We meet at 7:30 on the last Wednesday of the month in the Village Hall, High Street, Heckington.
Contact us using the email below or by contacting any of the committee.
January 31st AGM - plus something more interesting!
February 28th Andy
Boyton, Springfields
- Bulbs
March 27th Dr Nicola Crewe – Traced Evidence
April 24th Chris Evans – The World of Bees
May
11th
(Sat.) Coffee
Morning – Methodist Hall 10-12
May 29th Robert Wiseman – subject to be confirmed
June 26th Barbecue
July 31st Garden Crawl and Village Treasure Hunt
August 28th Gill Walsh – Kew Gardens
September 25th Club presentation evening, a series of short presentations from Club members
October 30th Nicholas Watts – Farming and Wildlife
November
27th Christmas Themed Social Evening
December/January Christmas Dinner/Lunch
A brief history of the club
Moves to start a gardening club in Heckington happened in 1989 when two neighbours on High Street, Sylvia Lawes and Derek Neverson, decided that if they didn't make the effort it might never happen. Notices were put up around the village and in the Parish magazine inviting people to a meeting in Sylvia's cottage. In the event, 18 people squeezed into Sylvia's small front room – there was clearly pent up demand for a gardening club. Looking back, it was surprising that there hadn't been a club established before.
It was
decided to hold club meetings in the Methodist Church hall, and the
last Wednesday in the month was decided on as it was the only slot
available! The first formal meeting was held in January 1990 and
over 30 people joined in that first year. It was £5 to join.
Sylvia was elected chairman at that initial meeting, and retained the
post for 14 years – in spite of her efforts to pass the post on to
someone else.
The
pattern of holding monthly meetings with a guest speaker was
established from the start, but in those days there was much more
emphasis on vegetable growing than there is now. An annual BBQ was
also held from the beginning, and in the early days members would
visit a local strawberry farm on the day of the BBQ to ensure there
would be a suitable end to the meal.
Trips to
visit gardens were a regular feature, and making a long day of it was
not unusual. In the early days two trips were made to Wisley, which
necessitated a seriously early start and late finish if sufficient
hours at the the garden are to be had. A February trip to see a
snowdrop display became a fixture, now lost.
The club established its own annual show, complete with a schedule for a range of fruit, vegetable, flower and domestic classes, more than 50 at the peak, and with trophies for various categories of entries. The inscriptions on the trophies make it clear that there were shows from 1993. Accredited judges were used, but the shows were not without their problems. One well remembered incident involved accusations/confusion over the ownership of particular prized onions. Had they been moved between entrants during the judging? This was important stuff. One of the trips undertaken by the Club was to the Southport show to see the vegetables being exhibited there – seriously large cabbages. The trip went well, apart from leaving the Treasurer behind when the coach left that is. The last time the club held its own show was 2007.
Over the
years the membership of the club has risen and fallen. The peak was
around 2005 when there were 61 members. There have also been low
points, when the continued existence of the club was in doubt,
notably in 2013 when the membership was in the teens and a programme
for only the first half of 2014 was put together as it was by no
means clear that the club would be able to pay for speakers beyond
that.
During
this period the club had a small stand at the Heckington show for
three or four years to see if they could attract members, on one
occasion winning a bronze medal for the appearance of the stand.
Unfortunately the aim of significantly increasing the membership was
not met. None the less, the Club did survive the 2013/14 crisis and
by the end of 2014 the membership had begun to grow.
The
nature of the Club has changed over its history, certainly with less
emphasis on vegetables and without the competitiveness of a show, but
members are still keen to show off their gardening skills. This
shows in a number of ways: a garden crawl, to spend an evening poking
about in other peoples gardens; a container competition at the annual
BBQ; a Flower of the Month competition, with points awarded and a
trophy for the year's highest points total; and a selected plant
that is available for all members to raise during the year and a
grand review at one of the autumn meetings. The Club is now in a
secure position and able to continue to hold a full programme of
speakers, trips and other events for its members.