Bridgwater Flower Show
After the heady horticultural thrills of the London RHS events, it was refreshing to spend the 2004 August Bank Holiday weekend at the Bridgwater Flower Show. The West-Country community event had over 600 entries - a record number in its century-long history.
The time and effort put into the event and the entries showed a real dedication to the flower show. The flowers - including orchids, dahlias and gladioli - were of a high standard, as they are famous for throughout the county. The enormous vegetables were laid out on black cloths to help show them off.
The flower show was held in the main hall of Bridgwater Town Hall, built in 1823. The hall has high ceilings and an upper-level gallery - a great space to show off all that colour.
We arrived quite late on the final afternoon. The displays were still in good condition, but the crowds had gone so we had the place to ourselves. The man at the reception desk was having a (cider fuelled?) moment of shut-eye.
Flower Show Prizes
The flower show had 70 prize categories, included special new themes to encourage younger entrants, and competitions for cookery, photography and wine-making. The prize cups have winners' names going back 50 years.
The photography competition was interesting, and had some high quality entries. As well as the traditional 'artistic' categories, such as wildlife and sunsets, the photo competition encouraged entries for social or community events. They gave a real feel for the town and locals' lives.
