National Late Show 2009 
by Ivor Mace

The UK National Late Show was held at the County Showground Staffordshire on Friday 6th and Saturday 7th November 2009.

Society Classes 
The Championship for Affiliated Societies calls for seven vases, 3 Large or Medium exhibition, and 4 vases of five blooms chosen from five sections or 3 stems of sprays. City of Swansea Chrysanthemum Society won the class with 2 Silver Gigantic and 1 Bronze Gigantic from myself, Yellow Fairweather and Pauline White from John Hobbs, Rose Mundial from Terry Williams and Sheila Coles from Jim Prosser. Jim also had the best vase of Anemones with a vase of Mundial from his individual entry. 

Seedling Class 
John Nevill from Burntwood Staffordshire won the class with a very promising new Large Exhibition called Saxon. John raised it by crossing his own seedlings and named it after the hoard of gold found recently in Staffordshire. I am pretty excited because John has another Large as well as Saxon which I will be releasing in 2011. 

Large and Medium Exhibition
It was a very good show for Barry Cundiff from Lyme Green near Macclesfield. Barry has been growing Japs for very many years but since moving to a new garden the standard of his blooms has really impressed me. This year he really hit the big time, winning the Centenary Trophy for 18 large exhibition blooms. His entry went on to win the Bentley Trophy for the exhibit of most merit in the whole show. This was Barry's first win in this class and it was a tremendous feat because there were 5 superb entries. 

I was second, John Williams Third, Mike Potts Fourth and Doug Ball unplaced with some superb blooms. Barry had the best Large Exhibition bloom with Cream Jessie Hapgood, but to be honest he had a tremendous bloom of Peggy Ann and an equally impressive bloom of Mark Woolman the likes of which I have not been seen for ages. They were my favourites amongst so many to choose from. 

Barry's exhibit contained 4 Peggy Ann, 2 Lancashire Lad, 1 Yellow Phil Houghton, 1 Jessie Habgood, 1 Cream Jessie, 1 Primrose Jessie, 1 Leviathan, 4 Bronze Gigantic, 2 Silver Gigantic. 1 Mark Woolman. To complete his day Barry also won the J.H.Goddard Trophy for 6 blooms using his spare blooms. John Williams from Colwyn Bay won the Richardson Challenge Cup with 3 very good blooms of Yellow Phil Houghton. 

The Holmes Trophy for 12 Large Exhibition and The Richardson Trophy for 9 large Exhibition were won by Howard Minns from Aintree, Liverpool. Howard used 4 Primrose Jessie, 1 Cream Jessie, 1 Jessie Habgood, 3 Amber Gigantic, 1 Silver Gigantic 1 Pink Duke and a Jimmy Mottram He used the same varieties in his 9 bloom entry. Andy Wickham made a welcome return to the National coming second in the twelve bloom class.

The top class for Medium Exhibition carries the T.F.Pattison Trophy. This calls for 18 blooms in a minimum of 9 varieties. Terry Wombell from Barnsley won the class with a lovely entry containing, 4 Yellow Lundy, 2 Lundy, 3 Majestic, 2 Yellow Majestic, 2 james Bryant, Trident, Autumnal, Pat Brophy, Keith Luxford and its Cherry spot. Meanwhile Ian Moss had 1 Majestic, 3 Trident, 2 Yellow Majestic, 1 Red Majestic, I Avonlea, 1 Woking Rose, 1 James Bryant. 1 Lundy and 1 Yellow Lundy to win the twelve bloom class.

The Medium Exhibition Perpetual Trophy for 9 blooms was won by Mike Graves from Broughton in Lincolnshire. Mike grows 100 Medium Exhibition and 50 pots of large. He grows in Kettering loam making up his own compost. I thought his mediums were by far his best blooms this year and his winning entry contained 2 Yellow Lundy ,2 Lundy, Woking Rose, Majestic, Avon Lea and Ruby Luxford. 

The Jap Glass Trophy calls for 9 blooms of Large and Medium Exhibition. This year's winner was 80 year old Roy Hamnett from Alderley Edge in Cheshire. Although Roy has won classes at the national show in the past it was his first win in a Trophy class. Roy grows a cross section of Japs, Decoratives and Singles. 

Incurves
The Incurved classes are always well supported, this year was no exception. The championship carries The Holmes Memorial Challenge Cup; Philip Griffiths from Chesterfield retained the trophy with 3 vases of the John Hughes family, Kay Woolman and Darren Pugh. Phil's vase of Cream John Hughes was the best vase of incurves in show. Phil also won the George & Gladys Hughes Trophy for five vases of 3 blooms using the same varieties. 

The remaining trophy class The Ted Whittock Memorial Trophy went to Mike Higgins from Bridgwater in Somerset with vases of Primrose John Hughes, Fairweather and Kay Woolman. 

Incurved and Decoratives. 
The H Shoesmith Trophy calls for a vase of incurves and a vase of decoratives. Mike Shepherd from Street, Somerset won the class with a vase of Stan Addison a rarely seen lovely pink intermediate that became the best medium intermediate in the show. His vase of incurves was Primrose John Hughes. 

