BISLEY FLOWER SHOW AND FETE
Bisley's annual Flower Show - the archetypal old English summer event, and among the largest of its type in the Cotswolds - was first held in 1863, and the tradition continues to this day.
The event takes place in the field next to the village hall (Cheltenham Road GL6 7AX if you're using satnav) alongside our excellent village summer fête, from 2-4pm on the Saturday of the August Bank Holiday - the 2025 event will be on Saturday August 23 - and around two thousand people come from miles around to enjoy the day.
Between the two events, there's (sometimes) a dog show, live (brass band) music, a beer tent, a Pimms bar, hot food, a second-hand book stall, and lots of other entertaining things going on.
There are more than five hundred exhibits, including flower arrangements, vegetables, baking, jams and chutneys, and items in fun categories aimed at children. Much of the produce is auctioned off at the end of the festival.
On the following evening (Sunday) the marquee is taken over for the grand annual Inter-village Quiz, where teams of Bisley brainboxes take on the dimwits and dullards of lower-ranked villages such as Oakridge, Eastcombe and the like, in a battle of who knows what the capital of Peru is, and in which year the decisive action of the American Civil War, the Battle of Gettysburg, was fought (1863, as it happens - that's how long Bisley Flower Festival has been going).
Oddly, Bisley teams rarely win the Quiz - there are suspicions that the whole thing is fixed.
More detail can be found on the Flower Show website.
The event takes place in the field next to the village hall (Cheltenham Road GL6 7AX if you're using satnav) alongside our excellent village summer fête, from 2-4pm on the Saturday of the August Bank Holiday - the 2025 event will be on Saturday August 23 - and around two thousand people come from miles around to enjoy the day.
Between the two events, there's (sometimes) a dog show, live (brass band) music, a beer tent, a Pimms bar, hot food, a second-hand book stall, and lots of other entertaining things going on.
There are more than five hundred exhibits, including flower arrangements, vegetables, baking, jams and chutneys, and items in fun categories aimed at children. Much of the produce is auctioned off at the end of the festival.
On the following evening (Sunday) the marquee is taken over for the grand annual Inter-village Quiz, where teams of Bisley brainboxes take on the dimwits and dullards of lower-ranked villages such as Oakridge, Eastcombe and the like, in a battle of who knows what the capital of Peru is, and in which year the decisive action of the American Civil War, the Battle of Gettysburg, was fought (1863, as it happens - that's how long Bisley Flower Festival has been going).
Oddly, Bisley teams rarely win the Quiz - there are suspicions that the whole thing is fixed.
More detail can be found on the Flower Show website.
2024 FLOWER SHOW ROUND-UP
The 2024 Bisley Flower Show and Fête went very well, considering the weather - which was forecast to be awful but was actually scorching at times, apart from one interlude of about 30 minutes:
Entries (see below for some examples) were up on previous years.
Modesty forbids the webmaster from saying who won the men's chocolate cake, the single stem rose, the savoury tart, and (even more unexpectedly) the photographic competition.
No-one will be surprised to hear that Rob won the veg prize.
The Pimms tent pretty much sold out of Pimms, the BBQ sold out of sausages and burgers, the blank-eyed Oakridge hordes snapped up all the colouring books and dot-to-dots on the book stall, and the raffle was fantastic (details of winning tickets below).
Sunday evening's quiz also went well (questions below if interested), if it was slightly chaotic at times - the bar sold out of beer, lager, and cider, and only four bottles of wine went unsold.
Again somewhat unsurprisingly the Lynch Mob came away victorious, beating two Bisley teams on the podium. Wells Angels came third, and Flower Power (comprising Flower Show committee members Sam and Lou, Lou's husband Julian and daughter Grace, and Debbie) were second.
Flower Power were only six points behind, and given that they were one team member short, and Grace is only 14 in a quiz largely aimed at the superannuated, this constitutes a moral victory for Bisley.
But moral victories win no engraved shields.
Next year!
All in all, a good weekend was had by all, and lots of cash was raised for church funds and to pay for the marquee - which, as you surely know by now, costs some £3500 per year.
Modesty forbids the webmaster from saying who won the men's chocolate cake, the single stem rose, the savoury tart, and (even more unexpectedly) the photographic competition.
