AS always there were colourful displays of flowers and impressive collections of fruit and vegetables at this year's Morchard Bishop Flower and Produce Show, held in the Memorial Hall.

There were also many excellent entries in the household and craft classes with delicious Bakewell tarts, butterfly cakes and chocolate Victoria sponges.

Helena Sykes did exceptionally well in the cookery classes. Eleven-years-old John Moore entered the adult class for butterfly cakes and came third out of many entries.

His 12-years-old brother, Robert, won first prize in the adult section for five stems of annual flowers with cosmos, which he had grown himself from seed.

The vegetable section was keenly contested but the clear winner was Richard Jackson, who won first prize for his awesome tray of four vegetables (carrots, runner beans, onions and potatoes), coloured and white potatoes, parsnips, runner beans, French beans, beetroot, pointed and stump rooted carrots, swiss chard, leeks and longest runner bean.

Harold Webber won first prize for cucumbers, sweet peppers and onions, whilst it was Margaret Dockings for marrows, parsley and cherry tomatoes, Diana De la Cour for a vase of herbs, Joan Dellamuro for tomatoes and Clare and Massie Priotte shared the honours with Richard Jackson for the heaviest marrow, which weighed in at nine-and-a-half pounds.

In the fruit section John De la Cour won first prize for dessert and cooking apples, Raymond Cook for pears, Jill Riddiford for berried fruit and Colin Carrington for any other fruit (grapes).

There were brilliant exhibits of dahlias and fuchsias; the fuchsia class was won by Sheila Mather. In the flower arrangement classes Pat Wilding gained a first with a creative arrangement for any plant materials such as berries and Rosemary Taylor won with a pretty arrangement of predominantly pink flowers.

But the silver anniversary vase was won by Jan Hinchliffe, who won every other flower arrangement class with some stunning entries.

Other cup winners were: Richard Jackson for vegetables, Jill Riddiford for best exhibit in the flower section, Sheila Mather for flowers, Helena Sykes for household and craft and Liam Gillbard in the seven-14 years class.

At the end of the show Morchard Bishop Garden Club Chairman, Colin Carrington, thanked show secretary Janet Sherwood "for her hard work in producing another successful show."

Karin Moffett