Virginia Show Day! Where will the silverware go?

When the Celt speaks to Martina Jameson in the run up to the Virginia Show, she had her mind on silverware. She had just collected up a couple of boxes packed with crystal trophies, and all around us the shelves of the pokey Show office opposite Virginia College are laden with trophies of all shapes and sizes.

“These are the ones that have been returned from the winners from last year, so they will have to get a little bit of a polishing,” she says adding it’s another glamorous job on the ‘to-do’ list.

“We’ll do them ourselves - the rubber gloves will go on!”

Is it hard to get all of the trophies returned? “It is,” she confides in whispers.

The Celt pushes, has she ever had to drive to someone’s house to get them back?

“No we didn’t just have to go that far! People will eventually come back with them. We do like to get them back in advance because they do sometimes need a little bit of repairing for presentation.”

There’s plenty more “old-old” trophies, which are no longer in use retired to the upper shelves. One eye-catching cup looks like an ear-less Sam Maguire.

“That was the O’Farrell Cup back in the day,” Martina says lifting it down to read some of the engravings “John Smith of Oldcastle won it in 1966, ‘67, ‘69. PJ Brady of Grousehall, Cavan - that was 1973. “I have no idea what it was for, I’ve asked a couple of people. The last day it was used was 1997, so obviously the class was pulled or something.”

Originally from Eighter, Martina has enjoyed the pursuit of rosettes and silverware in the past. Her link with Virginia Show stems from being an exhibitor. “From I was very young I would have put in cakes and jams, poultry, flowers all of that kind of stuff. “I married my husband Alan and his mother was great for the shows, and that extended my entries with flowers cakes, chutneys, poultry, sheep, livestock,” she says, conjuring the image of the Jameson household having a mini-Virginia Show all of its own.

Her proudest win? “I got a first prize in a sponge cake. I was beating the top people up there and I would always remember that. And I would always remember getting a first prize for a pot of raspberry jam - the raspberries that I had picked in the wild.”

Is the tradition as alive as it was when Martina was a child? “Yes it is and I know in Virginia we’re striving very hard to get young people involved as much as we can. It’s great we have a number of families there with next generation coming on who are very involved and take on different roles. It’s there, it just needs to be nurtured.”

Martina steadily progressed up the show ranks to become assistant to her friend Mary Gaynor when she became secretary. Then when Mary was elevated to president, Martina was persuaded to become secretary.

“I came to do it for one year and this is my third year,” she says, reciting what seems like the eternal refrain of the volunteer.

Martina has also been embraced by the wider Show community, becoming a Midlands board representative of the Irish Shows Association (ISA). “I was asked would I let my name go forward to the ISA, not expecting to get nominated but I did.”

Now immersed in the ISA role, she seems to enjoy it.

“A nice part of that is going to other shows, seeing what happens at other shows learning from other shows as well as being able to share knowledge and an experiences that I have within the show here. Because this would be a big show in comparison with a lot of Shows.”

Martina is grateful for the support she gets to allow her to perform her roles. “I get great support from my husband Alan. He’s involved in the show as well - he volunteers and he does all my little extra run-arounds,” she says.

Amongst the top awards - the Baileys and Liffey Meats Super Beef Bullock - that will be decided at Virginia Show today will be the Fleetwood All-Ireland Art Competition.

“We get exhibitors from all over the country they’ve qualified in other shows and they come her for the finals, and we have Minister Dara Calleary coming this year and he will do the presentations for us,” she enthuses.

This fine morning you can have no doubt, Martina, like the many thousands walking through the Virginia Showgrounds gates will have her mind on silverware, and where it will go.