"Stirling" Show held in Sunny Dunblane- 24th March 2007

[Maggi Young]

Gather at the Victoria Hall, Dunblane for this toothsome event... early exhibitors might get a chocolate egg!

[Sandy Leven]

Bribery might work to increase the number of entries.
When is Easter in 2007?
If I buy the easter eggs just now, will they be 2006 vintage left overs or 2007 early supply?
I will concentrate on selection boxes for now.

Please remember always to brush your teeth after finishing a selection box.

At the Stirling show we encourage exhibitors to brush their teeth after consuming their chocolate egg.

Bring your plants and your toothbrush

[Maggi Young]

Getting excited about the next SRGC show this coming Saturday ! Not that we have much to exhibit, ghastly weather outside and roots trough the base of pots under glass has kyboshed that possibility. 
BD and I have been asked to judge, though, so it will be easier if we will not be disqualified from any classes. Wonder if we will agree on anything?  Sandy Leven  hasn't been too well lately, (and had to be forcibly restrained from going to Blackpool last week  where he risked doing himself a mischief) and Jean Broome (who, side by side with Hazel Smith, are the mainstays of the Group plantstall) has just had heart surgery, so volunteers will be even more welcome than usual at this event.
Sandy is on the mend and has had many get well soon wishes and I hope that Jean will be cheered by our hopes that she is soon back home and firing on all eight cyclinders!
Venue for the Show is the same as the Early Bulb Day, the Victoria Hall, Station Road, Dunblane. Parking for non-exhibitors is limited by the hall, but parking is allowed on the nearby main road, only a couple of hundred yards away. I hesitate to suggest you might use the Tesco car park over the railway footbridge....if you get arrested, don't blame me!

Change of details: There is NO staging on Friday night . Only Staging from 8.30am to 10.00 am on the Saturday morning.
Show open 12 noon to 4pm.  I am not 100% sure, but I don't think there will be access to the plant stalls between the judging beginning at 10.15am and the show opening at 12 noon. Watch this space for updates.

[Anthony Darby]

The Tesco car park doubles as the station car park, so no chance of being arrested. There is also a car park down the Millrow (turn right before the bridge by the Stirling Arms Hotel (closed) immediately after turning left at the bottom of Beech Road). 

[Maggi Young]

Thanks,Anthony, excellent local  info ! Hadn't realised that about the "Tesco" car park.

N.B. There is NO staging on the Friday evening, only on Saturday morning. Thanks to DS for note re this!

[Maggi Young]

Well, we arrived at the show too late to find out if there had been easter eggs for the earlybirds but there were plenty of other delights to make up for any lack of chocolate! I took one picture, or tried to, when the camera batteries went phut! BD has got some though, as did some others so I hope they will post them here. It was a good bright day and the show hall was full of plants and there were plenty to buy when your enthusiasm was excited by the quality of the show plants... hope some of the heaps of plants bought might find their way back to the show next year!  Section II was well supported and had a good range of plants, grown to a high standard. It is a real pleasure to see lots of good plants in SectionII, these are the stars of tomorrow, so to speak. It is so important to have newer exhibitors coming along to keep the shows vibrant.  Stan de Prato, from near Edinburgh (Tranent, I think?) won lots of classes , gaining the trophy for most points in the Section and a Bronze Medal. Several other "new" names there, too, with neat plants.
In the open section, Section I, the judges felt that a few plants could have benefited from a little extra "tweaking", minor adjustments or tidying to just show the plant to its fullest advantage. After all if you are going to the trouble to take a plant to the show, why not take off that grotty leaf or tidy the top dressing? After all, most of us have a goodwash and brush our hair before we present ourselves in public, wht should it be different for our plants?
Someone who needs no reminding to prepare his plants in tiptop condition for a show is Forrest Medal Winner, Cyril Lafong. Cyril added to his collection today with a medal for Trillium rivale 'Purple Heart': a lovely pan full and his 23rd Forrest Medal... at long last, new supplies of the solid Silver Forrest Medal  (awarded for Ten Forrests) have arrived, so President Ian, the Christie kind, had the pleasure of presenting Cyril with his (somewhat overdue) Silver Forrest!
Sandy Leven, still not fully fit after his recent illness, still managed to enter sufficient plants of quality to earn him the trophy for most points in SectionI: that should aid his recovery, I hope!
Local Convenor, Jean, The Wyllie Wifie, had everything in order, aided and abetted by the Wyllie Gals, AKA Karen and Susie, her two daughters, plus a gaggle of grandchildren who were kept busy clearing the tables in the tearoom and rounding up the judges for the "Judges' Lunch"...this was provided by Anne Leven and very good it was, too! Glassford Sprunt stood in for Sandy as the Show Secretary and succeeeded in getting the judging finished in time for opening to the public... not always easy that!
More  to follow, just a quick roundup of the day!

[Anthony Darby]

I saw lots of people taking photographs at the show but where are they?

[Maggi Young]

Hoping to get time to process Ian's pix for the forum soon!

[Maggi Young]

Here we go ,then ,with some quick pix from Dunblane. All snapped by the BD on the hoof, so nothing like JoF's efforts here, AND I can't remember half the names of either people or plants, but we're going for atmosphere here!
Click the pix to enlarge, of course.
 The lull before the storm, the hall is cleared and judging is about to start



show hall, Evelyn Dick in the background


show hall, Anne Chambers, Ian Steele, Sam Sutherland and Hazel Smith, hiding behind the men!


show hall, Hazel Smith browsing a plant stall.


show hall


Show hall


Honorary SRGC President, Bette Ivey, ready to Judge!


Lyn Bezzant in her natty runaround with Bette in the background in red jacket

[Maggi Young]

Now some plants
three pans Tecophilaea cyanocrocus forms


3 pans fritillaria ;Back left F. kotschyana 'Craigton Max', right, F. hermonis amana, front, F. aurea


Corydalis solida alba


Callianthemum kernerianum


Crocus veluchensis


Daffs


more daffs


more daffs

[Maggi Young]

Anthony Darby, on the right and, now they tell me, Alan Gardner


Bob Maxwell and Mike Hopkins from the Aberdeen Group


Cyril Lafong and Anthony Darby


Cyril, Anthony, David Shaw and Carol Shaw


Henry Taylor and Agnes Sutherland


Don't know what Henry has said, but Agnes is clearly bemused

[ranunculus]

Super shots Ian and Maggie,
It's good to see old friends looking so well!

[David Shaw]

Agnes to Henry - "You don't think this is the true Cookianus minimus?"

[David Shaw]

Just to show that there were people as well as plants at the show.

Folks in foreground: Left, in blue coat, Roma Fiddes from Aberdeenshire; in red jacket, Bette Ivey from Fife; slightly behind, Audrey Leach from Ayr; man in front in dark clothes, Alan Thomson with his wife Jane, they're from Edinburgh, and on the front right is Bob Meaden from Penpont in Dumfriesshire .

[Susan Band]

I reckon Hendry has just nicked Agnes's cake and hidden it behind his back