It was standing room only in the beautiful Rising Sun on Saturday 21st March. There were 15 ciders to choose from and everyone agreed the standard was exceptionally high.
The evening got off to an unusual start because local brewer and all round good egg Dave 'Cricket' Towell's bottles exploded in his kitchen, so nobody got to try his eagerly anticipated entry "Why did I put so much sugar in the bottles".
Once everyone had got over the disappointment of Dave's omission, the competition started.
The evening went swimmingly with 15 entries to sample.
Bringing up the rear, for the umpteenth year running, was the Mayor of Haddenham, Michael Whitney with Johnny Jack's Jollop. He received twice as many points as last year so he also won the prize for most improved, and none of his entry was wasted as several people said it went very well with their chips.
Debutant Pablo was 16th with Cidre a Trois which might have won if the competition was held in France. And 15th was last year's winner, Georgia Bullimore with 'Julius Cider', who was doubly disappointed because she also lost the title of 'Best Bullimore' to her Dad Rich who came 13th with 'Juice Springstein'.
Rich was humble in defeat "I thought I'd give the youngsters a shot last year, but this year I decided to show the family who really runs the show!"
At the other end of the table we saw probably the most exciting finish ever witnessed in the competition.
In third was Kerrie and Charlotte with 'Witches Brew', which left Luke & Logan and Northern Rob to battle it out for the honours and the glory. Luke and Northern had been on the same team all night but the laughing stopped when they realised what was at stake.
Northern Rob's entry 'Ann' was named after his Mum who passed away during the cider making season. While his cider was good it wasn't quite as beautiful as she was and came in a very credible 2nd with a points total that would have won the previous year.
Luke & Logan, in their debut year, managed to walk off with first prize with their entry 'Woxford'. Luke dedicated the win to his beloved Oxford United Football Club "If I can win this, there's no reason why Oxford can't stay up. Come on you Yellows!".
The crowd cheered, the ale (and cider) flowed and a brilliant time was had by all at the world famous Haddenham Cider Competition.
Thanks to Liam and Sylvie for running a brilliant pub, Kelly and Pete for working so hard to make the competition work and to Emma, who always works harder than everyone.
Tim Chowns
