16th November 2009

When I left off my writings for the diary I was on my way to Hull for their Bar Top which was on Monday 19th October.
John and I arrived an hour before the club opened but we went and got a burger and chips which we ate in the car. We took a vase of Johns Shirley Sunburst and a selection of mine. When i got there I was asked to judge with Mick Graves who had come over the Humber bridge. There was at least 35 vases in 4 classes and 25/30 people there. We were asked to talk through each vases strengths and weaknesses. The flowers were good the company was good and the buffet was also good. In fact it was a good night all round. It was 85 miles from my house and I got home in 85 minutes.
On Friday 23rd I went over to Southport with a vase of Kay Woolman. Even if I say so myself they were very nice. I took Trish with me and we stayed overnight in a hotel. We went to the show after walking on the piers full length . I was duly awarded the Silver Medal.
On Wednesday 28th we had our Bar Top show. We were inundated with flowers with the best vase going to Len Whitehouse. It was also the first showing of Bill Holden. Considering that it is an 'a' it was a little on the small side but the general consensus of opinion was that if reclassified it would bake a nice addition to the .b' section. However if anyone went to the National they will have seen that it was judged as the best Large Reflex in the Show Grown by John Peace.
On Thursday 29th I had my C.T. scan for the bowel cancer that I had and I get the results of that on Tuesday 17th.Keep your fingers crossed for me.
On Friday 30th I judged at Failsworth and even though there was nothing exceptional it was a cracking show which took me 21/4 hours to judge
Sunday 1st November John and I went to Chester for the Chester Millenium with an entry in the Society Class. As well as John and myself Keith Atkinson contributed. We came second to Chester.
I finished my Chemotherapy on Tuesday 3rd November so hopefully I can start to feel a little better
Thursday saw John and me at Stafford for the National. John entered the old variety class with 3 vases of Shirley Sunburst but was disappointed when he was the only entry. I entered the three vases of medium 4 or 5. As well as the new Ken Dear sponsored class for 6 separate blooms staged individually. I came 3rd and 2nd respectively and was very pleased. The Society entry was awarded 3rd place in the league and my Olwyn was judged to be the best flower in the middle row and the 92 points it achieved was the highest in the class. We arrived home at 2 am, and on Friday I went to judge the show at Middleton. It was very good show with some top class incurves being shown.

On Tuesday the 10th of November, I was at Bury for the North Western Counties show. I was concerned initially with the lack of entries, but at the end of the day, we were only 23 blooms short of last year. That can be accounted for by the shortage in the society classes. Only 2 societies showed in the classes, however we , Sowerby Bridge, won them both and all the medals. My Olwyn, which was at the National, was again judged as the best on the middle row, and this time achieved 85 points.

Nearly up to date! Our show, Sowerby Bridge, took place last Saturday, the 14th. I have to report that I did not get a first prize card. John won everything! Apart from the new variety of Bill Holden which went to Peter Utley.