Scottish Branch Championship Dunfermline 2014

Well at the start of the year my goal was to exhibit at the NVS Scottish Branch Championships at Dunfermline with the hope of gaining a "Red" ticket. I did succeed in benching two exhibits this year, but unfortunately did not succeed in gaining a first.  There were some great exhibits at the show and two other fellow members of our North of Scotland District Association were also exhibiting.  Steve Halifax had a number of exhibits down and gained a good third in the blanched leek class where the best exhibit in show came from.  Steve also gained a fourth in the collections which again was a strong section.  Graham Taylor from Ardersier was down for his first Branch Championship where he had an excellent show, gaining two thirds and a fourth.  Graham had a very well deserved 3rd in the under 250 gms onion class and a forth in the strong blanched leek class.  He also gained a third in the 1,1,1 veg class for exhibitors who have never won a red ticket at a NVS show.

 

   

 

Below is my second prize entry in the 1,1,1 class.  Sweet candle, Morning Star, Show Perfection.

 

 The Branch Championships was held in conjunction with Fife Flower Show so here is a photo showing the fantastic display of flowers.

Dufftown 2014 Show Results

This last weekend was the two day show at Dufftown.  It is a well supported show and attracts exhibitors from Banffshire and Morayshire.  Considering the monsoon like weather this area suffered for nearly 3 weeks in August there were a good turn out of exhibits. In the Veg section Sandy Robertson from Rothienorman was the main winner with his collection and large onions also winning the NVS medal for best exhibit. Iain Lumsden of Huntly secured the Arthur Rugg trophy which was for Onions from set this year with an exceptional dish of Setton onions. I was fortunate enough to secure the trophy for most points in the veg section and retain the trophy for the potato collection with 7 firsts 3 seconds and 2 thirds  from my 12  entries.   This is a very friendly but competetive show and it was great to spend an enjoyable Sunday speaking to like minded growers.  I was also able to encourage a number of exhibitors to consider coming up to Inverness on the 18th of October to the North Of Scotland NVS DA meeting. Where one of the top growers in Scotland Mr Alister Gray will be giving a talk on Blanched Leeks.  This takes place at the Cheiftain Hotel Inverness on 18th October at 2.00 pm all interested welcome.  

 

 

 

 Above is my dish of coloured and white potatos, Bonnie and Harmony.  I have been fortunate to win this class for the last 3 years.

 Above is my potato collection, they were slightly on the small side but lovely and clean.

 This is the collection boards with Sandy Robertson's winning board in the center, Bert Marshall's board to the left and my own 3rd placed board to the right. 

 The leeks boards with Sandy's far right my own second prize one center and Dod Jamieson's one on the left

This shows Sandy's winning onions far right and my own smaller second placed ones center.

Lhanbryde show results 2014

Saturday 30th August brought Lhanbryde Flower Show.  Over the last 6 years this show has been a fairly happy hunting ground for me. I was fairly apprehensive this year as some of my produce was not up to scratch, in particular I had been having a problem with my stump carrots and my potatoes.  On Friday evening I pulled the carrot below from my last stump bed. These are Sweet Candle and were sown on 2/5/2014. I they are probably the best set I have ever pulled and I only pulled 4 to get these 3. They were 10.5 inches long and 7 inches round the crown. So this set me up nicely fro my collection as I also had 4 nice Maxine. The show went very well for me with a total of 11 firsts and 1 second out of 12 entries.  I also managed to win the trophy for "Onions from Set" and Won the best exhibit with my collection in the premier section. very happy with the result. Below are a selection of my entries.

 

 

 First with my tattie board, Maxine, Harmony, Blue Belle & Bute.

 First with my under 250 gms onions " Globo"

 First with "Show Perfection"

 First with my Collection

 First with onion from set " Hercules"

 The board with the "Premier Section" Trophy.