When it comes to picking up awards, Nell Simpson would be hard to beat after decades of entering jams, chutneys, cakes, craft and home-grown fare in country shows every year since 1964.
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Turns out she is a champion in every event, and now her remarkable achievement has been rewarded by a special presentation of Royal Agricultural Society executives at this year’s Illabo show, where incidentally, she won first prize for her banana cake, jelly and jam, and needlework.
“There’s no secret, it’s just good luck. I make it this week, the next week I win a prize,
“I didn’t win one for the rug I made, but the next week I was named champion at another show,” Mrs Simpson said.
A busload of 40 Royal Agricultural Society executives and staff made the trek to Illabo to surprise Mrs Simpson with a large bouquet of flowers, a prized Royal Show heritage Wedgwood plate and the heartfelt gratitude for her dedication to country shows up and down the Eastern Seaboard.
In handing over her award, RAS General Manager Murray Wilton said Nell Simpson’s amazing track record deserved to be rewarded.
“You’ve been exhibiting longer than I’ve been old, which makes me feel quite young,”
“When we heard about Nell Simpson we wanted to come down and officially say ‘thank you’ for everything she’s done,” said RAS General Manager, Murray Wilton.
Equally remarkable, is Mrs Simpson’s meticulous record-keeping of every event she’s entered since 1964, with awards and noted entries and results carefully collated in a booklet.
“That’s where I came second in 1964 in the Ganmain Show with a decorated cake and won ten shillings,”
“Then the next year I went out with two decorated cakes,” Mrs Simpson said.
With every careful turn of the page, Mrs Simpson was transported back to every show she entered.
“That’s Holbrook in 1969... Albury Show...The Rock,” Mrs Simpson said.
The taste for winning was a family affair with Nell’s two sisters, Emily and Flo, also becoming show champions; in one year they racked up 239 entries which filled two station wagons.
Asking Nell if she could pinpoint her speciality, she is matter-of-fact.
“It’s everything. I don’t even turn the television on. It’s just lovely to get to a show. I can’t sit idle,” she said.
Her taste for winning took her to Cairns in 2013, and, as per usual, Nell came away with a prize.
When asked what was her secret to success, she simply laughed.
Now residing in Wagga’s Gumly Gardens, Mrs Simpson’s taste for winning is spurring her on, with more entries which no doubt will net her even more prizes.
