Winter Programme

The meetings commence  at 19:30, at Brighton Road Baptist Church, Brighton Road ad, Horsham,RH13 5BD.  The venue has disabled access.  All meetings have a raffle and and refreshments.

 JUBILEE CUP

 This is an opportunity for members, including novices and newcomers, to bring along an exhibit of flowers, fruit, pot plants, vegetables, floral arrangements, preserves, cakes, craft items, etc. to our Winter Meetings. Points will be awarded individually.

 The person with the highest aggregate from four entries at the end of the Winter Meetings will be awarded the Jubilee Cup.  No person may hold this cup for consecutive years 

5 October   ‘Welcome Back’ and Subscription Night

After paying our dues we will be having refreshments and a preserve Swap Shop. If you have a surplus of homemade jams, chutneys or pickles you are invited to bring them along and swap. If you are willing to donate your produce without swapping then we will be asking £1 a jar when they are sold, for charity. Please follow usual Society Show rules for preserve making, marking jars with the date made and your initials as per Show Schedule.

All this will be followed by Geoffrey’s  slide presentation of  his Alaskan holiday with Hilary. This showing had to be cancelled last January due to snowy weather conditions.

Please come and support our first night of the new programme.

 19 October    Paolo Arrigo:  From Seed To Plate - Growing to Eat Italian Style

Paolo Arrigo is an Anglo-Italian who thinks growing and eating are inseparable. Although Paolo was born and brought up in London, Italian tradition is at the heart of Paolo’s philosophy. ‘Seeds of Italy’ is the company supplying the world-respected Franchi  seeds. Paolo will be giving us an insight into his family background, with many humorous tales of his family and childhood, as well as practical advice on growing and cooking. There will also be an opportunity to buy seeds and sundry items, as well as Paolo’s popular book ‘From Seed to Plate’, at a discounted price.

 2 November     Perennial:  Gardener’s Question Time

A panel of 3 experts from our  local area will be joining us from Perennial, the Gardeners’ Royal Benevolent Society.  Nigel Palmer is coming along as Compere to help the evening run smoothly. This is the time to get answers to your problems on flowers, fruit and vegetables and gardening in general. Please come along to support this very special opportunity which is a first GQT for ‘Perennial’.

 16 November    Don Bateman:   Growing and Showing Dahlias

Dahlias are to the fore again, being no longer thought of as old-fashioned. Today they are being used by some of the top designers. Available in a wonderful array of colours and sizes they flower for months in the summer, the tubers can then be stored indoors over winter. Aren’t we lucky to have a local expert on hand who is willing to come along and advise us how to get the best out of these beautiful flowers, especially when showing.

 30 November   Peter Barwick:  All Aspects of Tree Fruit Growing

Peter has been a professional fruit grower for 50 years. He is ‘Director of the Orchard’ at Blackmoor Estate, growing apples, pears, plums etc. for supermarkets. As well as a slide presentation he will be advising us on the care of espaliers and  cordons as well as standard trees. Peter will also take questions on bush and soft fruit growing.

 14 December    Christmas Social and Quiz  

Sue Watts will be starting off the evening by giving us a ‘Gift Wrapping’ demonstration. Sue is to be seen every Christmas in the Swan Centre, gift wrapping for ‘Chase’ the Children’s Hospice Charity. You can have your gifts professionally wrapped by her from £1, all of which will be added to her fee for the charity’s benefit. Let’s try and keep Sue busy all evening, gift wrapping. Refreshments will take place part way through the evening, after which we will then continue with our usual ‘Lynda’s Christmas Quiz’.

Please bring a contribution to the evening in the form of some refreshment. We will provide soft drinks, tea & coffee.

2011

11 January    A.G. M. AND REVIEW OF THE YEAR

Come along and join us for the A.G.M. and have your say. Now is the time to air your views. Afterwards we will be having refreshments with tea, coffee, and soft drinks provided. Malcolm Dickie will be showing  a D.V.D. covering the main events of our horticultural year. You may even be a feature yourself!

As usual we would appreciate members bringing a contribution to the evening in the form of plated food etc.

 25 January    Frances Farrer-Brown:  History of Gardens in South East England

Frances is a Blue Badge Guide and comes to us highly recommended. Her talk covers two thousand years of gardening, covering Fishbourne Roman Palace to Hampton Court gardens, as well as the new modern day garden at Arundel Castle. There will also be stories of the origins of some of our most popular plants and of those who collected them.

 February 8^th     Lynda:  Preparing for a Spring Show

Why do the judges merit one vase of daffodils over another?  What are the criteria exhibits are judged by?  Lynda will be attempting to unravel the complexities of how the judges judge! After the presentation members will be asked to join in an open forum on all aspects of exhibiting.

February 22^nd  Carol Gubler:  Littlebrook Fuchsias

Again, another presenter highly recommended to us. Carol will be covering all aspects of fuchsia growing (so we can see where we went wrong with the Chairman’s Competition last year) from how to take cuttings, to pests and diseases.

Please note there will be the opportunity to purchase plants at this meeting.

 March 8^th   Paul Templeton:  Good Soil – Good Gardens

Paul is a Horticulturist and Lecturer who will be giving part lecture, part slide show,  with plenty of humour, he assures me. 

As the title of his presentation states, without good soil we can’t achieve success whatever we are attempting to grow.

Paul has been 40 years in ‘ Professional Horticulture’, 15 of these years teaching.  He has a wide experience in commercial and amenity horticulture including fruit and vegetable growing, nursery production and landscaping.

I suggest we all bring pen and paper for notes.

 March 22^nd  Susan Broadbridge: Green & Pleasant Land

We know we’re going to have an entertaining evening when Susan comes to give us a presentation. What better way to close the Winter Programme for 2010/11 than with a talk on lawns. Susan’s talk covers a little history of ornamental lawns, lawn care and problems, and some examples of  lawns in garden design. The talk will be illustrated by a ‘Powerpoint’ slide presentation.