Villagers enjoy Stathern Horticultural Show

The event was held in sunny conditions in the church gardens at St Guthlac’s on Saturday, with good entries for the produce, flowers, art, photography and handicrafts classes.

The coveted best in show Bob Wadsworth President’s Cup winner was Mark Fowler, one of the new members of the Stathern Gardening Club, which organises the event with church members.

Kate Jordan, the show secretary, said: “It was a very good gathering of the village with new residents, visitors and friends of all ages joining together, having a go on the games and simply relaxing and chatting whilst making the most of the refreshments.

“Despite the year’s high summer temperatures and lack of rain, entries for fruit, flowers and vegetables were all up on last year.

“Entries in the art and handicrafts section also soared and demonstrated the wealth of talent we have in and around Stathern.

“All this resulted in the highest number of entries since records began and every judge commented how difficult it was to judge the winning entries from the display of high quality products.”

Stathern Primary School teamed up again with the Gardening Club and produced bunting flags, on the theme of ‘Helping Others’, paintings and drawings of dinosaurs and flowers, plus posters to advertise ‘My favourite game’.

For the second year running, Adam Leathborough won both the cup for most points in the children’s section and the Shirley Keir Cup for Children’s Best in Show, with his colourful painted pebble depicting a ladybird.

Sally Fagan, who was auctioneer, led the very lively bidding and even in these current challenging times it was noticed how generous people were.

Karen Lambert, headteacher of Stathern Primary School, presented the children’s prizes and the trophies.

The grand prize draw rounded off the day to help swell the amount raised to more than £2,000, of which 90 per cent will go towards the cost of repairs to the bell tower in the church while the remainder will go to the gardening club.

Sponsors were: the Melton Building Society, C & C Plants, The Potting Shed, EMP Accident Repair Centre of Melton Mowbray, Stathern Garage, Brooker Flynn Architects, B Allsop & Sons Scrap Metal Recyclers, Valley Plumbing.

Prize draw supporters included: Leisure Bench, Sam mobile hairdresser, Long Clawson Dairy and members of the gardening club.

Organisers have thanked volunteers for their work in preparing the refreshments, the church and grounds for the event and ensuring everything was back in place for Sunday’s service.

Show judges: Debbie Hollingworth, Heather Shipman, Nathan Bateson, Mary Bridge-Collyns, Katie Pyke and Kate Jordan.

Trophy winner: Most points in Fruit and Vegetables – Colin Ramsay; Sue Wadsworth Culinary Cup – Ewa Woods; John Deave Trophy – John Peberdy; WI Cup for Floral Section – Kate Jordan; Art Cup – Elaine Mills; Handicraft Cup – Teja Woods; Most points in Art and Handicrafts – Angela Canham; Martin Fagan Photography Shield – Alison Shelton; Most points in Children’s section – Adam Leathborough; Shirley Keir Cup for Children’s Best in Show – Adam Leathborough; Bob Wadsworth President’s Cup for Best in Show – Mark Fowler.