2018 Show News

December 2018 The Show again sponsors a tree at the St. Mary's Christmas Tree Festival.

The committee thanks those who came up with the ideas and decorated the tree. Images of the show Christmas Tree can be found in the "Trees" section of the gallery page.

13th November 2018 The Show AGM was held at St. Mary's Church.

Our Chairman, Judith Dixon-Patterson, welcomed everyone to the meeting. She paid tribute to Alan Gibberd who, until his death earlier this year, was our honourary president and a great supporter of the Show, both in terms of his efforts as part of the committee and as an exhibitor, particularly of roses. She went on to thank the Committee for their hard work which resulted in aother successful Show.

All officers and committee members were re-elected into their previous roles. In addition, the committee is pleased that Mike Wright has volunteered and was duly elected to become a committee member. A full list of committee members can be found on the Committee page.

Sunday 9th September 2018  Thanks to everyone who exhibited, and those who attended the show.The committee was pleased to see 25 new or returning entrants.

Despite the lack of rain this summer, the number of entries in the vegetable and fruit classes was much the same as last year, but the weather had some impact on the flower growers as the number of flower entries was, not unexpectedly, down. This year, the number of entries in the domestic section was up significantly at 128 compared with 81 in 2017! And good to see all the entries in the other sections, particularly the Children's classes.

As you will have seen from earlier news items, sadly our President Dr Alan Gibberd died earlier this year. The committee was pleased that his family has donated the "Dr Alan Gibberd Rose Trophy" to the show for the best rose bloom and were at the show to present it, won this year by Alan's main rival in the rose classes, Sheila Armstrong - well done Sheila.

Photos from the show will be added to the gallery later in the autumn

This year's AGM will be held at 8.00pm on Tuesday 13th November in the Parish Room, St. Mary's Church. It is your opportunity to come and hear about the workings of the committee, more detail on what the judges had to say about this year's show and ask any questions or make any comments that you may have.

Finally, thanks again to all the entrants. Without your effort there would no show!

June 2018 - Alan Gibberd.  The Committee was saddened to hear of the death of our President Dr Alan Gibberd who became Chairman of the Old Basing Flower Show in February 1990. Until April 2001 the Flower Show Committee reported to the AGM of the Resident’s Association.

In April 2002, Alan stood down as Chairman at the first autonomous AGM of the Show which was renamed the Old Basing Village Show. In his report he stated that ‘apart from interminable arguments about Victoria sponges’ he had enjoyed his time on the committee serving as Chairman. He retired from the Committee in 2008, the year he was 80. Following the death of Betty Holmes he was delighted to be asked to become our President in November 2009 and had conducted every AGM since. There are plans to present a cup in his memory for the Best Rose in Show at future Village Shows.

June 2018 - Carnival Day. Thanks to everyone who visited our stall at this year's carnival. We were pleased to welcome the visitors who came to buy plants or have a go on the tombola. We hope some of the plants that you purchased have grown successfully to the point where you can enter them into one of the many horticultural classes in the show.

March 2018 - The 2018 schedule is now available. As mentioned on the home page, the 2018 schedule has now been published. Paper copies will soon be available from the usual outlets, and a PDF version can be downloaded by clicking here.

As in previous years, we have made some changes to the schedule by dropping some of the less popular classes and adding new ones that we hope will appeal to existing and new entrants. Here's just a sample of some of the new or changed classes:

• Class 1 (novelty class). This year the class is for a decorative hanging basket or planter to be displayed in front of your property and visible from the road. Entry is via hard copy photo and the photos will be displayed at the show.
• A new class for onion collection - one each of small and large onions and shallots.
• The fiercely contended "Men and Boys" baking class is for an apple cake
• We have introduced a "named" rose class for "Peace" (Madame A Meilland)
• After several year's of absence, we have re-introduced the "unusual container" class in the Floral Arrangement Section
• The children's classes include a picture of a garden. For younger children this is for a painting and for older children it is for a photograph.

For details of these and all of the other 2018 classes, please refer to the 2018 schedule.

January 2018 Show tree gets a plaque. A few year's ago, the Show donated a Quercus Rubra (commonly called northern red oak) to the village which was planted on the Recreation Ground. This was to celebrate the Show's 150th anniversary and the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II. The show has now donated a commemorative plaque which the Parish Council has placed next to the tree. Images of "Rubra" can be found on the "Trees" gallery page.