A Quick Walk and Some Snippets About May :)

Life has been very hectic lately with trips up to Birmingham on various family errands, so it was lovely on Monday to stop off at Malvern on the way home to catch up with what's happening with the preparations for the Spring Show.

I was a bit too early for my appointment, so an added bonus was parking the car close to Helen's and taking a quick walk at the foot of the Malverns on the common land near her house. As you can see it was a glorious spring day and a real tonic after a stressful morning.

It was great to see Vicky, Nina and Sharon again and to find out what's in store for us in May. There's eleven showgardens entered for the Chris Beardshaw Scholarship which is significantly up on last year's numbers. I'm hoping some of them will feature in guest posts here at Meet @ Malvern once the build gets underway on the 18th April. This year's theme is Atom, so there's lots of scope for interesting features and focal points in the designs.

Last year's Biodiversity theme continues in the Garden in Harmony theatre where James will again be master of all he surveys. Previous CBS winner Paul Hervey-Brookes has designed the stage area plus two satellite gardens. See my Green Shoots post for more details on this year's programme of events.

The theatre will be further from the coffee/catering area this year so we need to think where it'll be best for us to meet up at the show, especially as we won't have our Bloggers' meeting area this time. We do have the option of using the large flags to create a meet-up point though, so your thoughts on where these might go if we use them are welcome.

A new feature for this year's show is a book slot, with various garden authors appearing on each day to talk about their books and to sign copies. I'm pleased to see that quite a few of last year's Meet will feature prominently: Mark with his Taste of the Unexpected; Lia's lovely Twilight Garden and Anne Wareham with her hot off the press The Bad Tempered Gardener. I'll tell you more when I have the full list of authors and appearance dates.

It looks like it's going to be a great show!

Meet the Gang...

It's about time we peeped behind the curtains to see who's involved in making Malvern Spring Show go with a swing. Some of the following are already familiar faces; others not yet, but all will be working hard to ensure we have a tippity top time over the weekend.

Laydeeeeez and Gentlemen I give you:

Sharon Gilbert (Press and PR Manager) and Nina Acton (Shows Development Officer) two of the small but perfectly formed team at the Three Counties Agricultural Society (TCAS) who plan and put together the show. Unfortunately I can't bring you Vicki Lanni (Marketing Manager), the other member of the team whom Helen and have been dealing with, but I'm sure that'll be rectified during the weekend. These are the people who've really got behind what Meet @ Malvern is about and are making us feel most welcome.

Local radio's Katie Johnson and Reg Moule will be attempting to keep order in the Design for Living Theatre - probably with varying degrees of success. They will be making the introductions and ensuring maximum audience participation.

Thwarting their plans and generating as much fun and mayhem as possible are these three 'characters'. Joe Swift and James Alexander-Sinclair are old hands at the show: Cleve West is making his debut and together they form Three Men Went to Mow.

And last but not least: Claire Potter and Deb Bird - our show garden bloggers extraordinaire :)

However, this is just a tiny portion of who'll be there ensuring we all have an enjoyable time. We've already heard from Pat Austin and Sarah Walker for instance. We'll all be able to contribute pictures of some of the hundreds of people who make Malvern Spring Show what it is today: such as the nurserymen, exhibitors, artisans, caterers, other visitors and even ourselves!

Other programme highlights to follow :)

Pictures courtesy and copyright of James Alexander-Sinclair