Category Archives: Domestic Produce

Some New Classes

Right folks,

This year at the Weaverham & Acton Bridge show, we will see a couple of new classes appear to try and get some more creative juices flowing. The precise wording of these classes are TBA at the moment, but I thought I’d give all our readers a heads up! Best check the schedule when it’s finalised to be clear.

In the Domestic produce class, we’re adding chocolate brownies, probably four, but if you want to bring five and leave one at the door for Ian, that would be absolutely fine. Unfortunately I don’t go anywhere near domestic judging so I can’t put in a good word for you, but rest assured, I’ll be thinking of you!

In the Flower section we’re adding a vase of annuals. I had to go to the RHS website to find out what that meant (you can read more here.)

gladioliIn the Veg & Fruit section we’re strongly considering adding cherry tomatoes for those of you who grow them. What constitutes a cherry is up for debate, but Liz is going to get a proper definition from the judge for the schedule. “Smaller than normal ones” is probably a good guess, and will (I think) include small plum tomatoes as well.

Finally, at the committee meeting last night, there was an interesting discussion regarding Gladioli and the low number of entries we see each year. I’m therefore going to have a go at growing one or two merely to give our incumbent winner a run for his trowel and also to try and promote the humble Gladioli which – according to this article – is not de rigueur at the moment. Should you all wish to take up the challenge, get your bulbs in now!

The site should start to see a bit more action over the coming months as we gear up for the summer show. Don’t forget to mark out the calendar for the 13th (it’s a bit later this year) and maybe try and encourage a friend or two to have a go at one of the classes if they don’t already.

Enjoy Spring. Not sure what happened to winter, but I’m hoping for less rain and a bit more sunshine.

Take care, see you all soon!

Some New Categories…

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So the committee got together for the March meeting to review the schedule and work has begun in earnest. As soon as we have a complete schedule we’ll upload it to the site. Keep us bookmarked, or subscribe. I may even kick off a Twitter account as that’s quite good for notifications…

Aaanyway… We did agree on two new categories for the 2015 show, so without further ado, I can preview that we are adding a new category to the Domestic Produce section for a bottle of “fruit cordial”. Get your Elderflowers or Blackcurrants into bottle asap! We’re also adding “A model made from a kit (plastic, wood or metal)” to the adult craft section. That’s not to stop the younger villagers having a go though! Go and get an Airfix kit and let’s have lots of entries for this. Obviously we want to keep the models to a reasonable size, so no 1:1 replicas please! We’ll clarify more on the rules for these categories as we firm up the schedule, but for now, that’s all. See you in a couple of weeks.

Ian.

The Victoria Sponge

Use 2 hens eggs. They won't mind!

Use 2 hens eggs. They won’t mind!

The Victoria Sponge is a well contested entry to the show so we asked some experts what tips they had…

Use 2 large hen eggs and the required amount of flour, sugar and fat (of your choice) from your usual recipe. Fill the sponge with jam only – do not use cream/buttercream. The schedule states no decoration – this means no icing, icing sugar or anything else – the judge wants to see just a plain cake.

Here’s a good tip. When your cake is cooked and you want to cool it, probably using a wire rack, don’t put the top of your cake onto the rack which may result in a grid pattern as the cake cools.  This could be classed as decoration and could be disqualified because of the lines.  As said above, the judge just wants to see a nice, plain, lovely looking sponge – golden and so tempting to eat!

Now all we need to do is start a petition to allow the visitors to the show to actually sample the wonderful delights in the Domestic Produce section! Let us have cake!