Newsletter – May 2024

Welcome to the May newsletter for details of forthcoming events.

A warm welcome to our latest new members.

Monthly Meetings

On April 17^th Steve Edney joined us and talked about his Jungly Journey with exotics. Steve was very enthusiastic about his gardening career and the journey he has made so far.

We enjoyed hearing about Steve’s time at the Salutation Gardens and now his development of his project with Lou, his partner.  It was lovely to have them for the evening. 

Plans are being made to visit them sometime next year – watch this space.

Now to come

Mandy Rickard – 15^th May at 7.30pm

Mandy is a medical herbalist, aromatherapist and botanical maker,

with a license to grow and produce herbal medicines for her clinic and patients, together with a slowly growing range of soap and skincare. 

As well as treating patients she also runs regular herbal workshops at Belmont House and gardens, for adults and a new scheme in Faversham, now a worldwide venture, the junior herbalists club teaching children 7 and over how to safely grow, use and make herbal remedies for themselves and family.

Molly Hollman – 19^th June at 7.30pm

Molly is an award-winning photographer who specialises in flower, plant and insect photography, particularly close-up. She is a member of the Professional Garden Photographers Association (PGPA), the Guild of Photographers (with whom she won the ‘Flora and Plants’ category in 2021 and the Insects category in 2022) and the Societies of Photographers (she won the ‘Natural World – Botanical and Fungi’ category last year).

We have now started to have a small raffle at each of our monthly meetings, any contributions towards this are welcome, and remember to bring a spare £1 to have a go. We need to find ways to raise money and this in a small way helps to do that.

Adam Frost comes to Faversham – 24^th July
As we come to the end of April we have very few seats left for this evening.  We have not had to advertise widely; it seems the word of mouth works well!

We will be having a larger raffle on that evening, as it should be a way of raising money for our funds.  The seat tickets have been priced so that Adam can be paid without using our funds, but we will not be making any profit.  It is hoped that by having such a celebrity we raise our profile and maybe encourage more people to join the Society.

Visit to Hyde Hall
Our visit to RHS Hyde Hall was enjoyed by all.  We just about filled the coach so the trip very nearly paid for itself.  We did not have to pay to enter the garden as we took advantage of our RHS affiliation.  If we do a coach trip another time it would have to be more expensive, but we will talk some more about that with members.

The gardens were lovely with the spring flowers and even if it was not a particularly warm day it was special to be there.

Things to come
On May 22^nd we have been invited to Edible Culture from 5pm to 7pm to take part in a practical garden experience.

Provide your own plant container and choose a selection of plants from those on sale together with some compost and use the time to plant it all up to take home.  You will need to come by car (car sharing?) so you can get your container home.  We will have the advantage of the expertise of David and Chris, and hot drinks will be provided. 

The only cost will be the plants that you choose and a contribution towards the compost. 

This should be a fun social evening with a result to take home.

We will take names at our May evening, just to give David an idea of how many we will be.

It would be great if you could support this event as we hope to forge a closer relationship with Edible Culture.  In the future we could do similar evening activities with other nurseries.

And moving towards the Summer
On August 21^st we will be visiting Tram Hatch Garden, near Charing.  This is a private garden, not usually open to the public and one that we love to go to.  We are always made very welcome and if we are lucky with the weather sitting in their garden with tea and cake is perfectly lovely.

More about this later in the year.

But before this we are planning for as many who would like to join us for an afternoon, more locally, at Mount Ephraim.  This will be at 2pm onwards on the 7^th August.  We can take our own afternoon tea or use the café there.   We will meet in the car park at 2pm.

Autumn Show
We are now planning our Autumn Show on the 14^th September.  If you would like to look at the Show schedule it is now on our website and a few copies will be available at our next meeting. 

We still need people to help on the day of the Show – especially needed is someone to sell raffle tickets and someone to walk around with the donations bucket!  Please let Judith or any committee member know if you can assist, even if it is for a small amount of time.

Fund Raising
We have mentioned before that we would like to arrange some fund-raising activities for the Society.  Ideas from members would be well received and discussed.  We are planning our programme for 2025, so speak to us now.

NGS Open Garden Scheme
Copton Ash garden is open once again on the 6^th May 12 – 5pm. This is a lovely local garden opened by Tim Ingram, who is due to talk to us later this year.

Committee Members 2024
Chairperson – Judith Foulkes – 07710 521462 (leave a message).
Treasurer – John Mulford.
Secretary – Pamela Scott.

Other committee members – Mary Cole, Barbara Brenchley, Carolyn Marriott, Gerri Ford.

Contact is by email to showsec@favershamhorticulturalsociety.org or chair@favershamhorticulturalsociety.org