Annual Show
2026 Garden & Home Produce Show Saturday 22nd August
Despite the challenging weather conditions and a slow start to exhibits we had a very fine display of flowers, vegetables, fruit and home produce a this year’s show with 136 entries across all categories.
Many congratulations to Pia Antrobus, who scooped the Tom Ethelstone Trophy with a stunning range of plants, flowers and vegetables earning her 58 points. We were really pleased to welcome back Sue Ethelstone to present the trophy named in honour of her husband Tom, who she explained founded the gardening club 19 years ago with the original 8 members following a drink at the Redmore Inn. She looks forward to our 20th anniversary next year and she is confident that the committee and club will ensure it continues to thrive.
Our 2025 Tom Ethelstone trophy winner, Steve Wroe, was second and Julie Baker and Sue Wright in joint third place in overall points.
Lewis Cup placements, for vegetables, were Pia again with 24 points, non-member Julie Baker with 16 points and non- member Patricia Lane and Steve Wroe scoring 8 points in joint third place. When asked her secret, Pia explained that grey water recycling has been mandatory at her house this year to ensure she had enough water for all the produce and plants to grow well in the heat.
Sue Wright also scooped our new award of Kitchen Wizard for her baked goods and home produce, with 14 points. Steve Wroe was second in this section and Denise Colley third. A decorative wooden spoon was given to recognise her achievement.
The members class with our Dahlia Gallery Pablo was won by Joan Brookes, with Christie Jones placed second and Deborah Jackson, third.
It was notable that non-members and new members to the club scored well with their exhibits and a number of visitors from the village were welcomed to witness the awards and raffle results.
The committee are now carefully planning for next years show, so any feedback or suggestions from members or visitors is welcomed.
2025 Garden & Home Produce Show Saturday 30th August
We were delighted with the success of our Show this year with an amazing 247 entries after such a hot dry summer when everything seemed to have gone over early, but our exhibitors did us proud, and with the home produce too! There was a wonderful display in the village hall, and for the first time, both the Lewis Cup for the most points in the vegetable classes and the Tom Ethelstone Memorial Trophy for the most overall points were won by the same person, club member Steve Wroe.
The 42 individual exhibitors included several first-time and non-member entrants from the village and local area, and our afternoon visitors braved the rain to enjoy the delicious donated homemade cake with their refreshments before the presentations. There was only one class with no entries, and 6 classes had 10 or more.
Thank you to our helpers and to everybody who entered and supported the show, also to our exhibitors who generously donated their vegetables and fruit to the Burntwood Community Store which were gratefully received by volunteers in the shop.
2024 Garden and Home Produce Show Saturday 31st August.
Our Annual Show on Saturday 31st August was a great success in spite of a challenging growing season. There was a beautiful display in the hall, with several first-time entrants and very close scoring. Steve Wroe won the Lewis Cup for the most points in the vegetable classes, presented by Jonathan on behalf of his parents Alan and the late Val Lewis. Anita Harper retained the Tom Ethelstone Memorial Trophy for the most overall points, presented by Ivy Evans on behalf of Sue Ethelstone. The show was open for public viewing from 2.30 with all our visitors also enjoying the delicious donated homemade cake with their refreshments, and the hall was buzzing! Thank you to all our helpers and to everybody who entered and supported the show, also to our exhibitors who generously donated their vegetables and fruit to the Burntwood Be A Friend Community Store on Sankeys corner, gratefully received by volunteers in the shop. Please see our Blog for photos of the presentations, then have a look at lots more of this wonderful day across all the classes on our Gallery , all taken by our members, including the lucky raffle prize winners with their spoils!
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It was great to have our Garden and Home Produce Show back in 2023 on Saturday 16th September, our first since Covid interrupted what used to be an annual event. We were delighted with the support from exhibitors which provided a wonderful display in the hall that was enjoyed by members and visitors alike. Despite the vagaries of this summer’s weather, there were over 200 exhibits of excellent quality across all the classes.
Scoring was very close and our chairman Deborah Jackson was honoured to present the Lewis Cup, on behalf of the Lewis family, to Martin Plater for the highest number of points in the vegetable classes. Sue Ethelstone was down from Yorkshire to award the Tom Ethelstone Memorial Trophy, this time to club member Anita Harper, for the highest number of points won across all sections and classes. To celebrate the return of the show, both trophies were accompanied by donated gardening gift tokens, and Brenda Brettell won the members-only class for her Pelargonium. Our judge had also commented on one outstanding individual exhibit so a special award of a donated gift token (from the treasurer’s supply) was given to Clive Hancock for his Eucomis.
We were pleased that several first time exhibitors had a go and enjoyed it, as well as taking home some of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd places cards for all classes – well done to all entrants! After the presentations Sue drew our raffle which included some kindly donated prizes, and there were afternoon refreshments of hot and soft drinks with delicious homemade cake. There are some photos on our gallery page which give a flavour of the day. Many thanks to all the committee, judges, helpers, exhibitors and visitors for putting this show back onto the calendar as a wonderful village event. Happy gardening!
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Our 2019 show on 10th August was well supported by both exhibitors & visitors despite the weather & change of date, with similar entry numbers to last year & an excellent standard of exhibits. We feel as if we’ve come of age now that we’ve had several successful years in a row! The exhibits in the Home Grown Flowers classes 1 – 9 looked particularly stunning against the light of the windows as you’ll see from a good browse through both of our gallery pages, and there were 8 super entries in class 27 (5 Vegetables on a Tray), won by Val Wroe. Competition was close and Martin Plater won the Lewis Cup for the highest number of points in the vegetable classes, with June Morris retaining the Tom Ethelstone Memorial Trophy for the most overall points, both well deserved (Ivy Evans presented this trophy on behalf of Sue Ethelstone who was sadly unable to attend due to the very regrettable late change of date). The members-only class 37 Fuchsia “Dollar Princess” which members had grown on from cuttings given out earlier in the year was won by Derek Roberts who is currently deciding which of the two donated prizes to accept…the other one will be retained by the club for a future competition. Many thanks & well done everybody – continued happy gardening to you all!
Our 2018 show was held on Saturday 8th September. After the challenges of the summer drought came the heavy rain but this didn’t deter our members & we had an even higher number of entries than last year – 269! There were some fabulous exhibits & our judges commented on the high standards of the entries which filled the village hall with a beautiful display. There are lots of photos on our Gallery Page and a report on the blog. A big thank you to everybody who entered, supported and helped out. June Morris won the Tom Ethelstone Memorial Trophy for the highest number of points overall, & Ivy Evans scooped the Lewis Cup for the most points in the vegetable classes. And our members’-only class for the pots of Acidanthera that we gave out as bulbs in spring gave a perfect backdrop from their vantage point on the stage. Well done everybody!