Cambridgeshire Koi Show

The Cambridgeshire Koi Club is a small but enthusiastic group of people which in recent years has seen its membership grow. Just three years ago there were 15 members, and today it is proud to have grown to its present size of 70 households.

Having held their first show in 2010, which was described as the best closed show of the year, they decided to take on the additional challenge of holding their first open show for 2011. This took place on July 16 and 17.
The club is fortunate in that within their membership they have many enthusiastic individuals, including Iain and Sally Kirkbright. They are a great couple who are not only very passionate about their club, but also happen to have a large field alongside their home which is just the right size for a koi show!
The Cambridgeshire Koi Club has also twinned itself with the East Midlands Koi Club. This gives both clubs the advantage of being able to call upon each other's knowledge and resources, something which was clearly of benefit in the organisation and running of this show.
Along with the Cambridgeshire manpower, which was expertly organised by committee member Rob Jack, additional experienced help arrived from the East Midlands on the Wednesday prior to the event in the shape of Martin Barnett and Darren Turner, with Darren's partner Emma joining them on the Friday. I understand this group were affectionately nicknamed ‘Sally's Angels’. Having previously witnessed how efficient they have been in organising both the East Midlands Koi Club Winter Shows and last year’s BKKS National, it is easy to understand why.
Unfortunately the one thing that could not be controlled by the organisers was the weather. Despite the glorious sunshine in the days leading up to the event, on the Saturday morning the heavens opened almost perfectly in time with the entrance gates. Surprisingly this did not seem to have much effect on the show and the showground was soon busy with visitors who were able to shelter from the heaviest downpours inside the marquees.
The marquees were home for the weekend to over 20 vendors who were selling an assortment of both koi and koi related goods. In addition, there were several side attractions for the family, including Birds of Prey and Alpacas.
As a trade exhibitor I found the attention to detail was incredible, and small but important points had all been taken into account. As one example, show staff regularly passed through the trade area to ask if any of the stand holders would like a tea or coffee, something which may seem irrelevant but as many of the dealers work alone and are unable to leave the stand this makes a huge difference. Such thoughtfulness was apparent throughout the whole weekend and I feel this really makes a difference to how a show operates.

The judging team
Judging was initially delayed on the Saturday morning as the torrential rain made the task all but impossible, however this eased off in the afternoon, resulting in the judges having a much smaller timescale to complete their duties.
The team consisted of Carol McCall, Keith Bertie, Walter Reid, Gary Hillier, John Anderson, Jamie Johnston and Stefan Malm. Stefan flew all the way from Sweden to participate in the event as one of the BKKS trainee judges. Needless to say such an experienced team took the delay in their stride and by the time the show closed the judging was complete and results handed over to be announced at the banquet that evening.

Grand and Mature Champions
Grand Champion was a closely fought contest between two beautiful koi, a Kohaku owned by Andy Baker and a Showa owned by Frank Collins, both of whom are members of the South East Koi Club. The eventual decision was that the Kohaku was awarded Grand Champion with the Showa receiving the Mature Champion award, a decision which, when announced at the banquet, ensured a lot of friendly banter for the remainder of the night.
The Grand Champion Kohaku was one of several which were recognisable from the East Midlands Winter Show back in February, at which time it was awarded the Mature Champion. In the five months since that show the koi has clearly developed well.
Being able to see such koi at shows throughout the year is a real opportunity to monitor their development, something which I personally find very interesting. In doing so it’s quite useful to understand the environment such koi are kept in, and in Andy's case he has been growing the koi in a 10,000-gallon pond which he completed in the summer of last year. The pond is heated throughout the year and filtered primarily with Bakki Showers with the entire pond volume being passed over these one and a half times per hour!

Adult and Jumbo Champions
Adult Champion went to a great Hoshikin Kohaku owned by Martin ‘Mushio’ Barnett. The koi was purchased by Richdon Koi as a tosai two years ago. They then sold it to Martin who is one of their regular customers.
Martin also received the Jumbo Champion award for his huge 86cm Chagoi which is named ‘Fanny’. This koi was also Jumbo Champion at the East Midlands show and had put on a huge amount of weight since the last show.

Young Champion
Young champion was awarded to a stunning Gin Rin Shiro Utsuri owned by by Helen Clark and Sue Churchill. Helen and Sue have only decided to start showing their collection this year and it was great to see them achieve this award at only their second show.
The koi, bred by Ogata, is now three years old and was purchased from Dock Koi in September 2010 when it measured 45cm. Since then it has been kept in a 4,800-gallon pond which is heated throughout the year by a dedicated Combi boiler, which no doubt assisted in it growing to its present size of 54cm. The pond has a variety of filtration including a Nexus and Eazy Pod plus a bubble bead and fluid bed filter.

Baby Champion
Finally the Baby Champion completed the list of previous East Midlands show winners with a beautiful Kohaku owned by Glen Jones and Jackie Porter. Glen and Jackie are regular faces (and winners) at many of the koi shows.
They keep their koi in a 5,000-gallon pond which is heated and filtered with a combination of sieves for mechanical filtration and bead filters for biological action.

A huge success
In total there were 43 vats of koi on display containing a total of 276 koi. There were 38 exhibitors who displayed their koi and 24 of these were from outside of the club, supporting the decision to make the show an open event and demonstrating the number of people keen to be a part of the show.
Despite the weather and the somewhat remote location, over 1,300 people attended the show over the weekend. Even an established show would have been pleased with such figures. However for a first show these results are nothing short of remarkable.
I can’t help but feel that, as with the East Midlands Show, the success of this event is perhaps a result of its infancy, and that putting on a new show naturally invites a fresh approach to how things are done.
Whatever the reasons, the show certainly was successful and I understand plans are already underway for next year’s events. In fact many exhibitors have already reserved their space. Hopefully the weather will be a little kinder in 2012, but whatever the forecast I certainly plan to be there.

Written by Steve Gibbins