Heaviest veg record is well worth weight

Retired building surveyor Peter Glazebrook not only set a new world record with the first ever onion weighing more than 18lb at the Harrogate Autumn Flower Show but swept the board in the other giant vegetables classes.
By The Newsroom
Published 15th Sep 2012, 07:00 BST

The 68-year-old from Halam, Newark, set the record last year at 17lb 15.5oz and hoped he would come close again. A roar went up from the crowds yesterday when it was announced he had smashed it, with his new champion weighing in at 18lb 1oz. “I felt quite emotional, I wasn’t sure I could do it again,” Mr Glazebrook said.

But his triumph did not end there. He also took the awards for heaviest marrow at 119lb 12oz, which even Harrogate strongman Jonathan Walker struggled to lift; heaviest cabbage at 81lb 6oz; tomato at three pounds one and a quarter ounces; and potato at three pounds three and an eighth oz. He also had the longest runner bean, the longest cucumber and, as if that was not enough, he entered the National Leek Championship for the first time and won that as well.

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The Head Gardener Award for a basket of fruit went to David Barker, of Middlethorpe Hall, York, while Best in Show in the Flower Arranging classes was Maggie Wootton, from Scunthorpe, with her entry Enchanted Imagination, which the judges described as “superb”. Floristry Best in Show was Rebecca Hough with her entry the Circus Comes to Town.

Numerous societies hold their own championship as part of the autumn show at the Great Yorkshire Showground, making the specialist societies marquee the biggest of its kind in the UK.

The Royal National Rose Society championship was won by Tony and Alice Bracegirdle, from Lancashire, with Bob Metters, from Chester-le-Street, the National Dahlia Society individual champion,

The Harrogate and Ripon Beekeepers’ Association blue ribbon award went to Judith Rowbottom for her Royal tea with cakes using honey. The Yorkshire Bonsai Society champions were brothers Pete and Ted Goodhead, from Ripley, Derbyshire, and the British Cactus and Succulent Society top awards went to Barry and Sue Webster, from York.

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Related topics:York