Vintage Horticultural and Garden Machinery Club

Tractor World. by Charlie Moore.

Held over the weekend 2nd & 3rd March at The Three Counties Showground Malvern and organised by Tractor & Machinery magazine. The actual show organisation was carried out by a new team this year which saw a few changes to show layout and the introduction of displays of new tractors. Saturday had the usual auction by H J Pugh and on Sunday there was a vintage sort out. A couple of weeks before the show Martin Oldaker, editor of Tractor & Machinery, asked me if I would be willing to judge the horticultural section. For some reason I said yes, (must learn to stop saying yes). This worked out well as I was planning to visit the show on the Saturday anyway.  

Entries in the horticultural section were down on previous years, not helped by a number of horticultural machines appearing on other stands in the show. Entries were varied in both make and model as well as condition, with some as found and others fully restored. The full spectrum of eligible machines and tools was covered, from JALO to Trusty and Ransomes MG. Interesting exhibits included a very unusual single wheeled machine, believed to be a Howard and a good original condition Allman sprayer attachment on a Colwood motor hoe

Judging was very difficult due to the wide diversity of exhibits, I soon realised what a task it is and envy anyone that judges on a regular basis. Knowing some horticultural exhibits were not in the horticultural section I asked if they were to be included, as judging them would involve me walking around the whole show looking for them. The organisers confirmed only those in the horticultural section were to be judged. This was to cause some discontent as this was not clear on the entry forms. 

Results were as follows.