It was with great excitement that Craven Vale and Whitehawk Hill allotment plot holders gathered at the Hub on Saturday 14th September with their heavy buckets in hand for the annual Spud-in-a-bucket competition weigh-in, although heaviness was not always a good indicator of a bountiful harvest.
This has become a firm fixture of the CVWHAS calendar, with each entrant given one potato of the same variety and a regulation bucket, but the rest is up to them.
Weighing commenced with a respectable 700g yield, but this was soon overtaken and the kilo mark was passed. There were some shocking surprises along the way, with last year’s winner, Fiona, coming a spectacular last this year with rotten potatoes in her bucket. However, she was not the only one to suffer this fate.
Suspense grew, and the leaderboard constantly changed. Secret mixtures of success were enquired about, but were kept closely guarded by those with good yields.
It was looking like Paul Skelly was a clear winner, but the last bucket to be weighed, grown by Mini Bed holders Angelica, Florence and Oscar, sweeped the board with a mighty impressive 2.6kg, a whole kilo more than the second place winner.
Councillor Mitchie Alexander was at the event and kindly presented the winners with their trophy and prize money.
A big thanks to Mary Ledgard for all her effort in putting the event together, and sourcing the potatoes and buckets in April. We will be back next year, with bigger potatoes (who knows!), look out for posters about the kick-off event in Spring 2025.
whitehawkallotments.org.uk 