Page 9 - Koi Net - On-Line Koi Magazine - Issue 9

The standard of Koi was, as always, very high, and the
THE ALL ENGLAND
KOI SHOW
Presented by The South East Koi Club
We all know that putting on a Show requires a
lot of hard work, so when members arrived at the
Showground on Tuesday afternoon to start filling the
reservoirs with water and 34 members turned up on
Wednesday, I knew we would soon be ahead of
schedule and by the end of the afternoon all the vats
were in position being filled and it was a case of
sorting out the cosmetics, e.g. putting up the air lines,
vat numbers, results boards, etc.
Koi dealers’ vats were being filled too, ready for them
to set up their stands and by Thursday lunchtime we
were ready to go. Friday, as always, was busy with
exhibitor’s Koi arriving and being benched and Koi
dealers unpacking their products and Koi ready for the
Grand Champion opening of the Show on Saturday morning. There was
Size 7 Sanke owned by a real buzz about the halls.
Lee Manning.
Saturday morning came, the Show opened, and was
soon full of excited visitors who had come to see the
Show and what the dealers had on offer. We were also
happy to welcome our special guest, Shunichi Yoshida,
who is the Shinkokai Vice Chairman, and had been
invited by Selective Koi Sales to attend the Show. Also
with him was Masaki Aoki, Kaoru Miyazaki, Tomoko
Kobayashi and Toshio Koizumi, who spent the weekend
discussing various aspects of keeping Koi with visitors
at the Show. On Saturday afternoon Shunichi delivered
an interesting and informative talk about the origins and
history of Koi Carp around the world, The All Japan Koi
Show 50th Anniversary, a Powerpoint presentation and
a discussion about Tategoi and Koi Appreciation.
Benching was completed by noon and our International
Team of Judges, after having some refreshments, split
Best Non Gosanke
Size 7 Shiro Utsuri up into three teams and set about their task of judging
owned by Andy Baker. the Show.
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judges completed their task early on Saturday evening.
The results were displayed for the visitors on Sunday.
Congratulations to our Grand Champion winner, Lee
Manning, with his superb Size 7 Sanke. Andy Baker’s
Size 7 Shiro Utsuri won Best Non Gosanke again, that’s
the fourth year running! Neil Hornshaw’s company
(Cleaner Ponds) sponsored the Baby Champion Award,
and guess who won it? Neil with his Size 2 Kohaku!
MAJOR One thing I enjoy at our Show is seeing awards being
won and going to other parts of the country. Paul
AWARDS GO Williams who regularly wins at our Show took the Adult
NORTH AND Champion Award with his Size 5 Showa, Wayne Taylor
won Superior Champion with his Size 7 Kohaku and
TO WALES Phil & Emma David return triumphant to Wales with the
Young Champion Award for their Size 4 Shiro Utsuri.
We had a new Special Award this year ‘The Ron Rance
Trophy’, this was in honour of Ron Rance, a member of
the South East Koi Club for some 35 years and a good
friend of mine, who sadly died a couple of days after
our Show, last year. This was awarded for the first time
to Matthew Pearson for his Size 2 Sanke. Ron’s Koi
came to the Show last year, but sadly Ron couldn’t
make it. I wrote an article about Ron and his Secret
Sandan Kohaku, and how he kept his Koi fund in a
secret biscuit tin on top of his wardrobe in Issue 2 of
Koi Net if you would like to know more.
The Show is over, but we are all looking forward to our
All England Young Koi Show on 11th/12th May 2019.
Left to Right:
Grand Champion Sponsor,
Kay Barber, Kusuri Products,
Lee Manning and Jeff Humby
of Vitalis, our Main Sponsor.