In a break from the poor weather, the sun shone for the Virginia Water Community Association’s 59th Horticultural, Handicraft, Cookery and Home-made Wine Annual Show at the Community Centre on Sunday 11th September 2011.

This popular event has a real community feel, with local associations showing their support. The huge array of local produce, handicrafts and photographs looked stunning displayed in the main hall in the Centre, and the judges commented on the high standard of the entries.

Before the winners were announced, there was plenty of time for everyone to view the entries, fuelled by tea and homemade cake which were served by members of the Trumps Green WI.  There was also a tombola, raffle, auction, and book stall, and the Horticultural Society ran a stall selling a wonderful selection of plants, and were on hand to advise on a range of plant-related topics. 

A total of 304 exhibits were tabled by 26 adults and 27 children.  When the time came to announce overall winners the principal adult prizes went to some of our most loyal supporters.  With David Gray having kindly offered to judge the section, the field was opened up! The Tony Alcock Challenge Cup for the most points in vegetables, flowers and fruit went to Kathy Evans with 69 points, with John Wigmore in second and Christa Wong in third.

The Silver Salver for the most points in floral, domestics, handicrafts and photography was won by Molly Rickwood with 49 points, second was Anne Bennett and Celia King came third. Molly was also presented with a special certificate which the Domestics Section WI judge, Jennifer Hann, had awarded for her blackberry butter.  Finally the Reg Luetchford Best Newcomer award was won by Sarah Melhuish.

The childrens’ classes were hotly contested. Across the three age groups the results were:  pre-school-6 years Ella Passell (1^st), Ethan Gerard (2^nd), Will Ross (3^rd); 7-10 year group Evan Wilkinson (1^st) – who retains the small Silver Elephant, Isabel Kardos-Stowe (2^nd), Adam Baxendale (3^rd). In the 11-15 year group, first place and the larger Silver Elephant went to Rachael Baxendale, Megan Pointon came second and Matthew Brindley third. Every junior exhibitor was given a bag of sweets as a thank you for taking part. It’s really encouraging to seethe effort that the children put into their entries.