PROGRAMME OF EVENTS 2024

Dear Members,

My name is Jan and I have been your Social Evening Secretary for 7 years and, like all the Committees’ jobs, it is hard work and time-consuming - but for me it is a labour of love.

Our speakers have ranged from hedgehog rescuers and lifeboat personnel to TV personalities and rose-growers and everyone in between, and each evening, with the help of our very entertaining Chairman Sara, has been great fun.

The hardest part of my job is finding the right title for each talk as it can mean a member coming or not coming to the evening.

However, I guarantee that, whatever the talk subject, you will learn something and, with refreshments served from 6.45pm until the beginning of the talk at 7.15pm, you will have the opportunity to meet old friends and new friends amongst other members and your Committee.

So please, whatever the title of the evening, come along and spend £1 entrance for members, £2 entrance for non-members (there are also 2 ticketed nights, with tickets at £4 each), support your Society and don’t miss a great night out!


 

TUESDAY 16TH JANUARY-Tony Harris as Margaret Thatcher

Margaret Thatcher was our first female Prime Minister and regarded as the most divisive in history. The IRA couldn't kill her; she won a war to save the Falklands and was once a scientist who helped improve the flow quality of ice cream.

Join us as Tony Harris - who brought Henry VIII and Winston Churchill to our society - dons the familiar blue skirt suit to bring Maggie back to life!

 

This is a ticketed event. Please get your Tickets from Jan, at £4.00 each

 

*** Fun Competition*** Snowdrops in Own Vase



TUESDAY 27TH FEBRUARY-Steve Bustin

FROM THE HANGING GARDENS OF BABYLON TO THE NATIONAL TRUST.

(A HISTORY OF GARDENS OPEN FOR PLEASURE).

Steve Bustin is a keen gardener based in Brighton, a garden writer (for titles including Amateur Gardening, Beautiful Gardens and US magazine Pith & Vigor), and a speaker on a range of garden history topics.

He’s a member of a number of Sussex garden groups including The Hardy Plant Society and Plant Heritage, through whom he holds part of the Dispersed National Collection of Noel Burr Daffodils in his garden.

 

*** Fun Competition*** 5 Hellebore Flower Heads Floating in Water



 

TUESDAY 26TH MARCH-Amanda Patton

PLANTING PARTNERS.

Amanda Patton is a multi-award-winning garden designer and has won silver-gilt medals at RHS Chelsea and Hampton Court along with several prestigious industry awards.  Following on from an art college background and previous career as an illustrator, with most of Alan Titchmarsh’s gardening titles to her name, Amanda has been designing gardens for the last 25 years and has now created well over 300 gardens of all different shapes and sizes. 

She’s written for many national magazines, including Homes and Gardens, and teaches planting design at the London College of Garden Design.  A chance contact in 2007 has led to her planning and guiding garden tours throughout Europe on a regular basis, and she uses photographs from these trips to illustrate her talks. 

Planting Partners de-mystifies the art of planting design with easy-to-follow rules that will help you get it right first time, saving heartbreak, plants, and money!

 

*** Fun Competition*** 3 Daffodils in Own Vase

 

PLANT AND SEED SALE-PROCEEDS TO SOCIETY FUNDS

Sale to take place during ‘refreshment time’ from 6.45pm



 

TUESDAY 30TH APRIL-Graham Spencer

NEW PLANTS – THE FUTURE FOR YOUR GARDEN

Graham Spencer is the owner of Plants for Europe Ltd – an independent plant breeders’ agents based in East Sussex that works with plant breeders to introduce their new varieties to growers and retailers.

 

Graham has worked in the horticulture industry for nearly 40 years (he started young!), including managing a specialist nursery, exhibiting at the Chelsea Flower Show, organising plant fairs, and working with plant breeders, growers, and gardeners all around the world.

