On Saturday morning of August 20th there was a great deal of coming and going at Glenbernie Orchard in Darkes Forest as contestants dropped off apple pies and apple crumbles. As the pile of baked goods expanded, it fell to Robyn Simms and Jo Fahey to taste and judge the lot.
Robyn, who is the treasurer of the Stanwell Park CWA, says the task was daunting.
“There was a lot more to it than I thought. We thought the entries were wonderful. And we thought originally that it would be about a two-hour job, it turned into a five-and-half-hour marathon.”
The Stanwell Park CWA has been involved with the Apple Pie Festival at Darkes Forest for years. Carol Pugh, the president of the local branch, expresses her gratitude to Jo and Glenn Fahey at Glenbernie Orchard.
Carol explains that when the pie festival first started (about 2016, no one seems to know exactly), the pie-making was entirely the responsibility of the CWA.
“Originally we actually made pies and sold slices of pie … but it’s gradually evolved and Jo and Glenn have refined it and taken a bit of pressure off us.
“Today we are just here with a display, some information about CWA and I will be presenting some prizes and there’s going to be an auction of the winning prizes. That’s money coming to the CWA as well. We are very lucky.”
Glenbernie Orchard also donates five percent of the gate takings to Stanwell Park CWA.
On a long table in front of Carol and Robyn is a sea of apple pies on show. Medals and wooden boards point out the winning and highly commended pies and crumbles. Some bakers walk up and are happily surprised, others miss out.
Robyn relives the judging.
“Jo and I looked at every individual pie, and tasted every pie, and marked it on speciality and overall appearance and taste, how it was cut, how it was decorated. It was a lovely day and it was lots of fun and by the end of the day, we were so full of apple pie and apple crumble, we could hardly walk out the door. But it was a great experience.
“We take a sliver out, we don’t want to ruin the pie and we halve that. So we’ve got equal crust and equal filling and we taste it. And then on the card there are categories: overall appearance, crust, depth of pie, apple taste. We wanted the apple to be the hero.”
The judges will not discuss scores “but we were very fair and very positive about everyone's effort because they're all excellent. They will get their own private score card sent in the post so they can read what we said, what we've scored them and any comments.”
This year the New South Wales CWA celebrates its 100th birthday. The local branch in Stanwell Park has been going for 75 years.
“We support a number of charities, just off the top of my head: Youth Off The Streets, Royal Flying Doctor Service, a number of scholarships that the CWA offers. We also run the local hall, which is a bit of a community hub. There are a lot of expenses involved in running a hall. We also support any other causes in the local area that we think are worthy causes and over the last five years, we’ve run a number of Mental First Aid courses.”
My final thought on the matter: If the apple is the hero, what then are the ladies of the CWA?
Find out who the 2022 apple pie and crumble champions were here.
The Stanwell Park CWA has been serving the local community since 1946. The group meets at 10am on the first Tuesday of the month. New members are always welcome.
Visit www.cwastanwellpark.com