SELLING OUR SILVERWARE SCANDAL
Ayrshire’s horticultural history has been smashed after prized trophies were sent to auction.
The entire collection of around 60 cups and salvers were put on sale to the highest bidder.
The collapsing Ayrshire Horticultural Society is flogging them to pay debts. But furious gardeners staged an 11hour bid to save them and managed to get around 20 pulled out of the sale on Thursday.
Around 16 trophies have been lost after going under the hammer at Ayr auction house Thomas R Callan. Some silver prizes sold for more than £ 200 - but others went for a piffling £ 20. And former trophy winner Ian Gibson said: “This is a small price to give history away . . . 30 pieces of silver indeed.
“It’s disgraceful for anyone to even consider this.”
Ayrshire’ s horticultural history has been smashed after prized trophies were sent to auction.
The entire collection of around 60 cups and salvers were put on sale to the highest bidder.
The collapsing Ayrshire Horticultural Society is flogging them to pay debts.
But furious gardeners staged an eleventh hour bid to save them and managed to get around 20 pulled out of the sale on Thursday.
Around 16 trophies have already been lost after going under the hammer at Thomas R Callan auctions in Ayr.
Some silver prizes sold for more than £ 200 - but others such as the Provost Macdonald horn, seen right, went for just £ 20.
And former trophy winner Ian Gibson said: “This is a small price to give history away . . . 30 pieces of silver indeed.
“It’s disgraceful for anyone to even consider this.
“I suspect some of these silver trophies will just be melted down for scrap value.
“This whole saga is very sleekit.”
Ian, of Prestwick, is both an amateur geranium and fuschia grower and pro gardener, and won the David T Roy Memorial trophy. This is among those with a reprieve from the hammer.
Ian added: “David was part of the show both in the council era and afterwards.
“There was no thought given to his family or his memory. That is the one that really got to me.”
The Ayr Flower Show was axed after the 2017 show at Rozelle Park after losses were run up.
Some of the prizes presented every year dated to the show’s birth in 1960.
The company behind the auction sale - the Ayrshire Horticultural Society - has still not been wound- up and remains active.
This week secretary John Walker - also an Ayr lawyer - said the show treasure was put to auction to pay creditors.
And he claims the Ayr and District Flower Show, which now puts on the event at Ayr Racecourse, were NOT interested in an earlier offer to buy.
He said: “The Ayr Flower Show ceased in 2017 following on the withdrawal of £ 20,000 funding from
South Ayrshire Council and the Ayrshire Horticultural Society a voluntar y organisation which ran the show committed to a winding up of the Company’s affairs in an orderly way.
“A number of debts remain outstanding and the Trophies which are part of the Society’s assets along with the other plant and equipment which has been sold now require to be sold to liquidate funds.
“There has been an increasing amount of interest in the trophies which are available from Callans. The Ayr and District Flower Show who previously indicated that they had no interest in purchasing them have now indicated a small number of trophies which are now of interest and are in discussion with the auctioneers regarding their purchase outside of the sale.
“Without commenting on individual trophies the trophies vary in quality from a gilt plate to silver – none of the trophies are being sold at undervalue.”
Among those lost are the Scottish Automobile Club trophy for £ 20 and the Wakefield trophy in honour of Robert Wakefield a much- loved head gardener of Ayr Burgh Council, and The Lady Moore Challenge Trophy which dates to 1953.
Ian Gibson added: “These trophies tied together all the history of horticulture in this part of Ayrshire. That is now gone as a complete collection and that is so sad.
“This sale has started the destruction of the legacy of Horticulture in Ayrshire, and the disregard for decades of connections from patrons to businesses in Ayrshire such as Ecrepont and Newton Carpets.”
George Bartling of Ayr and District Flower Show confirmed he is in talks to buy 20 class- specific trophies.
He said: “We hope that we can reach a satisfactory conclusion.”
This whole saga is very sleekit...