Our February meeting took place on 3rd. Sara Harpley gave us an interesting and informative talk on photography. She gave us lots of useful tips on getting the best results from our cameras, including our mobile phones. She showed us examples of how to get the best composition, selecting the correct background and using the camera at the best angle. We should get some good photos in our Spring Show!

Our March meeting will be on 3rd March, 7.30pm at the school. Steve Jeffries will be telling us about shrubs and climbers. He is very knowledgeable so will be able to answer any questions members may have.

The Spring Show takes place on 19th March at the Memorial Hall, Victoria Avenue. The schedule can be downloaded from the ‘Shows’ link or copies are available from P.&M. Read’s florist on Dorchester Road and by emailing shows@budhs.org.uk or ringing 01305 813942.

We are deeply saddened at the news that our President, Peter Read, passed away on Monday. He has been involved with our society since childhood, following in the footsteps of his parents, Charles and Mary.

Peter and Mark at a D.F.H.S
show

Pete will be fondly remembered by all who knew him and his depth of horticultural knowledge and wise words will be sorely missed.

Our sincere condolences go to his family.

His funeral will take place on Friday 21st January at 11am at St. Laurence Church, Upwey. Peter will be taken by horse-drawn carriage from his Florist shop, down Stottingway Street and along Church Street. Friends and family are invited to walk behind the carriage to the church if they wish.

Happy New Year to all, time to browse through the seed catalogues and plan our summer displays. Something to cheer us on dismal days.

No meeting this month but we hope to see you on 3rd February when Sara Harpley will give us a talk on how to get the best from our cameras.Our Spring Show will be held on 19th March. The schedule can be viewed and downloaded from our ‘Shows’ link or you can email shows@budhs.org.uk for a copy. We are hoping for plenty of entries to make a good display.

We have been contacted by The Cottage Garden Society (Dorset Group) inviting our society to a talk at Puddletown in March, details below.

You are warmly welcome to join us on Sunday 6th March at Puddletown Village Hall.
We are so pleased that Tamsin Westhorpe will be our guest speaker whose talk is entitled ‘Giving your garden a new lease of life’ (with planting and design ideas).
Tamsin Westhorpe is a horticultural journalist and RHS Chelsea Flower Judge. Formerly
Deputy Editor of Gardening Magazine and currently Co-Chair of the Garden Media Guild.
Tamsin gardens at Stockton Bury Gardens in Leominster, a family garden of several acres with
beautiful planting.
Venue: PUDDLETOWN VILLAGE HALL
Time: Doors open at 2.00pm for 2.30pm start.
AFTERNOON TEA WITH HOME-MADE CAKES
RAFFLE AND PLANT STALL
Admission: £5 – cash only at the door
For further information and to secure a place please contact Jenny Daultrey at
jdcgs@btinternet.com or 01747 851300
Please note:
This event is subject to Government guidelines applicable at the time.

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Our November meeting was very well attended and we all enjoyed Mike Burks’ informative talk on Gardening for Climate Change. His talks are always interesting and amusing.

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We are currently planning the Christmas Supper and Quiz which is taking place on Tuesday 7th December. If you have not already booked your place, please phone 814887 or 813942 as soon as possible.

From February 2022 we will be meeting on Thursday evenings again at the school. Speakers are being booked and these will be published as soon as they are confirmed.

Dorset Plant Heritage Group are holding a Celebrity Talk on Saturday 4th December entitled ‘Extinction is Forever- The Importance of Plant Conservation’ by Sir Ghillean Prance, internationally renowned Ethnobiologist.

It will be held at Morden Village Hall, between Wimborne and Bere Regis, doors open at 2pm for 3pm start. Masks to be worn in reception area and when moving about. To book a ticket (£10) phone Ann Brown on 01258 453686. Once booked you can pay on the day.

We are very happy to announce that St. Nicholas and St.  Laurence School have said that we can now hold our meetings there as we did before Covid.

Our November meeting, on Tuesday 2nd , will include a talk by the Gold Club on Gardening for Climate Change.

Membership fees will be due at this meeting and you will be asked to fill in a membership form to be held only by the Treasurer. There will be the usual raffle, refreshments and Flower and Plant of the Month competition. We are also introducing a £2 charge for guests to help with Society funds.

The December Meeting, on Tuesday 7th, will include a Christmas supper (£6 for members and £7.50 for guests) and fun Quiz. Please add your names to the list on November 2nd  so that we have numbers for catering.

We are planning to revert to a Thursday evening from February onwards and are working on booking speakers. Details will be published later.

Unfortunately we have had to cancel our October meeting, arranged for Tuesday 5th. Due to a misunderstanding, a smaller room was booked which is no where near big enough for our needs. This was only brought to our attention on Saturday evening, the 2nd October.

Our Speaker, Steve Jeffries has said that our members are welcome to attend the Owermoigne Society meeting on Wednesday, 6th October, 6.30pm at Owermoigne Village Hall. Turn left into Kit Lane and it is signposted along the lane. The talk is by a good lady speaker and the subject is World War 1 gardens. As we will be without a meeting this month, our members will be admitted free of charge. We really appreciate this kind gesture.

We are exploring other venues for the rest of our programme.

Our A.G.M. was held on 2nd September at the Memorial Hall and we were very pleased with the attendance. Proceedings went well and new officers were elected.

Officers for 2021/22;

Chairman           Mr. Shaun Vallard

Vice-Chairman  Mrs. Ros Gant

Secretary          Mr. Neil Coad

Treasurer          Mrs. Denise Caves

Show Secretary Mrs. Eve Morris

A Committee meeting will be held on 14th September when a programme of events and speakers will be decided. Members will be advised both individually and via the web-site of the first meeting.

Due to the uncertainty surrounding schools and Covid, we have not been able to book the school for our talks, therefore we will be meeting in the Memorial Hall for the foreseeable future. We will, however, have to change our evening from the first Thursday to the first Tuesday of each month due to hall availability. We hope that this will not adversely affect our members.

We look forward to seeing members, old and new, in the near future.

Summer Show

After wondering what the response would be to our first show for two years, we were delighted with the result. Forty exhibitors staged 290 entries filling the hall with colour. Results and pictures can be found on the Shows link.

Early visitors to the show.

Our A.G.M. will also be held in the Memorial Hall this year on Thursday 2nd September at 7.30pm. We have been functioning with a very small committee for the last few years and are hoping to elect several new members. We will also be electing a new Chairperson and Secretary. Please make every effort to attend this important meeting.

We are very sad to hear that Alison White has passed away. Alison and her late husband, Douglas, joined our society when Preston Garden Club disbanded. They were loyal members who supported all of our meetings and events

August Newsletter 2021