I’ve recently found the Montrose Standard report on the 2 day Montrose Flower Show in August 1937. Despite the rather “indifferent weather” it records that there was a record number of exhibits, 1500. The report notes that flowers had “suffered considerably as a result of the weather” the vegetables were as “good as ever”.

My dad, his father and his grandfather all were regular exhibitors at the Montrose Flower Show and also at the shows held in the neighbouring towns. We have boxes of cards confirming the prizes won.

1937 however was a special year for my Dad. Aged just 10 he often told of how he had got on his bike and cycled from here to there to gather 12 vases of wild flowers to enter in the show. His efforts were well rewarded as he won the Sir Harry Hope Cup for Wild Flowers.

Out of interest I looked up Sir Harry Hope to discover he was a farmer (agriculturalist in some reports!) and also MP. In 1937 he would have been the MP for Montrose as part of the Forfarshire district. Of interest too is that, in an internet trawl, there are reports of children winning the Sir Harry Hope cup as recently as 1988 (if 1988 is considered recent 😉).