Novice sweeps the board at Goostrey Gooseberry Show

Dave Hassall topped the 125th show with a premier millennium berry of 27 pennyweights and 13 grains and then went on to win almost every trophy on the table at the Crown Inn on Saturday.

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His success was in the footsteps of dad David, a champion gooseberry grower and brother, Nick, who has been showing for 12 years.

But even the most experienced of veterans were amazed at Dave's success at only his second year of competition.

And in a year when gooseberry weights again took a tumble, his winning berry was still two pennyweights more than last year's winning berry of 25 pennyweights 22 grains.

The second-heaviest berry was produced by last year's winner Chris Jones and in third place was Emma Williams, who was second last year and is a twice show champion.

Dave also produced a whopping pair of twins to take the trophy for the heaviest in the show with his brother gaining third place.

Dave Hassall celebrates success with his trophy for heaviest berry (Image: Emma Williams)

Until he returned to live in Goostrey two years ago from Peover, Dave had been barred by society rules from showing as a member of the Goostrey show although he had watched his dad as a youngster raising award-winning gooseberries at home.

His success, including prizes for the most improved grower and most points in the show, came from berries from just four of 20 trees donated by fellow members to get him started as a novice.

Dave, a director and partner at Stocks Lane Nurseries in Over Peover, admits he has a knowledge of growing plants but had no idea how to prune or care for gooseberries.

Dave said: "My dad was a great grower but I didn't have any interest until I moved back to Goostrey in 2021.

“It had always been my ambition to show in Goostrey and support the village and one of its traditions.

"The winning berry was from one of the trees that people had kindly given to me and I replanted.

“I'm still shocked but delighted at the outcome of the show and would like to thank all Gooseberry Society members and encourage anyone who would like to join us to get in touch.”

Show secretary Martin de Kretser was full of praise for Dave's growing prowess.

He said: "It is an awesome achievement and his premier berry was even heavier than last year despite the difficult growing conditions.

"It was quite a surprise to see a new grower win the show so convincingly on only their second attempt. This will certainly give encouragement to all new growers."

Climate change, he said, is making conditions very difficult. Martin said: "This year was even more challenging than last year, with the late cool spring followed by hot days and cool frosty nights in late spring and a period of drought in early summer and a warm wet July with unprecedented rainfall levels.

"We are seeing very unusual and extreme weather conditions now with berries having been ripe two weeks before the show season, and many veteran growers with all their experience had difficulty in holding their berries for the show.

"There were fears the show would be a washout with many growers reporting they had lost all their berries, including Terry Price and Derek Hardacre for the second year running.”

Out of 24 growers, only 12 managed to hold berries for the show.

Martin added: "The show box was down on twins, premier berries and colours with only the yellow berries such as Millennium holding sufficiently for show day and green berries were practically wiped out, making this year's achievement by Dave very impressive in only his second year of showing from old gnarled trees which although thought to have seen better days he managed to produce such success.

"He also went on to practically clear the board, winning the heaviest twin, the heaviest red and heaviest yellow, the points cup and the overall show.

"He even beat his brother Nick, who has been growing for 12 years and finished in sixth place.

"Joe Banks Williams also did extremely well winning the Junior cup with a Millenium of 14 pennyweights and was the only junior to hold berries until the show."

Goostrey results:

Premier Berry, 

1 D. Hassall (Jnr) Millenium 27.13, 2 C. Jones Millenium 26.12, 3 Mrs. E. Williams Montrose 23.18, 4 D. Carter Millenium 23.03, 5 N. Hassall Millenium 19.07, 6 G. Buckley Edith Cavell 17.07, 7 M. de Kretser Millenium 17.04, 8 S. Smallwood Millenium 14.20, 9 Ms.V. Hedge Belmarsh 12.19, 10 Ms. R. Ollerenshaw Montrose 9.08, 11 S. Edwards Montrose 6.02, 12 Ms L.Dodd Millenium 3.17

Triplets  No entries

Twins

1 D. Hassall (Jnr) Montrose 40.23, 2 C. Jones Fascination 31.23, 3 N. Hassall Edith Cavell 30.18, 4 D. Carter Bank View 20.02
5, M. de Kretser Allostock 19.02, 6 G. Buckley Blackden Gem 18.02, 7 Ms L.Dodd Just Betty 3.19

