COMPETITION was stiff and the standard high for the first rural craft prize at this year’s Melplash Show.

There were 16 entries covering a wide variety of rural crafts and judges Peter Yeates and Stuart Gay, working to a very complex and detailed point system, managed to separate the winners.

The first six were separated by only one point.

The Guy Memorial Trophy, introduced this year by thatcher Guy Gale’s widow Elizabeth to recognise local craftsmen and women, was won by Peter Thomas, a living wood turner and stick maker from Rampisham.

Second place went to master thatcher Edward Taylor and third to another master thatcher Zach Watts.

Joint fourth were artistic blacksmith Robert Fielding, wheelwright Robert Fielding and potter Tim Hurn.

Mr Thomas, the winner, is a retired farmer who took up woodturning initially as a hobby using locally sourced timber which is either dead, storm-damaged or thinning from hedgerows.

Mr Thomas said: “If I had a mission in life it is to make people aware of the diverse beauty and variety of our natural species without having to import timber, often from a non –sustainable source.”

His workshop and gallery are located in Rampisham, centred around a 15th century thatched cottage.