National Championships

The National Championships were held at the Dorset County Show in Dorchester on the 5^th and 6^th September this year and hosted by the Southern Branch.

Each year the Nationals and the AGM move around the country being hosted by a different branch. Next year, which is also our 50^th anniversary,  the show will be hosted in Dundee by the Scottish Branch.

The show was a great success and reflected the hard work put in by the Southern Branch under Chairman Barry Newman and Show Secretary John Trim, ably assisted by members of the Southern Branch and especially the Dorset DA and the Hampshire DA. A special mention of Grant Cathro who did his usual superb organisation of the trophy engraving and of the judges who were up at the crack of dawn to decide those minute differences that mean the difference between a second and the coveted red card of the first prize winner.

The show was well attended by the public and attracted a lot of attention both from the public and the press. The BBC were there filming as well for Gardener's World.

The standard of entries was as high as one expects from the Nationals.

On the Saturday the AGM was held on the showground and this went well, despite some competition from the Monster Trucks show outside. At one point we feared they were coming into the marquee!

In the evening there was a buffet meal and magic show for the NVS members at the Rembrandt hotel in Weymouth which was also a great success.

The full report with photographs of the individual entries and a list of the winners will follow shortly.