2020 Photographic Competition

The Centenary Cup Flower Show 2020 …..
It was March 2020, the arrangements were in full swing, coordinated by Wessex Branch Chairman, Andy Fly and his Committee; from trestle tables and banners to a Hog Roast with a visit due from Hartwig Schepker and the German Rhododendron Society at the end of the day. Hartwig was going to present the Show winner with the Centenary Cup. The planned Centenary Cup Flower Show at Ramster, the AGM at Bowood and the visit to Deer Dell to name but a few, all had to be cancelled due to circumstances beyond our control. We only had The Early Rosemoor Show in 2020. We could not let this stop absolutely everything and agreed to have a ‘virtual’ flower show, hence:
….The Centenary Cup Photo Competition 2020
The competition was conceived as a means to unite, entertain and help members in what was potentially a long period of isolation and possible loneliness. Judging by the correspondence received, we succeeded! There were two additional benefits: flowers which would have been long gone or not opened yet were eligible, as entries were to be from the start of the year to the end of June and we would also have a collection of photographs for the Website. The team of organisers was assembled but little did they realise what a terrific response there would be!

Stephen Lyus, Alice Bray, Pam Hayward and I set to work. Firstly, the entries went to Alice to resize and name the photographs for Stephen to upload to the website; this was a time consuming task for both of them. The entries also came to me and I acknowledged the entry and compiled a database of all entries with classes, entrant names and photographs, as a reference. All photographs had to be anonymous on the website as the judges were selecting from there. Pam was our Show Steward to ensure all names were correct and entries were in the right class. By the close, there were 48 entrants and 1009 photographs from Canada, America, Australia, Italy, Sweden, Eire and the UK!

Fortunately, seven people who were not going to enter the Competition, volunteered to judge a Class each. Once the Class results were received, the same seven judges were asked to judge the Class winners against each other, giving the overall winner for the Centenary Cup 2020.

Congratulations to Andy & Jenny Fly for the photo of R. ‘Queen of Hearts’, you have won the Centenary Cup with this entry.

That’s all folks! I hope this has provided some light relief and entertainment to you all during these difficult times. My thanks to all who helped, judged, entered and just generally enjoyed this competition. There will be more details and photos from the Competition in the 2021 Year Book

Barry Cooke, Vice Chairman bj.cooke@btinternet.com