I recently qualified as a British Orchid Council Judge and was presented with my badge at the Orchid Fair last weekend.

I was inspired to train as a BOC judge by Alan Mackenzie, Chair of the Scottish Orchid Society and also a Friend of GBG who had already started the training program. David Menzies agreed to be my mentor.

BOC judges judge at Society orchid shows. To qualify as a judge you need to judge at least 31 training tables and achieve an average score of at least 75%.

Judging symposiums are held twice a year and each symposium usually has 5 tables of 8 orchids each. The orchids may be all closely related eg a table of Dendrobiums or slipper orchids or be in wider categories such as specimen plants.

A trainee judge has to pick and rank the best 4 orchids on a table and submit their judging slips to be marked. There is a set of criteria to be taken into account including cultivation and flower quality.

A team of qualified judges also judges the table and picks their top 4 against which the trainees are marked. The qualified judges results are then explained and discussed at the symposium so trainees can ask questions. The symposiums are held all over the country; I went to ones at Glasgow, Newark, Wisely, Devon, Preston and Wraysbury.

Trainees are also encouraged to take part in the judging at shows while they are training. I have participated in the judging at the orchid shows at GBG as well as at the International Orchid Show at Gardeners World Live and the World Orchid Conference in Dresden this year. The BOC judging qualification is internationally recognised so I can participate in at judging at shows worldwide.

Once qualified judges continue to attend the symposiums to help train upcoming judges and to maintain consistent standards. I will be going to Birmingham again in June for the International Orchid Show at Gardeners World Live. The next symposium is in the autumn at the Eric Young Foundation in Jersey.

I have found the training very interesting and enjoyable. It teaches you to look closely, beyond first impressions and think about what you are seeing. The atmosphere at the symposiums is friendly and supportive encouraging discussion and providing a good opportunity to find out how others grow their orchids.