GARDENING great Fred West showed he remains as green fingered as ever when he was crowned yet again as champion at the Pirton Pumpkin Club Show on Saturday. His giant pumpkin scaled a massive 134.4kgs giving the Shillington resident the title for the 20th

GARDENING great Fred West showed he remains as green fingered as ever when he was crowned yet again as champion at the Pirton Pumpkin Club Show on Saturday.

His giant pumpkin scaled a massive 134.4kgs giving the Shillington resident the title for the 20th time since he first entered in 1984.

Brian Frost from Flitwick took second and third prize with his two entries of 75.1kgs and 74.5kgs. He also won the pumpkin open championship.

For Mr West, 75, it was his second choice after his first mammoth pumpkin rotted.

"When it rotted it weighed over 500lbs," said Mr West. "If it had survived it would have been much bigger than my winning entry but I haven't done that bad over the years and will be back again next year."

The prize-winning pumpkin is now on show at Waitrose in Hitchin and its seeds will be harvested and distributed to any gardeners who want them.

Mr West picked up a heavy crop of prizes winning all the vegetable classes for onion, marrow, carrot, green bean and the prize for the oddest shaped vegetable.

The novice class for pumpkins went to Jean Jones of Ickleford Shop with her entry of 27kgs while the child pumpkin winners were Hannah Allen, Victoria Turner and Gabreille Martin.

Seb England of Pirton School was the top youngster in the vegetable section with his apples and beetroot with Catherine Charles-Farrow picking up the miscellaneous trophy.

In the photography section the first prize went to Kim Cook with her picture of a gardener in a potting shed with a robin on his hand; second was Zoe Burton and third was Bren Timson.

The family prize for a group of pumpkins went to the Knight-Stafford family from Pirton and Rebecca Shiner, also from the village, was awarded a prize for her arrangement of gourds.

There were joint flower arranging first prizes for Claire Denhurst and Diane Hallit. Cookery prizes went to Sharon Ryan and Ann Wilshere and the Testa family.

Poster prize winners included Adan Patel and Maisie Jane while the best child cooks were Ania Ausberger and Charlotte Hill.