On July 9th members were invited to Sarah Studley’s garden at Higher Manor Farm, Littlemead, Broadwey. The weather was perfect and a  good number of members attended and enjoyed a pleasant evening. Sarah explained how she had built the garden up over the years and had planted every flower and shrub herself. The garden is designed with wildlife in mind and has been entered into a ‘Wildlife Garden’ competition. We wish her well in this.

The Summer Show is on August 15th. See the Shows page for details.

The A.G.M. and mini-show was held on 16th April at St.Nicholas and St.Laurence School.

The mini-show, judged by Mark Read, was well supported considering the later date and added cheerful colour to the occasion.

The Mary Middlemass Plate, awarded for the highest points gained over the year in the Flower of the Month competition was won by Pat Hayne.

Ros Gant stood down as Chairman after 6 successful years, and was presented with a bouquet and card signed by all present by way of thanks. She will remain on the committee.                                                                                                                                 Adrian Bates was elected to the post and we look forward to continuing success for the Society. Other officers remain the same.

Forty members braved the cold weather and were rewarded with a very interesting and informative talk on Fuchsias by Derek Luther.  He covered everything from propogation and care to pests and diseases.

There will be a change of speaker at our March 5th meeting.  Mr. Martin Young will be talking about Trees for our gardens.

March also sees our Spring Show on 21st. Further details can be found on the Shows link.

Our 2014 meetings ended with a very successful Christmas Party.

Forty-five members enjoyed excellent food and a very entertaining demonstration of Christmas floral arrangements by Mark Read.

We now take a break until February 5th 2015, when Mr. Derek Luther will tell us all there is to know about growing fuchsias.

We wish all our members a very Happy New Year.

Entries held steady when we held our Summer Show on 16th August.
Judges picked their way through more than 240 entries with onions and floral decorations doing particularly well.
Colin Giles, the flora decoration judge commented, ”A fantastic display of floral arrangements that BUDHS has not enjoyed for years. Congratulations.”
Childrens entries continue to grow and our cookery section did really well this year.
Our show was a fitting way to launch the newly decorated Memorial Hall. A hall in which we have held approximately 114 shows since 1956.

Daffodils were the stars of the show when we held our annual Spring Show.
Standards were so high that there were 4 entries in the Champion Class, with exhibitors coming from as far afield as Bristol and Hampshire.

The show continues to grow from strength to strength with entries up nearly 20 percent on 2013 with 215 exhibits from 41 entrants. As Chairman I was particularly delighted with the art and photographic entries. Judges commented on the high standards set by the exhibitors in all classes and that it was a delight to come and judge at our shows.
The show was a triumph for Bill Haworth and Ray Hayward who shared the top awards while Cheryl Fane winning the Novice Shield.

Many thanks to everyone who made the show such a success.

2013 ended on a high with our Christmas Party, which this year had a Hollywood theme.
Over 40 members dusted off their dinner jackets and polished their diamonds to enjoy an evening at the movies. Members enjoyed watching Dames Judy Dench and Maggie Smith in “The Most Exotic Marigold Hotel”. A glass of wine and a superb supper, provided by Faith Henshilwood, helped the evening go with a swing.

We have no meeting in January. Our first get together of 2014 will be on February 6th at St Nicholas School, Broadwey. Mark Read will be on hand to answer any questions on growing vegetables either for the show bench or the garden.

The first meeting of the new season got off to a great start. Mike Burks, from The Gold Club, gave an excellent talk on propagation. Over 30 members sat intently listening to his words of wisdom. Members could be seen taking notes and they were plenty of questions to be answered by our knowledgeable and affable speaker.

Plants, given by the Gold Club in March to grow on, were judged by Mike. Eve Morris and Ros Gant took the prizes.

Members enjoyed a “ Welcome Back Supper” of bread, cheese and sausages and are all were looking forward to the October 3rd talk by Neil Lovesey on The Bee Friendly Garden.

Our Harvest Supper this year is on 16th October, 7.00pm at The Ship Inn, Upwey. Menus will be available at the October meeting. See you all then

2012 ended with a mixture of good  news and bad news for the society.

More than 35 members enjoyed the Christmas Party, held at St Nicholas School, Broadwey. Mark Read created several Christmas floral decorations, which were raffled later and told some very amusing stories.

Faith Henshilwood provided a magnificent buffet, the likes of which Mark Read had never seen. People enjoyed a glass of wine and a break from shopping and wrapping presents.

On a very sad note I had to announce the death of Brian Marsh. Brian was a great supporter of this club right up to his death. His knowledge, patience, encouragement and sensitivity will be sadly missed and our thoughts are with Sheila and her family.

Another of the society’s long standing supporters also died in December, Bill Cann. He was well into his 90’s when he died, proving that gardening must be good for you.

We are looking forward now to 2013 and hoping for better weather, if the garden isn’t frozen it’s water logged. We are never satisfied. Our February meeting will consist of a  panel of experts, Trevor  Ings, Peter and Mark Read ,who will try to answer all your  gardening questions,and  Stella Knight who will answer any cooking or preserve queries. It should be a highly informative and amusing evening. Have some good questions ready !!

Eve Morris and the committee are preparing for the Spring Show in March and they are hoping for lots of entries. If you have nothing to show, why not bake a cake for us to sell or provide a tombola prize. All proceeds go into society funds.

Our meetings this season have got off to a cracking start. James Foster-Pegg, from the Gold Club, gave 35 members a talk on soft fruit growing at our September meeting and as usual it was very informative and entertaining. Could the October meeting be as good? We needn’t have worried.
 
Terry Heard, from Blandford, gave a talk on woodland crafts. He arrived at 7.00pm with a truck full of sticks, twigs, branches and some very strange looking equipment. Our members started to take their seats, Perhaps wondering what they had let themselves in for. Terry soon put them at their ease.
 
 
He described how a coppice is managed, using a model he had made. The slow and fascinating process of making charcoal and finally what can be made from coppicing. The whole tree is used. Trunks are turned into props for fruit trees. Branches become hurdles, thatchers, tent and clothes pegs, children’s toys and bean poles and besom brooms are made from the twigs.
 
 
 
 
 Terry made a broom using the very primitive looking, but very efficient piece of equipment you see in the photograph. We raffled this broom off.

He talked for well over an hour, answering many questions from his enthralled audience. Everyone left with a smile on their face, having enjoyed a horticultural talk with a difference.