Decoratives 
The Decorative classes were very well supported; the large flowered championship carries the George Prickett Challenge Trophy. Mark Wood from Crew won the class with some very big well matched vases. His entry consisted of Stockton Celebration, William Florentine, Bronze William Florentine, Denise Oatridge and its White sport. Mark also won the Charles Luckin Challenge Trophy for five vases of 3 blooms using the same varieties. 

The Medium Decorative Championship carries the Derek Bircumshaw Trophy; this was retained by Barry & Pauline Bickerdyke with a very colourful exhibit of Patricia Miller and its Peach, Rose, Coral and Cerise sports. The latter two sported with Barry over the last few years. The Vase of Cerisel Patricia Miller was the best medium reflex in show. 

The Levinton Trophy calls for 3 vases of large flowered Decoratives. John & Allyson Peace won the class with vases of Edward Shaw, Primrose West Brom and the best vase of large flowered reflexed decoratives in show 'Bill Holden', a recently released cultivar raised by Harry Lawson. 

Singles 
The Large Singles Championship carries the George Monro Challenge Cup. This was a first time win for Keith Atkinson from Manchester, Keith grows 11 varieties with 4 to 7 pots of each depending on their reliability. His winning vases were Don't Start. Woolmans Glory and it's Red and Golden sports and the little seen Primrose Annina. 

Anemonies
In the Anemone section the top class carries The Coronation Bowl. Les Clark from Hykeham in Lincolnshire won the class with 5 vases of the Mundial family. Golden, Ruby, Rose, Apricot and Mundial itself. The Anniversary Bowl calls for three vases of anemones. Dick Dobbie from Newark on Trent won the class with Mundial and its Ruby and Rose sports. Mundial can be very tall and unmanageable so Dick uses four applications of growth regulator to keep them down to five foot tall. 

Sprays
Chris Webber from Wellington Somerset regained the Frank Rowe Challenge Trophy with a fantastic entry that contained the best vase of doubles Roscene (70 days) and the best vase of singles Ryski (68days). His other varieties were Peach Rynoon,(63days) Cream Ryski and Robeam.(70days). Late flowering sprays are grown from late struck cuttings and Chris roots his around 10th to 14th July he blacks them out from 63 to 70 days before the show depending on the variety. 

 Fantasies
Jackie Parks from Tewksbury in Gloucestershire had a fantastic day with wins in the Amberway Salver Trophy Championship for 15 blooms and she also won the 9 and 6 bloom trophy classes to complete a very successful show. Jackie is the wife of gladioli champion Colin Parks and they are to be seen at all the top shows with Colin's gladioli and Jackie's Chrysanthemums. Their Championship entry contained 4 Pink Splendour, 3 Gosha Penta, 2 Chesapeake, 2 Primrose Chesapeake, Flyaway, Senkyo Kenshin, Senkyo Karyu and Wind Dancer. Most of these varieties originate from Japan although some carry non-Japanese  names. 

Individual Championship 
This class carries the Harry Johnson Perpetual Trophy for five vases of chrysanthemums chosen from 8 sections with only one vase of each section. John Marshal from High Wycombe won the class with very good vases of Woolmans Venture, Roy Coopland, Primrose Kath Stevenson, Kay Woolman and Silver Gigantic. 
.

Best Vases	Variety	Grower
Single Sprays	Cream Ryski	Chris Webber
Double Spray	Roscene	Chris Webber (best overall vase)
Fantasy	Pink Splendour	Ron & Margaret Jones
Incurved	Cream John Hughes	Philip Grifiths
Large Exhibition	Cream Jessie Habgood	Barry Cundiff
Medium Exhibition	Trident	Michael Potts
Anemone	Mundial	Jim Prosser
Large Reflex	Bill Holden	John Peace
Medium Reflex	Cerise Patricia Miller	Barry Bickerdyke
Large Intermediate	Alexis	Ron & Margaret Jones
Medium Intermediate	Stan Addison	Mike Shepherd
Large Single	Peggy Stevens	Peter Smith
Medium Single	Sheila Coles	Steve & Stella Joyce

Best Vases

Large Single	Medium Single	Fantasy	Anemone

Ivor's pictures
Ivor has provided a number of his photographs for you to copy and print at home, if you wish. The following are available:

Barry Cundiff

Howard Minns

Barry & Pauline Bickerdyke

Roy Hamnett

Keith Atkinson

City of Swansea

John Nevill

Mick Graves

Mike Shepherd

Dick Dobbie

Mark Wood

All of the above thumbnails will produce a larger than normal image which should give good reproduction when printed.
Consequently they may take a little longer than normal to appear on your screen.

Best Vases
Click thumbnail to view

Best Double Spray and 
Best Vase in Show

Best Vase Single Sprays

Medium Reflexed

Large Reflexed

Medium Intermediate

Large Intermediate

Large Exhibition

Medium Exhibition

The pictures on this page were taken by Ivor Mace
 and Paul Barlow.

© Copyright 2009 Paul Barlow.