Winners at last year’s Summer Show are gently reminded that it is time to give their trophies one last polish and return them to Gill Wells so that she can have them ready for July 12th. As soon as possible, please, to Gill at 3 Clappentail Park, Lyme Regis, DT7 3NB, telephone 01297 442627, email wells.rj@btinternet.com. Or if it is more convenient to return them via another committee member, then please do that and let Gill know.

Here are last year’s winners – if you are among them and have already returned your trophy, thank you very much.

RHS BANKSIAN MEDAL – Ashley Ball
SEAMARK CUP – Roy Keeley
J & FJ BAKER CUP – Ashley Ball
MCLEOD INNES CUP – Ann Prince
THOMPSON TANKARD – Ann Prince
CAKEMAKER’S CUP – Anita Routley
DIAMOND JUBILEE CUP – Barry Rogers
LLEWELLYN WHITE SHIELD – Jacky Tregellis
DIANA BRIDGES CUP – Sarah Causley
WHITE & STEVENS CUP – Keir Tweedale
JUNIOR PHOTO CUP – Charlotte Tweedale
LESLIE BRETHERICK CUP – Sarah Causley
WOODROFFE CHALLENGE CUP – Ann Prince
WILLIAMS CHALLENGE CUP – Brian Enticott
WINE CUP – Ann Prince
MARY FRINGS CHALLENGE CUP – Ann Prince
MORRISH CHALLENGE CUP – Alison Bright
CARTWRIGHT CHALLENGE CUP – Carol Stickler
MRS REX WOODROFFE CHALLENGE CUP – Karen Ball
WILSON CUP – Keir Tweedale
LINDSEY JENKIN-CARTER CUP – Fred Heath
SHILTON CUP – Peter Hampton

DATE Wednesday May 28 at 7.30pm
TALK The Beauty in the Beast
Uplyme Village Hall

Ecologist, author and self-confessed hedgehog-lover Hugh Warwick is guest speaker at the Society’s next meeting. In his talk The Beauty in the Beast he will discuss Britain’s favourite creatures. Expect a fun-filled evening with eccentric snippets of information about native fauna, including a more serious message on the destruction of wildlife habitat. See Hugh Warwick’s website at http://www.urchin.info.

Afterwards will be an opportunity to ask questions and enjoy a cup of tea or coffee and home-made cake. Admission is free to members, £3 non-members.

Uplyme and Lyme Regis Horticultural Society member Anna Bugg has reason to be the proudest of gardening mothers. Anna and husband Steve’s son, Hugo, has received a gold medal for his design of a waterscape garden at the Royal Horticultural Society Chelsea Flower Show today. It was Hugo’s first appearance at Chelsea and, at 27 years old, he is the youngest contender ever to win a gold in the Show Gardens category.

Hugo’s winning garden was sponsored by Royal Bank of Canada and his brief was to create a beautiful garden with a strong message of taking responsibility for water usage. The design shows how water management features that occur in the natural world can be replicated in bold and innovative ways in urban gardens. Mimicking natural watershed, water is directed through the garden at different gradients and speeds. The garden is layered with naturally occurring patterns, drawing inspiration from the parched effects of extreme global weather. Hugo says, ‘By imitating the cycle of water in the wild, and showing how it can be encouraged to permeate the ground gradually, I hope we will inspire visitors to reproduce some of the ideas in their own gardens’. To see pictures of the design and details of plants used link to http://www.rhs.org.uk/rbc.

Hugo grew up in Uplyme, was a pupil at Woodroffe School and studied garden design at Falmouth University. He runs an award-winning garden design practice in Exeter and has won gold awards at RHS Tatton Park and RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Shows in previous years. He was guest speaker at the Society’s August 2013 meeting when he gave members an inspiring talk on designing a show garden.

Uplyme gardeners take home treasure: from left, jeweller Sue Yeomans, homeopathist Gilly Jackson and artist Jenny Pearson pictured with their plant purchases at the Spring Plant Sale and Coffee morning on Saturday May 10th 2014

Over 150 garden lovers, some of whom began queuing before 9am, came to the Spring Plant Sale and Coffee Morning organised by the Society on Saturday, May 10th 2014, at Uplyme Village Hall.

The plants and produce on sale were donated by members and friends, and raised £850 towards staging the Summer Show and Country Fayre which took place on Saturday July 12th 2014 at Uplyme Playing Field and Village Hall.

Saturday May 10
9.30 to 11.30am
Uplyme Village Hall

Keen gardeners are urged to arrive early for the Horticultural Society’s Spring Plant Sale and Coffee Morning next Saturday.

This busy annual event is a chance to re-stock gardens for summer with all kinds of bedding plants, beans, courgettes, tomatoes and sweet peas, as well as perennials and shrubs. Also on sale will be home-made produce – jams, preserves, cakes and vegetables.

