CVKS Open Show 2023 Review

Following a successful show at the beginning of August 2022 (which you can read up on here http://www.crouchvalleykoi.co.uk/CVKS/?page_id=1208), Crouch Valley swiftly voted in Alan Hurley as Show Chairman for another year and he pulled the team together to review the show and access what went well and what could be improve the following year.

Whilst most tasks were parked for the New Year, some were put to bed quickly, like ordering some extra (of the very successful 3m x 2m) splash screens.

In January, the team convene at the Show Chairman’s house to kick off planning for the 2023 Show, dust off our plan and notes from 2022, and assign tasks over much tea, coffee and biscuits.

Come the February meeting, challenge number one had reared its head. As you may know, our latest venue is the great Buckhatch Nursery in Rettendon, Essex. The good news was we would be at the same venue. The less good news, the garden centre had built some additional storage in the greenhouse we use – right where vats 25 and 26 had been in 2022. Not an issue many would think, given the size of the greenhouse and that might be right had we not also need to navigate all the iron post and cross bars that hold the greenhouse up! It looked ok on paper (but at the loss of a dealer pitch) but of course, a site visit was done to check. Taken measurements at site visits is always interesting and turns a few heads as the greenhouse is full of plants and green fingered shoppers. We also learned that we had lost our regular sponsor of food prizes!

But there was good news:

• Having suffered a major fire, the garden centre management were confident, the café would be back up and running for the show.

And

• Keith Holmes at KWB had agreed to sponsor all the major trophies (more on that later)

Over the following months, the team met every month and progress was pretty smooth this year. Vats sold well and dealer interest was strong and best of all, the guys at Pedigree Wholesale stepped in and agreed to supply Hikari Saki food for all our major winners.

We strive to improve the show every year but with free entry, limitations on dealers and wanting to keep vat costs as accessible as possible, the team work hard to ensure all costs are covered and does not impact limited club funds. Some of you may not be aware but the cost of the venue, the water, the market stand that protects the vats, the chemicals used to keep koi us bio secure and the water safe, the trophies and prizes etc, all adds up and so dealers taking pitches and/or sponsoring the show is vital and VERY MUCH APPRECIATED.

So here are some thank you shout outs for this year.

Dealers attending:

• Akahana Koi (in partnership with Cuttlebrook Koi)
• Burtons Aquatics
• Carp Co
• Clearwater Koi
• Manor Koi
• World of Nishikigoi

Sponsors:

• Akahana Koi for donating a koi auctioned to club members
• Burtons Aquatics who printed and donated shirts for our show team
• Carp Co for donating a koi auctioned to club members
• Chosen Koi – Thank you Paul for the generous financial sponsorship and best wishes for the future
• Coastal koi who supplied all the new airline and air stones for the vats
• Koi Water Barn for sponsoring all the major trophies (more on this later down)
• Pedigree Wholesale who provided Saki Hikari Food prizes for all the major winners
• Select Nishikigoi for donating a koi auctioned to club members

Thank must also go to the BKKS who loaned us vats for the show – we could no run the show without these as the Crouch do not own a sufficient number.

Friday – Benching day so the real fun begins

• The show team are on site bright and early and fish start to arrive
• Rob Whittell, BKKS Chairman arrives as for the second year running he will manage the benching.
• Our benching team set to work and have a long day ahead as all fish are being benched on the day but the 4 man team soon find their rhythm. In total 235 koi are measured, catagorised and checked with 3 fish being rejected on health grounds (all an damage underneath that owners had missed and the team felt was not transport damage). As the owners were local, the fish were taken back to their ponds.
• By close of play, all the sheets showing the entries when printed and ready to go up on the vats first thing the following morning.

Saturday – Judgement Day!

