I decided to enter 10 classes at the Uplyme & Lyme Regis 90th Horticultural Show – the first time I’ve ever entered a formal show. On the morning this added somewhat to the work of setting up for the day. After an early tour of the garden and a rough arrangement of class entries, friend Debs drove me down very gingerly to the show field. All 10 classes were arranged and the overall standard was impressively high – I doubted my chances of winning.
But I was surprised to discover a couple of first prizes, two seconds and a third – very pleasing. My ‘Jilly’ sweet peas not only won their class of seven stems but also won best of the two categories of sweet peas so I won the Tony Cook tankard for the year. Very pleasing. Now I just need to get my name engraved for posterity.