express Trophy with his very high scores in the vegetable classes.
Rosemary Jay was the winner of the Mr and Mrs John Nixon Silver Cup for the highest aggregate points in the flower classes, whilst also taking the cup for the best sweet peas in show.
The Newcomers Trophy went to Graham and Penny Heap whilst in the domestic crafts and handicraft classes the Sally Ann Silver Cup went to Suzanne Thorp and the MJ Proctor Silver Cup was awarded to Sue Mills. Dina Robinson cleaned up in the cookery, jams, preserves and pickles classes taking the FE Jones Silver Cup and the Ockelton Family Cup respectively.
The Photography Trophy went to Wendy Macguire with young Joshua Hall scooping up two awards, the Cockshott Family Cup for his 'animal made from a fruit/vegetable' and the Anne Gompertz Memorial Cup for the best painting in show. Also Marianne Robertson produced the largest pumpkin seen for some time and went away clutching The Chairmans Trophy!
Mike Dudley-Jones said "The Village Show was the perfect venue for the presentation of The Shell Trophy, in memory of Ian Miller, to the winner of the Village Enhancement Competition judged in August. Carole Miller kindly agreed to present the trophy to Graham and Annie McLelland for their lovely garden on Heywood Road."
He added "Before we all knew it the Show was over. Once again, it must be said that the Village Show has really nothing to do with 'having an allotment' as so many people seem to think. It's about gardening, cookery, handicraft, photography and being ready to have some fun. It is a family day, open to anyone to enter. Start thinking about creating something fabulous and enter it next year. If ever there was an event which highlights 'the joy of taking part' - this is it!"
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Secondly to receive the trophy was a double honour for us because the Trophy was dedicated to a well know local keen gardener Ian Miller. His wife presented the trophy in her late husbands name and I had know Ian since childhood.Also present were his 2 lovely sisters who I hasten to add were both Alderley Edge Rose Queens .Their mother worked for many yrs at Granthams Grocery on Heyes Lane a long time family buisness.She was also a good friend to my late grandmother Margaret Randles .
Many many thanks to all