By Jessica McGovern, Head of Education and Develoment at the Royal Jersey Agricultural & Horticultural Society
DUE to the Government Covid-19 precautions, it has been impossible for RJA&HS to hold its normal programme of Shows this year. By their very nature these shows involve large numbers of people; many hands are needed in staging such an event and, hopefully, large numbers of visitors will come and admire and enjoy the spectacle. So, regrettably, the Society has had to make the difficult decision to cancel all three main shows, namely the Summer Country Fair (June), Summer Flower & Produce Show (August) and the Autumn Fair (October). But the Horticultural Committee is nothing if not innovative, and as a novel replacement they hit on the idea of holding a Virtual Show instead. The idea was trialled successfully in June and this will be the format for the rest of 2020.
The Virtual Summer Flower & Produce Show took place in August. An amended show schedule was sent out to all members by e-mail and made available to non-members and children wishing to take part, plus a Facebook post. All exhibitors were asked to send by e-mail to the Horticultural Secretary, Rachelle Robinson, a photograph of the exhibit they wished to enter plus the class they were entering and the date the photo was taken. Entries could also be in the form of standard photographs. Once all the entries were received, 315 in total, Rachelle sorted all the photos into class order – there were 390 classes that could be entered.
Four judges were then appointed, one each for the Cut Flower, Pot Plants & Cacti & Succulents, Adult & Children’s Fruit & Vegetables plus one for the Adult Flower Arranging and Children’s Cake and Floral Art classes. All the entries received for each class were sent to the judges to choose a winner in each class plus an overall winner in each Section – the children’s entries were all placed.
Once all the Best in Section were found, the five winners were sent to the Cut Flower, Pot Plant and Fruit & Vegetable judges to give points out 10 for each. The highest points won Best in Show and the second highest Reserve Best in Show. The Show was a massive success and Rachelle is now working on the Schedule for the October Virtual Show. Keep an eye open for this!
The Best in Show was Steve Le Feuvre with his Group of Cacti and Reserve Best in Show was Kate Le Ruez with her Raspberries.
Judges were:
Nelio Dinis (Pot Plants & Cacti & Succulents)
Myles Cummins (Cut Flowers)
William Church (Adult & Children’s Fruit & Vegetables)
Cathy Le Feuvre (Adult Flower Arranging & Children’s Cakes & Floral Art)
