Community combines forces for a brilliant Bowen Show
IN PICTURES: All the action from the 2021 Bowen Show – from cakes to hanging baskets to poultry.
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Anyone who ever thought they ‘didn’t have time’ to put together an entry for their local show might think again after meeting Fiona Radcliffe.
The Bowen State School teacher entered no fewer than 40 exhibits in this year’s show, purely to “give the crowds something to look at” and help keep alive the country traditions of making and growing.
Mrs Radcliffe and her train-driver husband Kevin moved from Emerald a couple of years ago, and saw the annual Bowen Show as an opportunity to connect with their new community, and give something back.
They both joined the Bowen Pastoral Agricultural Society and have not looked back since, with Mrs Radcliffe becoming not only a successful exhibitor in her own right, but a great advocate encouraging others to get involved.
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At this year’s show, she entered everything from eggs to potted plants to flowers to preserves and cakes.
Of all the categories in the show pavilion, visual arts was the only one she did not get a chance to enter – and that was because she was busy organising the school kids’ entries.
As president of the Bowen Orchid and Foliage Society, Mrs Radcliffe said plants were probably her number one passion, but cooking was a close second.
She won multiple prizes for both.
“I like to support all the different sections and contribute to it – being from a rural background, it’s just what you do,” she said.
“It’s not about winning, it’s about just being part of it.”
Sharing a similar philosophy were the six Bowen CWA ladies who put in a marathon baking session over the weekend to prepare 200 cakes, slices and other sweets for their show stall – which barely had anything left by midmorning.
If that was not enough, they arrived at the showgrounds at the crack of dawn on show day to whip up fresh sandwiches to sell for lunch.
Branch president Eileen Crouch said the show was one of the CWA’s biggest fundraising events of the year, with profits going to community projects such as running RSL functions, and providing meals for the isolated elderly – 1800 of which were delivered last year in what proved to be a vital service during the pandemic.
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Originally published as Community combines forces for a brilliant Bowen Show
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