The Spring Show took place on a very cold Saturday 17th March. Exhibitors and Judges came from as far as Bath, Ferndown, Blandford and Christchurch as well as locally and all returned home safely despite the snow.

Almost two hundred entries were staged by thirty-nine exhibitors. The hall looked lovely with all the Spring flowers on show.

The Daffodil classes were a delight as always with visitors in awe at the variety and perfection of the blooms.  Mark Read, well known for his growing and showing skills, has now expanded his expertise to daffodils, winning the major awards in this category.

Bill Howarth again did well in the cut flower and pot plant classes.His wife, Ruth, won the award for Best Exhibit in Floral Art with her stunning interpretation of ‘In Triplicate’.

The Photography, Cookery and Handicraft sections were well supported. John Restorick won the Best Handicraft award with his wonderful doll’s house.It had automated mice characters inside and tiny garden tools outside. It proved to be a great attraction.

Special Awards

Junior Cup; Tilly Gant, Downer Cup (photography); Dave Rolfe, Nottington Cup (handicrafts); John Restorick, Prospect Cup (preserves and cookery); Jean Wyman, Ridgway Cup, Grandshaw Cup, Golds Shield, Benson Cup, (highest points in various horticulture sections) Bill Howarth, Silver Trophy (best exhibit cut flowers); Bill Howarth, Ladies’ Spring Cup; Darlene Hayward, Spring Show Cup; Shaun Vallard, Silver Salver ( best pot plant); Mark Read, 2 Diplomas (daffodil classes); Eric Pickard and Mark Read, Best Daffodil Bloom, Best Daffodil Exhibit and Daffodil Championship; Mark Read.

Our thanks go to all exhibitors and visitors who came to our show.

The snow has disappeared so we can now concentrate on our show. It is always worth a visit with lovely spring flowers and pot plants, not forgetting floral art and handicrafts, cookery and children’s classes. Come along and enjoy the exhibits and a cup of tea and slice of home-made cake. Even better, why not enter a few classes. Click on the ‘Shows’ link to view the schedule.

IMPORTANT REMINDER

The A.G.M. will be held at the Memorial Hall this year as the school is closed for Easter holidays on April 5th.

Our meeting on 1st March has been cancelled due to adverse weather coming our way.

The Spring Show is on the 17th, enquiries to the show secretary, 01305 813942 or see the ‘Shows’ link.

IMPORTANT REMINDER

The AGM and members’ Mini-Show on 5th April will be held at the Memorial Hall and not at the school.

Our gardens are showing signs that Spring is around the corner with snowdrops, primroses, hellebores and even the odd early daffodil and crocus cheering the gloomiest of days.

February Meeting

Our first meeting of 2018 was entitled Preparing for the Show Bench with Peter and Mark Read.  Peter was unavoidably delayed so Mark proceeded with the talk.

His obvious passion for growing and showing vegetables shone through as he shared his knowledge with us. His talk covered which varieties to grow, times from sowing to maturity and how to prepare specimens for the show. He went through each vegetable one by one, answering questions as they arose.

Peter arrived in time to judge the Flower of the Month competition. The winner was Kay Graham’s camellia with Jean Wyman’s double hellebore second and Immy Turner’s snowdrop third.

A thoroughly enjoyable and informative evening. Several members took notes so we hope for a good number of exhibits at our upcoming shows !

Our March Meeting, on 1st, will be a talk on photography with Douglas Pratt. Douglas was a professional photographer working all over the world, including with Royalty, so will have lots of interesting stories to share with us. He will also give tips and answer members’ questions.

Our Spring Show takes place on March 17th at the Memorial Hall, Victoria Avenue. Click on the Shows link for details.

Looking ahead to the A.G.M. on April 5th, we need a few more committee members. If you or anyone you know would be interested, please let us know, preferably by 13th March. Please feel free to discuss what is involved with any of the present committee, either at the March meeting or by phone or email.

The Society celebrated Christmas on 7th December with a lovely Christmas Supper. With Derek Luther making an entertaining quiz-master and festive raffle prizes, a very pleasant evening was enjoyed by our members.

We now have a break until February 1st when Peter and Mark Read will talk on ‘Preparing for the Show Bench’. They are very popular speakers so this promises to be a very good meeting.

As we have a break, it is a very good time to sit in the warm and plan next year’s planting. Time to look at the seed catalogues and of course study the Spring Show schedule to see what you could enter. If you don’t already have a schedule, please contact the Show Secretary or download one from this web-site. Click on Shows.

Finally, we wish you all a very Happy Christmas and New Year.

On November 2nd, Clive Russell gave a very good talk entitled Iris Through the Year. His passion for irises was evident as he showed slides of all the different varieties, explaining the differences and origins of each type. His knowledge of the subject was amazing and all delivered without notes !

The results of the D.F.H.S. show were on display with the trophies for members to admire.

Our next meeting is on the 7th December and will include a Christmas Supper and Fun Quiz. We need to know numbers for catering so please ring 814887 to book your meal.

Our next meeting on November 2nd will be a talk by Clive Russell entitled Iris Through the Year. This promises to be a very interesting and informative talk. We look forward to seeing you all there.

The Harvest Supper, held on October 5th, was a very enjoyable occasion attended by over 40 members. Bob Ayres gave an excellent talk on the Rivers of Dorset and answered members’ questions before we all sat down to a delicious supper.

On Sunday 17th September the Society entered the show at Tarrant Keyneston. We were very pleased with our 18 first prizes, 8 seconds, 8 thirds and 3 fourths.

We also won three trophies, the Arthur Sheppard Cup, awarded for the Best Exhibit in Vegetable and Fruit Dishes; The Harry Dawes Trophy, for Best Exhibit in Pot Plants and the Arthur Sheppard Shield for Best Small Vegetable Collection.

It became apparent this year that our Members are very good at growing orchids.      We took three to the show. Stella Knight’s beautiful white one took 1st prize in the orchid class, Kay Graham’s, which was smothered in lovely pink and white blooms took 1st prize in the small pot plant class and the Caves family’s large pink plant scored a valuable 8 points in the Collective class.

Kay’s pretty plant

As usual, Mark Read’s vegetables did very well, his potatoes won all categories that he entered.

Mark’s collection of 3 kinds of potato, on the right.

Thank you to all who provided produce or who baked cakes. A full display of all the results will be on show at our November meeting as October 5th is our Harvest Supper.

More pictures of first prize winners.

Our Autumn programme started on September 7th with a very interesting and informative talk entitled Success with Rockeries. We were given lots of ideas and tips on suitable plants and materials. The talk was followed by the speaker answering members’ questions.

On October 5th Bob Ayres will give us a talk on Rivers of Dorset.

The evening will include our Harvest Supper. If you wish to attend and have not put your name down, please phone 814887 so that we can cater for the correct numbers.

This is usually a very enjoyable event, not to be missed.