On Sunday our tiny village hall came to life for the Annual Village Show. After months of meetings and trying to generate some interest, it finally all came together and the tables were filled with fruit, vegetables, cakes, jam, pickles, craft works, photography and fabulous flower displays.
What a relief.
It is one of those quintessentially English events where outwardly calm facades hide those deeply competitive streaks. Many of the village people have nothing to do with the event, so thank goodness we have some fabulous people who do take the time and trouble to grow, make, bake, jam, pickle and create things for the show.
One year we had the infamous 'Sconegate' incident... involving a judge firmly rooted in WI standards and our fabulous local foodblogger, Dom of
belleaukitchen.com, who had baked the most sumptuous and beautiful scones - alas, he had baked them man-sized - and they were therefore demoted because of this. This led to murmurings of witchcraft and/or skulduggery of some kind and there has never since been a 'Scone' class...
How much poorer our village would be without his wonderful support and participation.
This year it was especially difficult to keep things going because our committee numbers are so depleted. Fortunately, on the day, several people who had not been able to help with the preparations turned out to help with the general work of selling tickets, filling in forms and helping with the refreshments. Phew!
The doors were closed at 11am, the judges had arrived and they took their work very seriously indeed. Jams and pickles were tasted, salad dressings, ditto. Cakes were cut and nibbled, notes made. Bread was sawn open and prodded, poked and sampled. Judgement made, the certificates were filled in and best of category selected.
By 2pm the work of judging had been completed, so had the paperwork, and the doors were opened. In rushed the crowd to scan for prizes, assess the judging, cakes and tea were consumed and raffle tickets drawn.
It was fun!
Without events like this, which do take a lot of work, but which draw a community together, the village would be a much duller place. People come together and have fun, they sit and drink tea, chat and wait for the awards and raffle.
They turned out and they participated and the hall was buzzing with conversation and fun.
The tradition of the Village Show has been maintained.
