The Trelawnyd Flower Show 2007

There are several reasons why I have really enjoyed the flower show even though it has been a long,hard day. I have learnt a great deal from the the professional vegetable and flower judges, won first prize and a commendation for my rose and two seconds for my boiled egg and French beans, and been a part of the most successful flower show to date, but I must admit that the main reason for having a good day is the fact I have met a lot of very friendly locals and felt very much a part of the community, which only happens with this sort of thing. After setting up a load of entries from us and many of the Prestatyn entrants, I shadowed the old Welsh teddy boy and colourful character who was judging the veg! Obviously many of my veg was not quite up to scratch, so I was quick NOT to tell him which was mine ! even though he slagged some of them off terribly ( my herbs had been "thrown" into a trug!!) I was pleased that he praised my beetroots but did comment they were rather small! He was obviouly passionate about judging and about village shows and I enjoyed learning the "show tricks" from him.

Carol shadowed the arts and food judge,Glenys over saw the flower judge, as Auntie Gladys (centre in pic) got on the the raffle and Irene (left) organised the teas with a small army of helpers, so although we were short of stewards, everything was done and done properly!.

A delightful guy called Alan who was originally German, had lived in the Midlands for most of his life ( and had been retired in Trelawnyd for 7 years), helped me on the door, and he introduced me to scores of locals. I found it remarkable that he can now speak Welsh fluently, and did just that, to almost everyone! Characters like Mrs Jones, ( the elderly lady I wave to daily from the farm way down the lane) came to introduce themselves for the first time, and at times it was a little overwhelming but very, very sweet!

The doors opened at two thirty and in an hour over two hundred people had crammed themselves into the village hall. Our door was up on the day, the number of entries was over a hundred more than usual, and the judges stated that the quality of the produce was the best ever, so we felt pretty happy at the whole damm thing! My mother's tablecloths and the sweet peas that decorated each of the tea tables, went down very well with the predominently elderly audience, and many said the hall had never looked so pretty! which was nice too.

Ann and her affable group of despots from her allotment, came up trumps and joined in with the show and all got good prizes. (Ann won the cup for best floral art) Many others turned up after entering the Prestatyn Show last month and they in turn won also, so the winners were not all from the village which everyone seemed to appreciate.

we finished at 5pm, knackered but rather smug with the day. Chris enjoyed cake eating and bought Meg (yes Meg) a woolly Brown dog jumper from Gladys' stall!, and I got home just in time for a large chardonnay infront of the fire!

working tomorrow, and Monday night, and back to allotment work on Tuesday!