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Egton Bridge gooseberry show results
ONE of the country's longest running events was held again on Tuesday as gooseberry growers descended on Egton Bridge.
Egton Bridge Old Gooseberry Show, held at St Hedda's School, got out its scales once more to judge competitors gooseberry growing skills.
The competition has been going since 1800 when the event was popular throughout the north, but it has been in decline since leaving Egton to uphold the popular pastime.
Last year, grower Bryan Nellist (74) from Egton Bridge became a world record holder with a berry weighing 35 drams, or 2.19oz.
Mr Nellist saw off the competition again this year to retrain his title of champion grower and be presented with the Harland Challenge Cup.
However, it came down to a nail- biting finish when Mr Nellist was almost pipped at the post competitor Peter Fishpool.
"For the first time any of us have known, it was dead-heat for the championship so they did a re-weigh and everyone gathered around watching" he said.
"It came down to half a drams difference, which is absolutely minuet. I wouldn't have begrudged the young chap for winning, it was so close."
Unfortunately a difficult winter and very dry summer have made it difficult for even the most experienced growers to nurture the right berries.
Mr Nellist said: "It was a difficult year, the frost in the middle of May was the main culprit. Looking back every year you'll always find something against you.
"The weight wasn't massively down on the year before last, which was 28 – 29 drams."
Last years champion gooseberry ended its days in the fridge before bursting and its seeds have now been replanted in the hope of more world-record breakers.
Mr Nellist who began growing in 1957 described last years win as the icing on the cake, but doesn't expect he will be holding it very long.
He said: "There is a chap called Kelvin Archer in Cheshire whose getting close to breaking the record. He has entered a show next week so it will be interested to know how it goes. I'm happy to bow down to a real champion."
This year also marks Eric Preston's 25th year as chairman of the Egton Bridge Old Growing Society.
Mr Preston (82), from Sleights, has been involved in gooseberry growing for over 30 years and believes the competitors have been more than challenged this year.
He said: "It is a very difficult job growing berries. They want plenty of water, for a berry to win it has to be full for the weight,
"It's been a very poor year for attendants and weights, because of the drought a tremendous lot of people didn't have any berries at all.It has been the driest winter, driest spring, driest summer.
"Everybody is going back to the drawing board for next year, including me."
See results in today's Whitby Gazette
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Weather for Whitby
Tuesday 07 February 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: -5 C to 6 C
Wind Speed: 18 mph
Wind direction: South east
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: -3 C to 1 C
Wind Speed: 17 mph
Wind direction: South
