Dear Pumpkin Growers
Please find below a brief outline of the National Fruit Show. This year for the first time we will be staging a 'largest pumpkin competition'. The pumpkin with the largest girth will be awarded a prize of £200. The Show will take place on Wednesday 18 and Thursday 19th October 2006 at The Kent Showground near Maidstone. Entries will need to arrive on Tuesday 17 October at the latest but would be best to come on Monday 16. I wonder whether you could distribute these details to your growers. We produce a competition schedule with entry forms (there is no charge for entries). Your members need to contact the number below to be included on the mailing list for the schedule.
Regards Gill Collins
Show Secretary
The National Fruit Show
e-mail: national.fruitshow@virgin.net
The origins of the National Fruit Show can be traced to 1933 when a group of top fruit growers in Kent decided to break away from the local ploughing match and establish an event more adequately reflecting their need to show top quality competitive fruit to potential buyers. Since then, only two bad frosted years (1935 and 1938) and the war period interfered with the staging of this annual Show.
By 1992, the Show had seriously outgrown its site at Marden. The involvement of exhibitors and visitors from all the major UK fruitgrowing areas and mainland Europe, meant that good access by road and rail became essential. The move to the Kent County Showground at Detling provided facilities and opportunities essential for development. In 1999, the Show was relaunched as the National Fruit Show, to reflect more appropriately its status as the UK’s major fruit event.
The National Fruit Show continues to be organised by the Marden Fruit Show Society and is privileged to have Lord Mayhew of Twysden as its President. The Society’s remit is to “promote the sciences of agriculture and arboriculture, particularly in connection with the production of better fruit” and the annual top and soft fruit competition provides a national showcase for quality fruit; judging involves up to 40 experts from all sectors of the industry who come across the country to participate.
The Show provides an opportunity for growers not only to see the latest developments in the horticultural industry and to view top quality fruit, it also provides a venue for growers, wholesalers and representatives of the trade to meet together to discuss problems, opportunities and achievements.
The National Fruit Show
At Marden Fruit Show Society,
Bradbourne House,
East Malling,
Kent. ME19 6DZ.
Tel/fax: 01732 874564
Tel: 05600 760808
