BLACKPOOL AGS & SRGC SHOW - 14th MARCH 2009

[tonyg]

Thanks to all for posting all these pics.  I used to be a regular when the show was at Morecambe and remember the warm reception from the locals.  It looks like the best spring show for a while going by the pics - thats what we get after a proper winter

[Maggi Young]

Cliff, do you refer to this event, perchance.....
Saturday 21 March 2009, 11.30am to 4pm   East Lancs AGS show    Whitworth, Riverside venue on Saturday 21 March 2009
 
 
 Civic Hall, Whitworth (The Riverside) 
 
http://www.whitworth.gov.uk/site/scripts/events_info.php?startDate=21-03-2009&endDate=21-03-2009&month=03&year=2009
 
http://www.rossendale.gov.uk/whitworthcouncil/site/scripts/news_article.php?newsID=16   ....article quoted below.....
 
The Riverside

Market St,

Whitworth.

OL12 8DP


....about which "happening" I quote this article  from" About the town of Whitworth news " Published: Monday 20th October 2008........text by C.B.......
"Alpine Flower Show returns to Whitworth....  FROM THE MOUNTAINS TO THE RIVERSIDE... After a break of twenty years, Whitworth will once again play host to a national horticultural event when the Alpine Garden Society stage a Spring Alpine Flower Show at the beautiful Riverside venue on Saturday 21 March 2009. This prestigious event is, in fact, simply returning to its roots, as the old Whitworth Civic Hall provided a superb setting for the very first East Lancashire National Alpine Flower Show staged way back in May 1991. This magnificent event proved such a success that subsequent annual shows were staged at the hall until the organisers were forced to find alternative venues across the county. The intervening years saw moves from Middleton to Bacup via Bolton and Tottington, but now the Society (the largest of its kind in the world) is to renew fond acquaintances with the township of Whitworth by staging an enormous alpine event once again. The show, which should attract exhibitors, judges, nurserymen and enthusiasts from the length and breadth of the country, will feature over one hundred and thirty individual classes ranging from rare alpine gems to bulbs, conifers, ferns and mini-gardens. Unusual plants from across the globe will vie for your attention with the stalls of nurserymen selling the very cream of alpine and rock garden plants, while the nation's leading exhibitors will be competing for a number of highly prestigious trophies. The shows held in the 1990s attracted remarkable attendances, and the organisers hope that many Whitworth folk will have long memories and will be tempted back by the promise of a huge raffle, superb tombola, free parking, seed, book and plant sales and excellent refreshments. Whitworth couple Cliff and Sue Booker from Tonacliffe founded the East Lancashire Local Group of the A.G.S. way back in December 1986, and while the group (which holds regular monthly meetings at the Civic Hall in Ramsbottom, near Bury) continues to thrive, new members are actively welcomed and encouraged. Group Chairman Cliff Booker can be contacted on 01706 356385. Please note the date of this hugely attractive show in your diaries (Saturday 21 March 2009, 11.30am to 4pm) and enjoy seeing the floral magic of the mountains transported to the foothills of the Pennines."


 

[ranunculus]

That could be the very thing, Maggi ... I couldn't have put it better myself!!      Many thanks and a big Whitworth kiss.

[TC]

Thanks for posting the pictures from Blackpool.  We used to go to the Morecambe show and enjoyed it immensely.  We also attended the first two shows at Blackpool but the extra distance was just too much to comfortably travel in a day.  It was a round trip of 420 miles.  Although not the same as being there, I can still enjoy the plants on my large monitor.
I am looking forward to Hexham and hearing the "Geordie" accent again.

[Darren]

Really delighted to see those positive comments from those attending on Saturday. As one of Lionels team I'm right chuffed! It was (I think) one of the best shows since we moved to Blackpool. And, even better, there were lots of members of the public there this year too. Admissions on the door seemed to be up anyway, and the plant sales seemed very busy. The lovely weather helped too (though there was a freezing wind howling through the atrium where our plant stall was set up!).

There was one casualty amongst Lionels team - my poor Susan has lost her voice! She already had a bad cold but all the talking on the day has left her completely silent. Its a bit unnerving actually....

We'll certainly be at Hexham, though Susan has been investigating the route to East Lancs 

[SueG]

Great pictures, thank you to everyone who's taken the time to take the pics and post them here.
Sue

[Maggi Young]

Really delighted to see those positive comments from those attending on Saturday. As one of Lionels team I'm right chuffed! It was (I think) one of the best shows since we moved to Blackpool. And, even better, there were lots of members of the public there this year too. Admissions on the door seemed to be up anyway, and the plant sales seemed very busy. The lovely weather helped too (though there was a freezing wind howling through the atrium where our plant stall was set up!).

There was one casualty amongst Lionels team - my poor Susan has lost her voice! She already had a bad cold but all the talking on the day has left her completely silent. Its a bit unnerving actually....

We'll certainly be at Hexham, though Susan has been investigating the route to East Lancs 

Poor Susan ...... it must have been a very chatty sort of day.... but aren't all show days like that??!!

I'm so glad that you Locals felt it was a good day, too!

[ranunculus]

Is there nobody else with images to post from this splendid show ... I spotted many people with cameras?   

[Diane Clement]

Is there nobody else with images to post from this splendid show ... I spotted many people with cameras?      

Sorry, Cliff, didn't seem to get a spare minute - promise to try and do better next time. 

[ranunculus]

Is that Hepatica just one plant, it would take me a lifetime (in the years I used to have available, not the years I have available now) to get one to that size.

Information from the exhibitor herself ... Mavis confirms that the beautiful hepatica is, in fact, just one plant. Remarkable.

[Carol Shaw]

Is that Hepatica just one plant, it would take me a lifetime (in the years I used to have available, not the years I have available now) to get one to that size.

Information from the exhibitor herself ... Mavis confirms that the beautiful hepatica is, in fact, just one plant. Remarkable.

That really is amazing - well done Mavis!

[Mick McLoughlin]

Cliff you seem to have covered a lot my pictures with your photos, but I'll post mine as well. Sorry for any duplicates.
A general shot of the benches.
Cyclamen class
Section A mini-gardens
Foliage effect
My Asarum forbesii
Asiatic Primula class
Primula class

[ranunculus]

Lovely photos, Mick ... many thanks.

[Mick McLoughlin]

Thanks to all the organiser for a great show again and everybody else as it is such a friendly and enjoyable atmosphere.
Just a few more now:
Dionysia 'annielle'
Fritillaria gibbosa
Hepatica nobilis
No name Fritillaria species
Iris winnowgradowii
3 pan Primula
Saxifrage 'Coolock gem'
finally Saxifraga tenerife

[Mick McLoughlin]

Last a drink to you all served on the Reginald Kay trophy, for most first prize points in section C.
A big thank you to everybody for getting us interested in the shows, and for all the encouragement, help and support everybody has given us.
All the show organisers, as ever, deserve a show of appreciation. It must be very stressful but at every show we have been to we have not encountered any problems and been assisted in every way.
Finally to all the people out there who are hesitant about showing, dip your toe in the water and have a go. You don't have to be able to put great entries in six pan classes (yet?)
Have a go you might like it.