August 2023 - more Flower Show memories
TALES FROM THE HILLS
(Ashmansworth and Crux Easton)
In the past, the centrepieces at the Flower Show were not the traditional giant marrows and leeks but stunning displays of flowers, usually a tour-de-force from the professional gardener on one of the big estates. Marked “For Exhibition Only,” these exhibits amazed our visitors, and raised the bar for the rest of us.
On one occasion, Austen Stacey from Ashmansworth exhibited 50 varieties of home-made wines. They too were marked “For Exhibition Only” and not for tasting. More’s the pity!
Some exhibitors were particularly successful year after year, like Mr Watts from Lower Woodcott. We wondered how he did it. But he had some advantages: his garden was 200 feet lower down the hill, sheltered, and on a south-facing slope; and perhaps that 144,000-volt power line right above it boosted those prize vegetables. Or perhaps he was just a better gardener.
Another interesting item from the old show programmes was the list of honorary vice-presidents. These were local landowners, farmers and anyone you could touch for a fiver each year to help with funds. Among them was Boyd-Carpenter at Crux Easton rectory, a one-time cabinet minister; and Mrs Butler-Henderson at Faccombe who seems to have come from a railway family (there’s a steam engine in the national railway museum named “Butler Henderson”).
The sixth Earl of Carnarvon, too, was an honorary vice-president: he opened our 50th Show. Though hammered by death duties, he had courageously held on to his ancestral home and half of Crux Easton. He mingled with the stars in Hollywood, was a popular guest on TV chat shows, and gave lively accounts of it all in two racy books: Ermine Tales and No Regrets.
And there was Charrington of Netherton, chairman of Bass Charrington the brewers, Nicholson of Woodcott, reportedly of Nicholsons Gin, Brian Mountain of Dunley, chairman of the Eagle Star Insurance Company which then owned half of Ashmansworth, Joy Finzi whose work adorns the National Portrait Gallery, and HA Saunders whose Labradors won prizes round the world, all supporting the show.
Nothing changes. It’s still our exhibitors, organisers and other generous supporters who are keeping the show going today.
Agricola, August 2023