The Great British Weather has a habit of causing concern in the run-up to the show. In previous years, we’ve had high winds and rain battering our gardens and ruining flowers and crops alike. This year was quite the opposite, with week after week of very hot weather, and no rain, our gardens are parched and looking pretty sad. So, it was with some trepidation that the Club opened its doors on Saturday 11 July: would there be sufficient entries? – would the local community venture out on such a hot afternoon?

We needn’t have worried, as the show was as spectacular as ever with a grand total of 253 entries covering the majority of classes, and 141 attendees. We were very pleased to sign-up three new members too. The judges all commented on how well everyone had done with their entries, given the recent very hot weather. The fruit and vegetables on display were particularly good and for the first time in many years a vegetable won the coveted ‘Best in Show’; won by Alison Lang for her two fabulous aubergines in Class 63 – ‘any other vegetable’. The judge was particularly pleased to be able to award ‘Best in Show’ for a vegetable – a very close runner up was Anne Waddell for her beautiful dahlias.

Of the 29 entrants, we were delighted that there were four new entrants. Brilliant! I do hope that you all enjoyed the day. We know that entering a show for the first time can be rather daunting and so we have adopted a Buddy approach where new entrants are buddied-up with someone on the Shows Committee – feedback from new entrants is very positive, saying that it makes entering much easier and enjoyable. 

This year, some pupils from Grayshott school came along with items they had grown or made; our main judge gave comments on each and every exhibit and all were given a Grayshott Gardeners rosette – much to delight of the pupils. The President’s Award, selected by Gordon, was given to the ‘very wonky’ carrots in Class 53 from Alison Lang.  

Many congratulations to the following winners:

Staging a show is a huge team effort and many thanks go to our Shows Committee, led by Pamela, who work tirelessly to pull together all the varied strands to produce such a brilliant show. A special thank you to all the many volunteers who help on the day: Plant sales;  our bakers who bake delicious cakes for the Teas; setting up the hall; the tombola and finally a huge ‘Thank You’ to the local Scouts who stayed on to help us clear-up after the show, thereby making such a welcome difference to our exhausted exhibitors.

Here are some more photos from the day:

Thank you to all our members for sending in their photos – not an easy task!

Thank you to all our members for sending in their photos.

Thank you to all our members for sending in photos!

The inter-village clubs hold several competitions each year, including Floral Art.  Hosting the competition rotates around the clubs, and this year it was Grayshott’s honour to host at our Spring Show 2026.

Sue Erler took the lead, even though she’d not planned a competition before. Sue set the title of ‘Ever Decreasing Circles’, and a special dedicated space was set up in the Village Hall on Spring Show Day.  Four clubs indicated their interest beforehand, and one surprise entry arrived on Friday evening! It was such a great turnout, especially as three of the other clubs also had their Spring Show on Saturday. The judge was very impressed with all the entries, saving her best comment for the winner – “Amazing” – which was Grayshott. So, as well as organising the competition, Sue won it for us too – hurray!

Many thanks to the surrounding villages for entering; Thursley came 2nd, Tilford 3rd, Headley 4th, and Churt was Highly Commended.

The Spring Show was a wonderful event for all the community and there was a lovely vibe all afternoon with lots of compliments from visitors, six of whom were impressed enough to become members. Although visitors had come to see the show they all also enjoyed the delicious homemade teas, plant sales and tombola which were as popular as ever.

As I read through all the individual reports on our wonderful show, a few sayings leapt to mind:

1. ‘Practice makes Perfect’ – many congratulations to Sue Erler for winning the Floral Art Inter-village competition. Not only that, but she also won the ‘Best in Show’ with her Stem of a Rhododendron.

2. ‘If at first you don’t succeed, try, try and try again’ – despite their first attempt at the Jamaican Ginger cake which exploded into a sticky mess in their oven, Pamela and Alan persevered and went on to win the Home Produce cup. 

3. ‘Be brave and dip your toes into the water’ – many thanks to our three new members who decided to enter the show. I do hope that you enjoyed the experience and are now inspired to enter future shows.

