Today was the day of the 50th Rangeworthy village Women's Institute Flower Show....50 years! That means they started before I was born & some people there remembered the first one back in the 1960's. Not very much has changed except perhaps the fashion styles of the villagers - there are still categories for knitting & needlework, jams & chutneys, fruit cakes & Victoria sponges, carrots & runner beans and much more.
One difference was that this year I was roped in to judge the craft category & it was quite difficult as I had to put aside what I personally liked & had to concentrate on the quality of the work.....so here I am with my "steward" Ffiona discussing the merits of the hand crafted items!
I have included some photos of the exhibits below.
These are my tomatoes which weren't placed...apparently the judge prefers traditional round cherry tomatoes & not these new fangled shapes! My carrot muffins received a respectable second though.
Finally, a shot of "The Rangeworthy Hill Billies" who turned out in an 80 year old car & drove around the village encouraging locals to come to the show later in the day to admire the exhibits, have tea & cake & watch the prize giving which was presented by BBC news reader Ali Vowles who lives just along the road in the next village.
We don't have a flower show in our town, I don't know why as it's an old, country market town, but I remember the village where I grew up had one every year with a carnival. I used to enter my sewing and embroidery and have certificates for winning. Your lovely photos brought back loads of memories!
ReplyDeleteI hope that the lovely arrangement of garden flowers in the first floral pic won something they are stunning! What a surprise, men only cakes! The greyhound is lovely, what some talent in yur village!
ReplyDeleteTracey x
Aww i love places like these a great colourful moouching ground ;-) Beautiful colourful photo's, what a great day out ;-))
ReplyDeleteBet it was hard to judge, as you said you had to judge the quality. All the exhibits look excellent, pity the the tomato judge was stuck in his ways. I love those knitted teddies.
ReplyDeleteJulie xxxxx
Lovely photo's! Love the greyhound picture...looks like a good day for all.
ReplyDeleteLike the "well done" cakes in the Men only cake category! The victoria sponge on the glass cake stand however, looks pretty impressive....
ReplyDeleteJulie x
Thanks for sharing the fun of the fair! I've had a catch up read of some past posts too.
ReplyDeleteI don't know when I last saw white eggs........ I just love these shows: ours was last weekend. :O))))
ReplyDeleteAll the exhibits look great. I especially like the look of that Kentish apple cake.
ReplyDeleteLooks like you had a great day!! The "unusual shaped vegetable" category made me laugh, ha!
ReplyDeleteLaura xx
ya got some interesting looking carrots over there in Jolly Old E!
ReplyDeletewhat a fun task, to get to judge the handcrafted section.
bettye
Oh, loved the photos. Wish we had something similar here.
ReplyDeletei cant wait to start at a WI ...lots of fun to be had ;0)....i thought your toms looked picture perfect- think my veg would have been in most 'odd' looking hehe x
ReplyDeleteLove the photos.
ReplyDeleteI wish we had something like this near us. Actually I must check to see if we do.
Wow just look at all that lovely produce and the cakes and jams and... I think I'll have to pop into our WI market this Thursday and see what they have to offer.
ReplyDeleteI love these great British institutions. Scrummy cakes and mishapen vegetables.. and now a "Men Only' section..what is the W.I coming to!
ReplyDeleteMx