Hundreds turn out to Wem Sweet Pea show
It was a festival to celebrate that most quintessential English flower - but while the Sweet Pea is normally associated with cottage gardens, its origins are hundreds of miles away.
Hundreds of people turned out for the 2018 Wem Sweet Pea Show, which was celebrating its 30th anniversary.
The festival was held in the town's Thomas Adams Stanier Hall on Saturday and Sunday, and it proved a big hit, bringing in people from miles around.
Coachloads of visitors were arriving at the venue, on the town's High Street, making their way in to the hall where the floral displays were staged before heading out to the marquee where they could buy plants and seeds.
With dozens of classes, the competition was fierce to take the top prizes in categories including The Albert E Bennett Memorial Plate and the W Jenkins Perpetual Challenge cup for the best vase.
This year there were 100 vases, packed with the beautiful blooms to be judged. But it hadn't been an easy ride for entrants - the hot and dry weather of recent weeks had meant that the flowers, which are renowned for their delicate petals, glorious scent and tender stems, had been stunted and buds had been prone to drying out and dropping.
Karen Good, show manager said there had been a tremendous turnout and that everyone appeared to be enjoying themselves.
"It has been brilliant so far," she added. "It is hard to say how many people we have had in but it has been steady since we opened the doors. There was a very high standard in the entrants and it was a very difficult decision in choosing the winners.
"This is the 30th year of the Wem Sweet Pea Show and when the first was held in 1998 we thought it would just be a one-off. But because of the success of that we decided to form the Eckford Sweet Pea Society and we now have 242 members.
"People come from all over the country to the show in what is now known as the 'Home of the Sweet Pea'."
Named after the 19th century horticulturalist Henry Eckford, who lived in Wem, and who started the development of the Sweet Pea which had changed little since it was first introduced in 1699 from Sicily, the show has grown and grown.
"We have people coming for all over the Midlands to the festival," added Karen. "It is wonderful."
