Wem’s famous sweet pea show will not be returning to its home of nearly 20 years until at least 2010, it has been revealed.
Organisers of the Eckford Sweet Pea Show have announced that they will not be holding the show at Wem Town Hall for the next two years – and will wait and see after that.
Due to renovation works to the town’s hall the show has been relocated to the Stanier Hall and a marquee on playing fields belonging to Thomas Adams School.
One of the event’s organisers Val Good said the event would remain in its present location to cater for the visit of National Sweet Pea Society representatives in 2009. The sweet pea show is rooted in the town’s history and is the celebration of the town’s association with the famous hybridist Henry Eckford.
The show started in the town hall in 1988 and has been taking place there ever since, bar a few years after the hall caught fire in 1995. The society continued to hold the show there until the building was closed in 2005. Mrs Good,who is secretary of the Eckford Sweet Pea Society, said: “We will be in Thomas Adams this year and next year. The national show next year will not fit in the town hall. If the school take over the hall it will depend on what equipment they put in there.
“I don’t know if we will have to use the town hall. We will have to wait and see. It would be good to use the town hall again as it is where we started in 1988.”
Mrs Good said using Thomas Adams School meant visitors would have to walk from the town’s free car park as there is only disabled parking available. But this year a free community bus would be provided to take people to the show.
She hopes they will be back there. “We are happy for the hall to be re-opened and we will do our best to get back into the town hall,” she added.
See page 15 for more on the sweet pea show the North Shropshire Chronicle on sale now.
