The Bovingdon Gardeners Autumn Show was held on Saturday 14 September 2024 in the Memorial Hall in Bovingdon.

Despite the poor summer, it was a remarkably good show with 27 exhibitors providing 223 exhibits. This together with the goodly number of visitors during the afternoon suggests that we are, at last, recovering from the effects of the Pandemic.

Of special note were entries by Alfred Stanton, aged 6 and his brother Arthur, aged 4, who between them entered 14 exhibits. We do not have a Children's section in the Autumn show and so they had to take their chances among the adults and take their chances they did. Alfred gained 1 first place for the tallest weed, which was extremely tall, 3 second places and 2 third places whilst Arthur scored 1 first place for his cucumber, 1 second place and 2 third places.

In time, they will be challenging Mike Leon who gained an amazing collection of 19 first places, 11 second places and 4 third places.

It was nice to see new exhibitors and most of the cups changed hands with only 2 of last year's winners retaining their cups for another year.

This year's prize winners were;

Mike Leon retained the Ernest Wright cup for the most points in the vegetable and fruit sections, however, the Victory Hall Cup for the best collection of vegetables went to Doug Leslie who was making a welcome return to the show. The Dahlia Cup was won by Debbie Oastler who was exhibiting Dahlias for the very first time. The Allday Roofing Cup was won by Dave Billington for the most points in the Fuchsia section and the Outspan Cup was retained by Mavis Lawrence for her flowers. Glenys Welstead showed that she has lost none of her skill for Floral Art, winning the Bovingdon Horticultural Society Bowl. Val Rolls won the Copse Hill Challenge Cup for gaining the most points in the Preserves and Cookery section. The coveted Horwood bakery Cup was won by Sylvia Simmonds for her plum cake for which the competition was fierce. Finally, John Walker won the Eva Stone Cup for his home-made drinks.

This completes our programme of shows for 2024. Our next show will be the 2025 Spring Show on 29th March.