The Milford & Makeney Flower & Produce was held in Milford Social Club on 14th September and was judged a success. The organisers entered the day very nervous of the outcome – only 5 people had entered at that point. But people scoured their gardens and allotments and entered on the day and by the end of registration at 11am there had been 27 entrants and 100 entries.
Fruit and vegetable entries and prizes
As a bit of background, this year’s Milford & Makeney Flower and Produce Show was the first to be held in the village for 30 years. It follows in the footsteps of similar shows that were in the village over the years. Harvest Festivals were also held in the various places of worship in Milford & Makeney for many years.
Harvest Festival, Milford Baptist Church, 1980’s.
The most recent Flower & Produce Shows (in those days called Horticultural Shows) were held in the periods 1976 – 1986 and 1990 – 1994. In the first period they were held in what was then The Pavilion (now Nealies) and chimed with the self-sufficiency ethos of the times (reflected in the popular BBC sitcom “The Good Life” of that period).
Horticultural Show, Milford Pavilion, 1979
In consequence they were very popular events – for example, in 1981 takings from entry fees were £120 – and people were charged just 30p per entry. The only reason why the shows stopped was that after 10 years the organisers had had enough and were finding the organisation too much. The baton was then passed on to a second group of organisers, who ran the Horticultural Show in the period 1990 – 1994, this time in what was then The British Legion (now the Social/Sunshine Club, also where today’s event was held.) In terms of size, the shows of these two periods were similar to ours today, with about 30 entry categories, but these also included baking, preserves and handicrafts.
In 2020, Rosemary Timms, one of the organisers of the horticultural shows in the 1976-1986 era, approached Blooming Milford and handed over all the old prize cups, and wondered if they could start up the horticultural shows again. In 2023 Blooming Milford decided to take the plunge and set up a committee, led by Sue Wood, to do just that, leading to this years event – The Milford & Makeney Flower & Produce Show 2024.
Setting up the show took quite a bit of work. It was decided to start with just vegetable, fruit and flower categories, along with children’s categories, then if the show was successful extend the number and scope of the categories in future years. We then had to devise criteria for each category. For details of the categories and criteria for the 2024 show please see the brochure here – another thing that had to prepared. Milford Social Club were then approached and very kindly agreed to host the event, and on inspection we decided that there was space for the vegetable and fruit entries downstairs in the main bar with the floral and children’s categories upstairs in the meeting room.
Floral categories in the meeting room upstairs in Milford Social Club
We then had to devise prizes. Over the years an impressive collection of cups and trophies donated by local businesses and individuals for the Horticultural Shows in the 70’s and 80’s were amassed, and they were passed on to us by Rosemary Timms. They offer a poignant reminder of then local businesses which are now defunct/taken over such as The New Inn, Thorntons, Glow-worm and Bass-Charrington.
Cups and trophies from the old Horticultural Shows passed on to Blooming Milford
We decided to choose four of the existing cups and trophies for the following awards:
- The New Inn Cup for Overall Best in Show
- The Richard Beardsley Rose Bowl for Best Floral Display in show
- The Glow Worm Cup for the Best Vegetable in show
- The Norman Taylor Memorial Cup for the best Fruit in show
In addition current local businesses were approached and Velo Bavarian and TLC Repton kindly donated a new cup each, which were used for the best Infant 5-7 and best Junior 8-11 awards. The remaining cups will be saved for additional awards when the number of categories are expanded in the future.
Most of the cups were in surprisingly good shape and could be brought back to life with a bit of Silvo polish. The exception was the rather grand New Inn cup, chosen for Best in Show. Unfortunately one handle had come loose from the side of the cup. An attempt to attach it using superglue failed, and we had to resort to solder and a blow torch – brutal, but effective!
In addition to the cups we decided entries would be awarded first, second and third in each class. All would receive a certificate and the first would also receive a rosette. Each child entering received a bar of chocolate. The rosettes were designed by Di Houlden to be in Derbyshire colours, and the certificates designed by Rose Everett as part of her Duke of Edinburgh award.
Points would be awarded for places: First 3 points; Second 2 points and third 1 point. The Best in Show cup would be awarded to the entrant with the most points overall.
Entry forms were devised and entry slips for each entry. Each entrant was given a number and this placed on each of their entry slips, ensuring anonymity during judging. Two judges were chosen and agreed to attend; Jeff Bates, Chair of East Midlands in Bloom and former lecturer in horticulture, and Ian Sanders, former student of Jeff’s and keeper of 3 immaculate allotments on Bridge View in Milford. An advertising blitz took place in the village; 2 mail drops to every house in November and June; two talks at assembly to the Milford Primary School children and 35 posters plastered round the village.
Posters for the show
So the day began on the 14th September. At 10.00am the entrants arrived and were processed, ensuring their entries were displayed and labelled by 11. It has to be said this went remarkably smoothly and it is a credit to Sue Wood, who did much of the background organisation.
The arrays of vegetables, fruit and flowers looked lovely, aided by the fact that it was a beautiful day, so sun was streaming through the windows. The pictures below give an idea.
Dahlias
Houseplants
Miniature garden, modelled on The Greenspace
Miniature garden
Fruit and vegetables
Collage
At 11 o’clock judging began. Jeff and Ian carefully went round all the entries and places were awarded. Blooming Milford then placed certificates and rosettes by all the winning entries and then at midday the public were let in.
Judging takes place
As well as being able to peruse all the entries and prizes, the bar was opened by The Social Club and tea, coffee and homemade cake, tarts and pies made from fruit from their gardens served by The Greenspace (who made £110 for their funds). The social club was well filled and, with the lovely weather, people were able to sit outside too, and there was a great atmosphere.
Meanwhile Blooming Milford were totting up the points to decide who would be awarded cups and this was announced at 12.30 (apologies to those who expected this to be 1pm, but people were already beginning to drift off and it was decided to do this while there were still plenty of people.) Some of the cup winners are shown below.
The Best in Show award went to Carol Hawley.
Best in Show award – Carol Hawley
Overall the organisers were very pleased with how the day went and the public response and have decided to do it again next year. There were many requests for there to be a homemade cakes & pastries section and a jams and preserves section, so we will add these. We will also expand the fruit and vegetable categories (beans were not included this year, for example, but there were 8 bean entries in the “other vegetable” category!)
Many thanks to all those who attended and all those who entered. We hope to see you again next year and are looking forward to there being even more entrants and entries.
