A typical cold but dry January day greeted the 38 cutters for this informal competition which gives novice cutters to work alongside more experienced cutters.
Team were drawn out of a hat, with an element of seeding to ensure a balance of experience between teams.
The hedge was predominantly hazel, with a bit of holly, on a bank , with a ditch at the bottom- something more challenging than previous hedges this season.
Being quite large hazel stools, lots of material was cut out to form ever increasing brash piles.
A sumptuous lunch in the barn was put on by Lizzie ; the soup, bread cheese and cakes went down extremely well with all cutters.
The group returned to the hedge after lunch to finish off, closely watched by judges Ian and Linnie.
3pm signalled the end of the competition and a grand job had been done by both teams.
Judge Ian spoke about the good and bad points of the teams hedges and on having to decided between the 2 opted for the Chairman's team lead by Phil Hart.Dave Sands who lead the President's team was magnanimous in defeat.
The completed hedge looked a picture and is a great advert for the quality of hedge laying undertaken by the Society.
Thanks must go to Tim Hughes , Frank Wright and Phil Hart , whose efforts made the day happen as smoothly and as well as it did.
The next major event is the Annual Competition at Patching, West Sussex on 17 February 2024. Entries have to be in to Mark Schofield ([email protected]) by 6pm on 31 January 2024.Any queries about the competition should be directed to Matthew Beard at [email protected]