And for gardeners looking for a rest and sit-down, coffee, tea and delicious home-baked cake will be served by Pam Corbin and her team. Entrance is £1.

If you would like to donate any plants or produce to be sold for Horticultural Society funds all would be gratefully received at Uplyme Village Hall from 8am on the day. For further details please ring Brian Cursley 07831 533580.

DATE Wednesday April 23 at 7.30pm
TALK & DEMONSTRATION – working with willow
Uplyme Village Hall

This month’s meeting is an introduction to working with willow by Jenny Knight – so bring secateurs and a chopping board if you would like to join in. To teach the techniques, Jenny will show how to make a snail from willow and then instruct/help all those who would like to make one for themselves.

Afterwards a display of Jenny’s willow items will be for sale. Come along, meet other garden enthusiasts and enjoy a cup of tea or coffee. Admission is free to members, £3 for non-members.

Listen in to BBC Radio 4’s Gardeners’ Question Time on Friday 11th (repeated Sunday 13th) April when Uplyme and Lyme Regis Horticultural Society gets a mention, as well as some useful advice. Member Robin Britton went along to the recording of this show at Forde Abbey and was lucky enough to have his question chosen. Robin says a lot of the show is taken up with flooding issues, but his question about storing onions should appear late in the running order.

Annual General Meeting of the Uplyme & Lyme Regis Horticultural Society
7.30pm on 26th March 2014 at Uplyme Village Hall

AGENDA

1. Apologies
2. Minutes of Last Meeting
3. Matters Arising
4. President’s Address
5. Chairman’s Report
6. Treasurer’s Report
7.  Election of Officers
8. Election of Committee
9. Appointment of Auditor
10. Change of date for AGM
11. Any Other Business

PROPOSAL TO CHANGE DATE OF AGM

It is proposed by the committee (under item 10) to change the date of the AGM, from now on, to November in order to facilitate printing of membership cards and schedules with up to date information re Committee members for the following year.
This will mean amending the constitution to read:

An Annual General Meeting, presided over by the President or in the absence of the President by the Chairman, shall be held not later than 1st January and be subject to at least one month’s notice. Twenty-one members shall form a quorum for any General Meeting. Any member wishing to propose a motion to be put before the Annual General Meeting shall give seven days notice in writing to the Secretary.

The Society has organised four all-day trips by coach to places of gardening interest during 2014. Everyone is welcome – non-members at an extra £3 to cover temporary  membership:

Tuesday May 20: Visit to Mottisfont Abbey and gardens – National Trust property on the banks of the River Test at Romsey, Hampshire. A romantic country house with art gallery and remains of a 13th century priory.  Extensive gardens with ancient trees, riverside walks and walled garden with world-famous rose collection. Depart from Uplyme Village Hall at 9am, price £20 for coach and admission; National Trust members £12. Please ring Brian Cursley on 01297 443642 or 07831 533580 by May 12 to book.
Tuesday July 8: Visit to RHS Hampton Court Flower Show at East Molesey, Surrey. Depart from Uplyme Village Hall 7am, return late evening, price £45 for coach and admission. Please ring Rob Harvey on 01297 631644 or Jenny Harding on 01297 444034 to book.
Tuesday September 9: Visit to Coleton Fishacre gardens and house – National Trust property at Kingswear, Devon. This wonderful RHS accredited garden (daily tour) lies in a stream-fed, secluded valley on the South Devon Coast The mild climate and shelterbelts make the garden suitable for a wide range of rare and exotic plants.  The 1920s Arts & Crafts style house with Gilbert and Sullivan connections was the country home of the D’Oyly Carte family. Depart from Uplyme Village Hall at 9.15am, price £18.80 for coach and admission; National Trust members £10. Please ring Brian Cursley 01297 443642 or 07831 533580 by September 1st to book.

Sunday October 5: Visit to Yeo Valley Organic Gardens near Blagdon, Somerset, by coach. Six and half acres of contemporary organic gardens featuring a beautifully managed ornamental vegetable garden, gravel garden, stream-side garden and two meadow areas. Great tea room, too. Depart from Uplyme Village Hall at 9.30am, price £15 for coach and admission. Please ring Jenny 01297 444034 by September 22 to book.

DATE Wednesday March 26
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING – 7.30pm
TALK Making the Most of Veg – 8pm
Uplyme Village Hall

Nick Rigden, Head of Horticulture at Cannington College is guest speaker following the short AGM at our March meeting.

Whether you have a massive plot or just a few planters, Nick’s illustrated talk Making the Most of Veg will inspire you to grow your own fresh crops and confirm that producing vegetables is satisfying as well as healthy.

Nick has been involved in horticultural education for over 40 years and is a senior examiner for the Royal Horticultural Society. His broad knowledge and practical experience of gardening, exhibiting and judging brings natural authority to his talks.