Reds

1 D. Hassall (Jnr) Just Betty 18.14, 2 C. Jones Just Betty 16.18, 3 C. Jones Just Betty 16.16, 4 D. Hassall (Jnr) Just Betty 14.18,
5 M. de Kretser Lloyd George 12.21, 6 G. Buckley Blackden Gem 11.10, 7 G. Buckley Blackden Gem 11.04, 8 N. Hassall Blackden Gem 9.15, 9 N. Hassall Blackden Gem 7.07, 10 Ms L.Dodd Just Betty 2.15

Yellow

1 D. Hassall (Jnr) Millenium 27.00, 2 D. Hassall (Jnr) Millenium 25.06, 3 C. Jones Millenium 23.09, 4 C. Jones Millenium 22.23,
5 Mrs. E. Williams Ann Archer 21.20, 6 Mrs. E. Williams Ann Archer 19.06, 7 N. Hassall Edith Cavell 17.04, 8 N. Hassall Edith Cavell 16.16, 9 G. Buckley Edith Cavell 16.04, 10 M. de Kretser Millenium 14.13.

Green

 1 M. de Kretser Allostock 16.08, 2 M. de Kretser Allostock 16.02, 3 C. Jones Bank View 9.09, 4 C. Jones Bank View 9.07, 5 S. Smallwood Bank View 5.05, 6 S. Smallwood Bank View 3.13

White

1 C. Jones Fascination 20.05, 2 D. Hassall (Jnr) Mr Chairman 20.03, 3 D. Hassall (Jnr) Mr Chairman 19.19, 4 C. Jones Fascination 18.08, 5 N. Hassall Jodrell White 15.10, 6 N. Hassall Jodrell White 15.09, 7 M. de Kretser Mr Chairman 14.07, 8 M. de Kretser Mr Chairman 11.10, 9 G. Buckley Belmarsh 10.20, 10 Ms.V. Hedge Belmarsh 10.12

Championship Show Plate, 1 D. Hassall (Jnr) Millenium

Show Plate
Red 1 G. Buckley, 2 Ms L.Dodd, 3 C. Jones

Yellow 1 C. Jones, 2 Mrs. E. Williams, 3 N. Hassall

Green 1 M. de Kretser, 2 No entries, 3 No entries

White

White 1 N. Hassall, 2 No Entries, 3 M. de Kretser

Four Sets of Twins 1 No Entries

Mixed Plate 1 No Entries

Assorted Plate, 1 Ms V. Hedge

Total Points Winner
1 D.Hassall (Jnr), 2 C. Jones, 3 M. de Kretser

Points in Colour Class
1 D.Hassall (Jnr),2 C. Jones, 3 M. de Kretser

Juniors 1 J. Bank Williams

Trophies awarded:

C.R. Griffiths Challenge Cup for the Heaviest Premier Berry D. Hassall (Jnr), G.E. Capper Cup for the Champion Show Plate D. Hassall (Jnr), J Walton Challenge Cup for the Heaviest Twins D. Hassall (Jnr), Frank Carter Points Cup D.Hassall (Jnr), Margaret and John Lawton Cup for the Heaviest Four Sets of Twins No Entries, Tom Bayley Challenge Cup for the Heaviest Plate of Assorted Berries Ms.V. Hedge, Ray and Nesta Blain Cup for the Heaviest Green Berry in Show M. de Kretser, George Stockton Cup for the Heaviest Triplets No Entries, John Egerton Cup for the Heaviest Red Berry in Show D. Hassall (Jnr), Bob Groves Memorial Cup for the Heaviest White Berry in Show C. Jones, Mick Myers Cup for Most Points in Colour Berry Class D. Hassall (Jnr), Dave Garratt Memorial Cup for Junior Grower Joe Banks Williams, Rupert Hunter Rose Bowl for Heaviest Seedling Raised by a Goostrey Grower D. Hassall (Jnr)
Frank Carter Memorial Plate D. Hassall (Jnr), Secretary's Prize Heaviest Maiden Premier Berry Ms L Dodd, Graham Lenihan Cup for the Most Improved Grower D. Hassall (Jnr)