• An early start for one of the team (well done Pondy) who ensured all the vats had the benching info posted on their boards.
• Under Dave’s management, water changes were made and particular attention given to vats where some spawning activity was seen – this had been monitored overnight by our two “night watchmen”
• The door was manned by Shelia with her guess the name of the koi competition as people arrive they were offered a goody bag which included the show programme, a Crouch Valley key ring and koi food sample kindly supplied by Burtons.
• The three judges arrived bright and early and were soon about their business under the direction of the Senior Judge, Gary Pritchard along with, Bernie Woollands and Stefan Malm who had flown in from Sweden
• The lunch break saw the judges joined by some of the Crouch members for what is becoming the infamous cream tea pic
• At the end of judging the benching team were pleased to hear all had been in good order with no issues identified and all koi having been benched accurately.
• The admin team set about printing all the results ready for posting the following morning.
• But there was still work to be done – Whilst many of the members gathered for the annual BBQ, water changes were underway and the koi in a vat that had experience heavy spawning were moved to a second vat rather than risk the water deteriorating overnight due to the large number of eggs present (a big clean up job for one of the team next day)
• Vats were then covered for the night
• The BBQ, was its usual success along with a raffle and the auction of 4 donated koi which all helped towards meeting the cost of the show.

Sunday – who has won what???

• Bright and early, Pondy was back at the show ground studiously going round the vats and adding the 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd stickers to the boards so exhibitors and visitors could identify which fish had won what.
• Then of course, up went the banners showing where the big winners were.
• At 2.30, the presentation of awards began with Keith Bertie from the club joined by Amir from Koi Water Barn, sponsors of the major trophies.
• Our trophies this year were very special. Donna from Donnas Koi Art had painted 9 individual trophies on wooden plaques and better yet, she will be painting a further plaque of the Grand Champion.
• Trophies were also presented in memory of Jimbo O’Brien, a past club member, Mark Gardner who is well know in the koi world (and also a past Crouch member) and Keith Holmes, manager of KWB who sadly past away this year. Our final trophy went to a young koi keeper, Ella Hornshaw who was showing her own koi and giving dad, Neil, a run for his money!
• Of course, thanks to the generosity of the team at Pedigree, our winners also went away with Saki Hikari Food prizes
• At 4pm, it was all hands to the pump for debenching and getting koi back off home to their ponds
• Then a hardy bunch of club members started the “crash down”, the protective barrier to the vats was rolled away, vats were emptied and hung up to start drying, shading came down, air stones and air lines taken down, bunting and flags also taken down. The admin desk and equipment dismantled and packed away.

Well done to all our exhibitors seen above collecting their certificates, trophies and food from Keith Bertie of CVKS and Amir from KWB.

Special congratulations to our major winners:

Photos of all the winning koi taken by Liam Bess can be found on his World of Nishikigoi blog:https://www.worldofnishikigoi.com/post/major-awards-the-crouch-valley-koi-show-23 and https://www.worldofnishikigoi.com/post/best-in-awards-crouch-valley-koi-show-2023

Thank you Liam

Monday (yes Monday)

• Its often forgotten that work continues after the show
• The team coming back the following morning had to finish drying and packing away the vats, and take down the air run at market stand,
• And the final tasks were taking all the kit back to the storage unit and returning vats to the BKKS later in the week,

The club and our Show Chairman would very much like to thank:

• BHN for hosting us
• All the dealers and sponsors however big or small
• The exhibitors who trusted us to look after their precious koi
• The judging team from the BKKS
• Dave Edge, Rob Whittell and Liam Bess – it is great when koi people come together and support each other
• The show committee and members who assisted throughout the weekend with running the show.
• Our visitors – we love our koi but what is a show without visitors and its great to see several have joined or are coming along to meetings to see if they wish to join. Remember, our meetings are on the 3^rd Wednesday of the month at Wick Community Centre and all are welcome with no commitment to join. Our membership secretary is Darren Hepple who can be contacted on:
  • Mobile: 07754124966
  • Email: darrenhepple1@aol.com

We hope you enjoyed our show.

Congratulations again to all the winners.

We look forward to seeing you in August 2024