Producers supplying Marks & Spencer dominated the top spots at last week’s Kent Soft Fruit & Cherry Show. Jubilee - a strawberry variety exclusive to M&S - took first prize in both leading classes for the fruit, best import variety and best everbearer.
Both awards were carried off by Alan Firmin from Linton near Maidstone. Best Elsanta variety class was won by M&S’s grower of the year Charles Gaskain from Selling.
This year entries into the show were national with West Country fruit competing alongside Kentish. Overall winner of the class for best variety of cherry was an M&S supplier, Lower Hope Farm in Herefordshire. The business took prizes in six other categories and another M&S grower - Peter Mansfield from Kent - took first prize in the Sunset and Lapin variety classes.
"We are delighted to be sponsoring this event in Kent, now the foremost soft-fruit competition in Europe," said the store’s technical manager Andrew Sharp. "And it is heartening for our growers and our customers to see M&S quality fruit sweeping the board again."
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