No-one will be surprised to hear that Rob won the veg prize.
The Pimms tent pretty much sold out of Pimms, the BBQ sold out of sausages and burgers, the blank-eyed Oakridge hordes snapped up all the colouring books and dot-to-dots on the book stall, and the raffle was fantastic (details of winning tickets below).
Sunday evening's quiz also went well (questions below if interested), if it was slightly chaotic at times - the bar sold out of beer, lager, and cider, and only four bottles of wine went unsold.
Again somewhat unsurprisingly the Lynch Mob came away victorious, beating two Bisley teams on the podium. Wells Angels came third, and Flower Power (comprising Flower Show committee members Sam and Lou, Lou's husband Julian and daughter Grace, and Debbie) were second.
Flower Power were only six points behind, and given that they were one team member short, and Grace is only 14 in a quiz largely aimed at the superannuated, this constitutes a moral victory for Bisley.
But moral victories win no engraved shields.
Next year!
All in all, a good weekend was had by all, and lots of cash was raised for church funds and to pay for the marquee - which, as you surely know by now, costs some £3500 per year.
2023 FLOWER SHOW ROUND-UP
The flower show and fête were - once again - a great success.
Numbers were perhaps slightly down on last year, but last year was blazingly sunny and this year... wasn't.
Rob Stevens cleaned up on the vegetable section - as ever - and the overall family prize was won by the Stephens of Nash End.
Modesty forbids the webmaster from announcing the winner of the Rose Bowl.
The annual inter-village quiz on the Sunday was won by the Lynch Mob, from the Kings Head in France Lynch, with last year's winners, Bisley's Wells Angels, coming second.
Start boning up now for next year, Bisley quizzers - we can't be done over in our own back yard like this!
Thanks to Louise, Arlene, Ollie, Caroline, Allan, Nicky, Baiju, Fiona, April, Helen, and Sam, and everyone else who worked throughout the year but especially on the weekend to make the flower show happen.
Thanks to Sue Bradley and all her team on the fête side of things for their equally selfless commitment, too.
More detail on money raised and so on to come.
The raffle alone has raised just over £1,300 to be split equally between the Flower Show and All Saints Church. Thank you to everyone who bought a ticket and the individuals and organisations who provided prizes.
Commiserations if you did not win a prize and for those who are interested, here are the winning numbers:
Until the next update, here's a selection of photos from the day - roll on 2024!
Numbers were perhaps slightly down on last year, but last year was blazingly sunny and this year... wasn't.
Rob Stevens cleaned up on the vegetable section - as ever - and the overall family prize was won by the Stephens of Nash End.
Modesty forbids the webmaster from announcing the winner of the Rose Bowl.
The annual inter-village quiz on the Sunday was won by the Lynch Mob, from the Kings Head in France Lynch, with last year's winners, Bisley's Wells Angels, coming second.
Start boning up now for next year, Bisley quizzers - we can't be done over in our own back yard like this!
Thanks to Louise, Arlene, Ollie, Caroline, Allan, Nicky, Baiju, Fiona, April, Helen, and Sam, and everyone else who worked throughout the year but especially on the weekend to make the flower show happen.
Thanks to Sue Bradley and all her team on the fête side of things for their equally selfless commitment, too.
More detail on money raised and so on to come.
The raffle alone has raised just over £1,300 to be split equally between the Flower Show and All Saints Church. Thank you to everyone who bought a ticket and the individuals and organisations who provided prizes.
Commiserations if you did not win a prize and for those who are interested, here are the winning numbers:
Until the next update, here's a selection of photos from the day - roll on 2024!
2022 GALLERY
NOTE TO VILLAGERS:
The Flower Show marquee costs more than £2,000 each year - if you're able to sponsor a table or help in any other way at the 2023 show, please contact Ollie Miles on 01452 770788.
The Flower Show marquee costs more than £2,000 each year - if you're able to sponsor a table or help in any other way at the 2023 show, please contact Ollie Miles on 01452 770788.
FORMER BISLEY FLOWER QUEENS
Sue Bradley has put together this gallery of former Queens - if you have photos of those she is missing please call her on 01452 770337 or email [email protected]
