Did you enjoy the national show

[Lyn]

I would LOVED to have gone ,it looked an AMAZING show and WOW there were so many beautiful Cacti and succulents there :-)

[jerryb23]

Following all the positive feedback from the national I am amazed that no one has picked up on my post of 23 Aug (see above) where I suggested that 4 years to wait until the next national was too long and questioned whether they could be held every 2 or 3 years. Any thoughts, anyone?

[Liz M]

We've had this discussion many times before and the officials will not budge, it's every four years. Such a shame but I know it does involve a lot of work.

[IanW]

Yeah, I'd like two years too but I think it's more effort than the officials are willing to take on as it takes up a lot of time.

[Tina]

I would like to see a class for variegated agaves only, as they are normally much slower & sometimes harder to grow than the greenies. They are at a disadvantage .

You could also do this for haworthia.

Another class I saw at the recent Oxford show that was quite interesting was for the cristate & normal form of a cactus.

[Geoff Lovell]

Tina,
Years ago they had a cactus class for one normal and one cristate of the same species.
from memory the late Ken Ethridge of the Portsmouth branch always won it with Mammillaria schiedeana.

[jerryb23]

In response to my suggestion that we should consider holding the national show more frequently LizM wrote:

"We've had this discussion many times before and the officials will not budge, it's every four years. Such a shame but I know it does involve a lot of work."

But surely the officials are elected to serve the interests of the members, and it seems a shame to lose the momentum so recently generated, so if there is enough support among the members then the officials should reconsider - perhaps we should have a referendum!

[Apicra]

It is worth pointing out that many of the same people who volunteer as officials (and many of the exhibitors) are involved in organising our BCSS National Convention, which is scheduled for two years time.

In general, there is s shortage of volunteer organisers at local branch level and it does limit what can be attempted. Branches have closed for lack of people to run them.

Best wishes,
Derek Tribble,
Harrow Branch

[Ian Thwaites]

I am pleased that everyone enjoyed the show. Its not so much the organisation of the show that limits it to every 4 years but more the case of how can we fit it in. The convention is now every 4 years and two years apart from the National so we would not want to clash with that.

If we had the show more regularly would all the same exhibitors be prepared to enter. Please remember many of the exhibitors hired vans, took holiday from work and paid for hotel accommodation. As Derek so rightly points out there are a host of volunteers and would we get the same commitment with a more regular show?

I believe the better course of action is to support local branch and zone shows and use these as practice grounds for the National every 4 years. Branch shows to my mind should be the focal point of the branch calendar and can be such fun. If you don't already have a show why not think about starting one up?

[Apicra]

There are always alternatives ... The BCSS could hand organising over to a professional event management company, probably at an even larger venue, but hopefully one more easily accessed via public transport. I have no doubt our show is a spectacle of national interest and would attract more visitors with wider publicity. It would mean paying more like £25, rather than £5, to enter though.

Best wishes,
DT