November 2018: Chambers, one of the UK’s leading independent berry growers celebrated success at this year’s National Fruit Show – which has been showcasing the best of British fruit for over 80 years – with its outstanding raspberry entries.

Competing against the UK’s best producers who literally represent the cream of the crop, Chambers won first and third prize for its Ovation and Grandeur entries respectively. Both varieties are grown by Chambers via the Plant Sciences Inc breeding programme.

Ovation, a primocane double-cropping raspberry (that provides a high yield over an extended season) has been grown by Chambers since 2016. It scored the maximum marks possible for size / uniformity of size; shape and freedom from disease and also scored highly for its eating quality and colour / uniformity of colour.

Grandeur – one of the first primocane raspberry varieties that heralded the new bench mark for the shelf-life expectations of a raspberry – has been grown by Chambers for seven years. The company’s entry scored highly for uniformity of colour, uniformity of size, eating quality and freedom from pest and disease.

Chambers signed up to an international Rubus Breeding Consortium Agreement in Autumn 2015, which sees existing genetic resources at East Malling Services – the commercial division of East Malling Research – being used to produce a new generation of improved ‘traditional’ raspberry varieties as well as a number of new varieties for the professional and amateur markets. Tim Chambers is Chairman of the Consortium.

Commenting on the wins, managing director Tim Chambers said, “As a business we have always strived to be at the forefront of innovation, trialling new varieties and supporting the latest breeding programmes to ensure that we offer our customers the very best quality fruit, not just in terms of superior taste and texture, but also in relation to presentation and shelf-life. As a specialist raspberry grower in the UK and abroad, we are of course delighted to have won two prestigious awards at this year’s National Fruit Show.”