On Saturday 2nd of August, according to custom the first Saturday of August, the long awaited 121st Ludgvan Horticultural Show took place and as in recent years at Ludgvan Parish Church. Our show like the commercial Christmas, was almost a year in the making, as the first meeting of the planning committee took place just two weeks after the 120th Show. The week begins by collecting all the gear together. We have numerous boards (table tops) some placed horizontally on church pews on which the exhibits are placed and other vertically to display the Art from our local Ludgvan primary school .
Meanwhile, I am perhaps the key organiser for the show, phoning up our many stewards to check that they are available and also the helpers to load the trailer at Steve’s shed. Andrew Wallis and his cousin reversed their trailer so that it was close to Steve’s shed and together we worked as a team. Team work is essential for this activity and again when the trailer is unloaded on Show Friday. After this one small team leaves and another crew arrives to deal with the lighter duties.
The boards were placed across the pews in the approved manner and small quarter pallets raised the display of pot plants and cut blooms. Meanwhile the best boards were reserved for the school art. It is a long process. The school art is displayed on large squares of cardboard and these in turn are hung on the vertical boards by a system of chains and hooks.
The church was finally arranged to take the many exhibits . We received 500, the most for several years with 50 exhibitors and altogether about 150 people came to view the displays. We arranged the exhibits so that as one entered the church there were large colourful displays of pot plants. There were two very large entries of orange flower begonias which caught the eye. On the next set of boards were the cut blooms with displays of hydrangeas. There were two types, mop head and lace cap, and here there was a bright pink hydrangea and large blue one too. There were many white cactus dahlias although with the recent dry weather their flower heads were small .
Moving towards the choir stalls, laid on the boards there was the Floral Art and Handicraft. A few years ago, just after covid we received many items of Handicraft but less so now. Back in 2021 Ann Tilly displayed her quite wonderful duvet cover which was awarded Best in Show. This year I awarded the “Best in Show” to a wonderful display of Floral Art arranged by the mother and daughters of the Post family . This was of three small pink wellington boots packed with a display of floral art. I chatted to a number of people before I finalised the decision. There was David & Ronnie Endean who between them judged all the flowers and vegetables and Pam Furby an old friend of mine who looked after the school art . The Best in Show can sometimes be a sensitive issue.
Meanwhile, further from the entrance there were exhibits of Home Baking, on the far wall Art and tucked in the small chapel the many sketches and drawings of Children’s Art from Ludgvan School. Here we adopt the art set out in the national school syllabus so that children from across the country can see their interpretation of the same subject. For one school year it was the animals of Australia and for the top year “Crime and Punishment” perhaps of the Roman World. The final division was that of photography which generally attracts many entries but less so this year.
On Show Day, the event begins at 8am when exhibitors bring their displays. These are checked off against the list I provide and placed in the appropriate class. This process goes on for about two hours. This of course relies on the many stewards who go to their allotted divisions. A few are new to the show and they receive a little training but basically it is a simple clerical task. This year we were short of a steward in the handicraft division so I phoned Erica , a former “Wednesday Weeder” at Pengersick . She kindly agreed to help with this task. It is a matter of fitting stewards to their particular roles some will help in a general way and others in particular roles.
By 10am the judges arrived, there was David and Ronnie Endean from The Lizard Peninsula , Peter Puddiphatt a table tennis buddy , Rose from the Floral Art Club at Camborne. Floral art is her passion now she has retired as a teacher. Then there was Laine from Marazion, an amateur artist and Ron, (Veronica) from Constantine who judged the art. This year our opener suffered a stroke so we sought another. We managed to find Pauline Gwennap also from Ludgvan. Pauline was a London business woman who now creates Botanic Art with a group from the Eden Centre. Pauline told us the botanic art from the Eden Centre is sent world- wide and some paintings may take years to complete such is their accuracy. It seemed to me it was rather like preserving an old “Master” and unpicking years of dirt and grime from a Rembrandt.
Earlier at 10am the judging began. All exhibits must be in by this time and so by using science, intuition or art the judges applied their skill. The number first, second or third are recorded against a particular place number in the file and from this information the stewards complete the Prize Cards, or at least I think that is how it works!
When the judge’s folders are completed, they are passed onto me as Show Secretary and from these lists of information I create lists of cup winners often using Excel on my computer to count the numbers of points awarded. By 4pm the process is complete and I am ready to announce the winners .
Meanwhile at 2:30pm Steve our Chair said a few words, to be followed by Rev Linda who led the prayers and finally Pauline Gwennap who officially opened the show . At this point the church was crowded with all the aisles packed. It seemed to me that for the older generation this was the Royal Ascot event of Ludgvan just as at Long Rock today it is the summer fete.
Meanwhile, the judges after they completed their tasks retired for lunch for, they now enjoyed a cold salad lunch and selected from a choice of delicious puddings . The food is a real treat and I enjoyed the cheese cake. Alison our caterer creates such good food, a key part of the Ludgvan Horticultural Show .
Back at the church the show is now open to the public . Raffle tickets are issued and the public queue so politely to view all the exhibits and also to have their annual chat about this or that. Meanwhile I meandered from time to time to collect judge’s folders or to solve queries and chatted with stewards on the way. This year I looked at the flowers in particular and the floral art. Perhaps I need to view the art displays but I marvelled at the Botanic Art of Pauline Gwennap .I wondered if I had the patience or skill to complete such art. The answer is sadly no.
At 3:30pm I suddenly realised that I have missed the details of one cup which involves counting all the points of all the children’s classes. At this point my old lap-top froze and would not open . After 15 minutes the lap-top was still not working so with the help of Jon Ryan, we counted all the points of the children’s classes. The simple biro was used but in the end the result was obvious. Athena Trevorrow had many more entries and many more points and so she won her cup.
Now it was the 4pm Prize giving. I hoped a local celebrity would issue the cups but no one could be found. Steve reclaimed the lectern from the Church and so with reasonable confidence I read out the list of cups winners The society have over 40 cups so it is easy to issue the wrong one so I followed this procedure , i.e. Cup No 1, The Paul Wallis cup for best hydrangeas and the name of the prize winner. Bridgette Clamp won many cups as did Barry Western while I won a cup too! After 40 or so cups it was becoming a little tedious. Now the raffle was drawn and the Ludgvan Horticultural Show came to an end . We now had the less glamorous task of taking the show apart. Fortunately, we had just enough volunteers to complete this, I was becoming tired and thankfully the event finished during the late afternoon of a fine summer’s day .
Finally, a few days later we unloaded the boards from the trailer. Fitted the boards into Steve’s shed and it seemed fitting that we shared this occasion with a mug of tea and Steves’ home-made chocolate cake.
Chris Rodda
9th August 2025