Whitehouse garden growers’ superb show
Beautiful blooms, fabulous fruits, varied vegetables and intricate floral art graced Whitehouse’s inaugural Grow and Show. Blessed by fine weather, last Saturday’s event from noon until 4pm, both in and outside the village hall, was packed with Kintyre folk and visitors from further away. Opening the show, secretary Dorothy O’Donnell said: ‘Thank you all for coming to Whitehouse’s very first Grow and Show. ‘It is a community event to which we have invited all the villagers to take part and show things they have grown in their garden.’ At the door show visitors were able to buy a programme for 50 pence. It listed the four show classes and explained the system for the people’s vote which was the chosen method for selecting the winners. Everyone was given a little booklet of voting slips and once completed they were posted in a box on each section table. There were three specific garden gurus on hand to answer questions: horticulturalist Bill McHugh from Skipness, former Tarbert Flower Show judge Bobby McColl and Iain MacLachlan, who hails from Islay where he has judged its flower show many times. The full results of the people’s vote were as follows: Flowers: Best of my garden by Iain MacLachlan; Floral art: miniature garden: Zoe Quinn; Vegetables: beetroot: Wendy Spy; Fruit: blueberries: Margaret Pratt. Grow and Show spokeswoman Dorothy O’Donnell added: ‘It was a very successful community event and we achieved our aims. ‘We made a small amount of money and the weather of course was in our favour.’