The Show was a huge success and the village hall looked glorious with 219 entries on display. Many thanks to all our 27 entrants – without all your hard work there simply wouldn’t be a show.  The Judges were hugely impressed with the very high standard of the exhibits, in particular the camelias and thought that it was a lovely show.

Prize Winners

Most of the classes had clear cut winners – here are the close seconds:

The Gardeners Cup was very hotly and closely contested: Pamela and Alan had the same number of points as Judith, but as Judith won more classes, she won the cup! Gill Purkiss and Gill Foster came second with only one point less!  Gill Purkiss has been showing for many years with beautiful exhibits while Gill Foster has only recently joined in and is doing so well – hooray!

The Novice Cup was won by Sue Wheeler, who has exhibited for some years, both Gill Foster and Lesley Benson were only one point behind! Gill Foster as above, and Lesley started showing last year.

Finally, behind every successful show is a very hardworking and dedicated team. Many, many thanks to Pamela and her show team who did a brilliant and professional job in staging the show and even found time to enter exhibits themselves. They now only have a few months respite before it’ll be time for the Summer Show on Saturday 11 July.

Floral Art Inter-Village Cup – 2026

This year it was Grayshott’s honour to host this cup at the Spring Show and more details and photos can be found here.

Here are some more photos from the Spring Show 2026:

Thank you to all our members for sending in photos!

Thank you to all our members who sent in photos!

Following on from our January Club Night where speaker Helier Bowling mentioned in her talk that there is always something to cut in our gardens… Thank you to all our members who took up the challenge to venture out into their garden to pick some flowers in January! As you will see we had plenty of responses and some very lovely arrangements and posies, many of them scented!

The Great British weather often conspires against staging a garden show. In previous years gardeners have faced an absolute deluge in the run-up to the show. This year however, we had the complete opposite with weeks of dry, sunny weather playing havoc with potential exhibits.

As I’ve said before, gardeners are a hardy, resilient bunch and were we put off entering? Absolutely not! In fact, I’m very delighted to say that there were 256 exhibits from 29 entrants. Of those, seven were new entrants, the majority of whom were placed in at least one of the classes they entered, with some winners. Absolutely brilliant! Many, many thanks to them for ‘being brave’ and entering. I do hope they enjoyed the whole experience and will enter once again next year.

A quote from a club member: “Well done to the winners, think anyone who enters is a winner though, and so nice to see new entrants this show”

Feedback from the judges: “Wow, what a great show given the weather.  There were some lovely exhibits, and a great variety of classes, as usual”.

A huge thank you to all our exhibitors and to everyone who came along to enjoy and support our club show. Many thanks too to our Judges who were: Sheila Rapley (Plants, Flowers and Vegetables); Jackie Squance (Floral arrangements) and Jill Arthur (Home Produce).

Summer Show Prize Winners Trophies are awarded to the exhibitor with the highest number of points in the relevant classes.

The prizes were hotly contested with some very close runners-up:

• Home produce: Amanda Dowden came second, with one point less than Janet

• Photography:  Gill Foster came second, with one point less than Karen

• Smith Cup: Viki Cresswell came second, with one point less than Gill; while Ann Haussauer came third, with one point less than Viki!

• Davies Tankard: Bronwyn Pennington came second, with one point less than Alan and Pamela

In 1820 the Banksian medal was instituted in honour of Sir Joseph Banks, one of the founders of the RHS. Initially it was awarded to exhibitors of objects brought to general meetings but, by the late nineteenth century, was given to societies for distribution at their local exhibitions. Today, RHS Affiliated Societies who hold an annual show receive a replica of the original Banksian medal, which is awarded to the person who receives the most points in a show’s horticultural classes – fruit, flowers and vegetables.

A special mention for     

Gill Purkiss who has been a wonderful exhibitor for many years, and has won almost every award previously, both in the Spring and Summer Shows. This was her first Best in Show for the Summer Show, and it was awarded for three hydrangeas of the same type (class 21b).

Finally, special thanks to the Show Committee who stage these events on our behalf. Each show brings its own challenges and all require great teamwork, attention to detail and sheer hard work. Without their dedication there just wouldn’t be the shows for us, and the local community to enjoy. So, on behalf of all Grayshott Gardeners – Thank you all!

Here are some more photos from the Summer Show 2025: