Marmalade, dahlias and onions (From Ledbury Reporter)

Marmalade, dahlias and onions

3:50pm Sunday 16th September 2012 in Ledbury

THE Ledbury Horticultural Society Annual Show is being hailed as the finest for years despite fears among organisers the wash-out summer would hit entries hard.

Show secretary, Les Thick, was expecting fewer entries and produce of a poorer quality, because of the weather.

But his phone hardly stopped ringing on the Friday evening before the show, with a rush of late entries.

Mr Thick, who agreed that the 2012 show was the best for half a decade, said that entries in the vegetable class were actually up by a third, with 110 entries, and it was a similar situation with the flower section.

As for the quality, he said: “The judge, John Deem of Ashperton, said it was the best show he’d judged this year.”

The winner of the vegetable section was Mike Davies of Newent, who also reached the top spot with his onions and tray selection.

The soil of the Ledbury allotments was shown to be magic, with Mike Walker gaining top honours for the splendid dahlias he grows there.

The overall winner of the cookery section was Ledbury pensioner Ann Symonds.