 

*** Fun Competition*** 3 Tulips in Own Vase

PLANT AND SEED SALE-PROCEEDS TO SOCIETY FUNDS

Sale to take place during ‘refreshment time’ from 6.45pm


 

 

TUESDAY 28TH MAY-Madelaine & Peter Ward

THE PLANT HERITAGE SOCIETY

Plant Heritage is a charity that oversees over 700 National Plant Collections which range from trees to house plants. Anyone can hold a collection from private individuals through to councils, Universities as well as Botanical Gardens. However, anyone can get involved, with local activities, supporting and helping collections or being Plant Guardians, where you look after a few rare plants.

If you are interested in preserving wild and garden cultivars and rare plants, then this could be the Social for you!

PLANT AND SEED SALE-PROCEEDS TO SOCIETY FUNDS

Sale to take place during ‘refreshment time’ from 6.45pm

 

 

 

 

 

TUESDAY 25TH JUNE-Dr Janet Pennington

CHANCTONBURY RING: THE STORY OF A SUSSEX LANDMARK

Chanctonbury Ring on the South Downs has been an iconic landmark for Sussex inhabitants and visitors for over 200 years.

However, the ring of trees, most of which were destroyed by the great storm of 1987 and replanted in 1990, covers another ring, the c.750 BC (Late Bronze Age) earthwork. The earlier Ring contains the remains of a Romano-Celtic and Romano-British temple complex; it has a very special atmosphere that draws people to it.

 

Tonight’s talk will reveal the history of the area, a murder on the hill, the tree species over the centuries, and a spate of literary outpourings about the Ring by 19th and 20th century novelists, poets, and travel writers.

 

This is a ticketed event.  Please get your Tickets from Jan, at £4.00 each

 

*** Fun Competition*** 5 Sweetpeas / 3 Roses / Single Rose in own vase

 

 

TUESDAY 30TH JULY-Ian Everest

SHEPHERDS OF THE SUSSEX DOWNS

 

Ian Everest grew up on a Sussex Downland farm and attended Plumpton Agricultural College in the late 1960s. Following several years engaged in agricultural related work, he became manager of Newhaven Fort in 1987, preparing the scheduled monument for opening to the public the following year. He is a keen local and family historian and gives several talks related to farming and rural history. The shepherds of the  Sussex Downs people were central to Sussex farming in past centuries, and to the economy of the area, as were the thousands of sheep that grazed on the Downs. The shepherds, who spent their solitary lives caring for their flocks, were a familiar part of the local countryside. Ian tells their story . . . . . .

 

 

 

 

Saturday 3rd August-Our Annual Show, Cradle Hill School, Lexden Road, Seaford, BN25 3BA. Open to the public 1.30pm. Entry £1 per person, children free

 

 

 

TUESDAY 24TH SEPTEMBER-Peter Gwilliam

SEAFORD LIFEGUARDS

Seaford Lifeguards is a voluntary lifeguard service whose aims are to keep Seaford Beach users free from danger, and to prevent loss of life by drowning or injury by training people highly in water safety and rescue, advanced first aid, resuscitation, and surf rescue boat handling. Seaford Lifeguards were established in 1970 to provide a volunteer Lifeguard Service on Seaford beach. The organisation has grown in size and reputation into a world-class Lifeguard Service and training centre.



 

TUESDAY 29TH OCTOBER- Ben Pope

 

MAKING THE MOST OF WHAT YOU HAVE!

(HOW TO GET THE MOST OUT OF YOUR GARDEN WHATEVER THE SIZE OR SPACE)

Ben is currently a Head Gardener for a private garden in West Sussex.  He has worked and studied in various aspects of horticulture for the last 21 years and his qualifications include the Wisley Practical Diploma, RHS Diploma and the RHS Master of Horticulture. He regularly writes for Gardens Illustrated and teaches at the Chelsea Physic Garden for The English Gardening School and at West Dean College of Art and Conservation. Ben is also a member of the RHS Herbaceous Plant Committee.

 

*** Fun Competition*** An Autumn Bouquet in own vase

 

 

Tuesday November 26th AGM

 

 

Please come along to our AGM.

It is a great opportunity to meet the Committee and other members and to find out what is happening with YOUR Horticultural Society!