On 20th February I joined around 30 other cutters at the South of England Hedgelaying Society Annual Competition, this year held over at Selborne in Hampshire. The competition was making a welcome return after a year’s absence due to Covid and needless to say was eagerly anticipated.

Everyone had been keeping an eye on the weather after Storm Eunice rattled through two days previous, and although it was very breezy indeed, the forecast rain held off until after we had finished.

At 08:30 hrs, we assembled in the barn for the draw of cants. I was cutting in the Senior Class and was up against 12 other cutters. There were several chuckles from the ranks when much to everyone’s amusement I drew number 13. Hmmm, I thought to myself.

The hedge looked very straightforward at first glance. It was all hawthorn and only about 10 feet high. It had also been planted and grown well and was very consistent. Closer inspection revealed that it had been planted at around 6 or 7 plants to the metre meaning that space was at a premium between the stems. There was also a stock fence on the off side which was a tad too close for comfort and ‘laying-off’ was not going to be easy.

Undeterred, I got stuck in as soon as the hooter sounded for the off. As usual, we had 5 hours to get our cants completed; sounds a long time, but believe me it flies by. It took a concerted effort to ‘break-in’ to my section, but once established, I continued at a steady pace.

After about 3 hrs and 45 minutes I had laid my final stem. As it happened, there was no one working on the cant to my right due to a competitor in the novice class not being able to make the event. This meant that the end of my hedge was looking a bit sparse, although it wouldn’t count against me in the final judging.

With the hedge down, it was on to the staking. We all had lovely chestnut stakes to use which makes such a difference to the finished job. I was able to get a pretty decent stake line, so was feeling pleased with my efforts.

The binders were generally nice and straight, and so I was able to get a very neat and level binding on the hedge. All that was left then was to trim up and tidy my work area.

I finished with around 3 minutes to spare and was very happy with my finished work. My aim had been to achieve a top 3 finish, something that I knew was possible after my recent results in the Nationals. But had I done enough? Only the judges knew…

We headed off to a nearby hostelry for the traditional sit-down meal and prize-giving, so it was to be another 2 hours before the results were revealed.

To my immense delight and also slight disbelief, I was announced the winner! It took quite a while to sink in as, whilst I thought I had done well, I was sure that others had done better. What came as even more of a shock was the score sheet; the results revealed that I had won by 10 clear points with a score of 85 out of 100. Never in my wildest dreams did I envisage that scenario, especially with the strength of the opposition.

The result also means that next season I will be competing in the Champions Class at the South of England competition. This is a real step up and I will have to be totally on my game if I am to compete with those guys. That said, my consistency and accuracy is improving all the time so I relish the opportunity to cut at that level. Before then, we have the Nationals in October and I will certainly be looking to add that title to my collection. I can’t wait!