November Meeting & Terry's Birthday

We are a little behind with the postings, but at our meeting on the 5 November we celebrated the the 80th Birthday of Terry Stent, who was for many years a leading member of the Society and a keen exhibitor at shows. That competitive streak saw him win many prizes. He has eased down now and in recent years has looked after the seed order. He is looking after the 2014 requirements but will be passing the responsibility to someone else in 2015. He is seen here dealing with the candles on the cake. Congratulations Terry.

The Secret Gardens of London was the topic for our speaker Colin Jones, who also happens to be Chairman of the nearby Sanderstead Horticultural Society. No of us had any idea there are so many to view, and it has stimulated some ideas for a members trip out during 2015. Colin (on the left) is seen chatting to a member following his talk.

ANNUAL SEED ORDER

We are able to offer discounts on most items in the D T Brown 2015 catalogue (50% on packet seeds and 15% on non seed items and sundries). The offer is open to members and friends, and catalogues/order forms as well as further information can be obtained at the November monthly meeting, or by contacting Terry Stent (telephone 01883 714545). The coloured catalogue is always worth browsing.
We are delighted that Terry has decided to postpone his retirement from administering the scheme for a further year.
Please note that orders have to be with Terry by 21 November.

LODHS OCTOBER MEETING

Geoff Hawkins gave us enlightening talk on wildflowers, which comforted a lot of us in confirming that our lawns are "wildflower meadows", rather than just overrun with weeds.
Geoff is seen here chatting to a couple of members after his talk.

With the recent physical changes changes to the Red Cross Hall we have altered the seating arrangements by 90 degrees, thus allowing larger projected pictures than before, and bringing everyone in closer contact with the speaker.

Just look at this entry from Linda for the monthly competition. Another version of "Little and Large", but the the peppers were an incredible size. The winner was, however, a dahlia collection from Sandra.

WEDNESDAY 1 OCTOBER at 8pm

We are pleased to welcome Geoff Hawkins as our guest speaker at the Red Cross Hall, Oxted on Wednesday 1 October at 8pm. His subject will be "Wild Flowers".

 Here is what Geoff says about himself:

 In January 2012 I retired as headgardener from the private estate of Mill Court near Alton,   

 Hampshire where I had worked since 1977.
 As a head gardener running a small estate of 30 acres this meant I worked in
 greenhouses,  vegetable and fruit gardens, herbaceous and shrub borders as well as 
 looking after the trees, ponds and natural features on the estate.
 Since retiring I am available for more daytime talks and will be able to travel longer
 distances. I am still based in Alton, Hampshire.
 I have lectured at local adult education centres on gardening skills, garden design and
 growing your own fruit & vegetables.
 For over twelve years I was a regular expert on LBCs Weekend Matters along with
 Matthew  Biggs, Christeen Walkden, John Allbutt  and Jim Butress. I have also appeared
 on BBC Southern Counties Radio and Delta FM.
 It has also been good to give talks and lectures to horticultural societies, gardening clubs,  
 WI’s, Women’s Guilds, schools and various associations sharing the practical knowledge
 I have gained over the years and spreading the joy and fun of gardening.
 I am a member of the SURREY GUILD of JUDGES and LECTURERS and on the list of
 speakers for the Hampshire Federation of Horticultural Societies
 I have also been part of the team at Loseley Gardening Show with John Negus, Peter
 Mills, Paul Patton and Alan Sergeant. We hope to take the team to other shows around the
 area.
 For a little bit of light relief from the day job I have also been involved in the running of 
 Froyle Gardening Club having done two stints as Chairman and have been on the
 committee for many years. I have also taken part in 23 of the 25 pantomines produced by
 the Froyle Players. Not many bearded dames around these days.

Autumn Flower and Produce Show.

Well, those tables did get filled with about 220 entries. Well done to all the exhibitors and to Hurst Green Gardening Club for giving us such tremendous support.
Here is just a flavour of what was to be seen:

A delightful splash of colour that shows how hard exhibitors work. Congratulations to all.

How do you grow vegetables to look as good as this?

More vegetables vegetables, ready to eat.

Best entry in show

An unusual class, and a new use for an old shoe or boot.

President Roy gives out the prizes

NOT LONG, BUT HOW LONG?

The official closing date for entries to our Flower and Produce Show this Saturday 13 September is the end of the day on Wednesday 10 September. Jilly would love to here from you.
Remember, there are fun classes as well, so get out the tape measure/scales and see how big/heavy some of yours are (eg: runner bean, onion, tomato truss, marrow, potato)! Scroll down to see the full Schedule and entry form. In the meantime here is long runner bean. Is yours longer?
Good luck......

LODHS SHOW 13 September 2014

Coming soon......
Make a note of the date and time of our show, and we look forward to seeing you there.
Why not display the flyer? Just click on it and print. Many thanks.
Thinking of entering, click on the entry form below to print and help us fill these tables. Set up time for exhibitors is between 7.30 and 10.30am. Click HERE to see the Schedule.

St Mary's Church, Oxted Open Day

Just behind the Oxted Community Hall is St Mary's Church. It is well worth a visit either before or after you have visited our Flower and Produce Show on Saturday 13 September.

 

 

  Along with many other local churches, St. Mary’s Church, Oxted will be open on Saturday 13 September to welcome participants in the Surrey Churches Preservation Trust sponsored Ride and Stride. The church will open from 9.00am until 6.00pm. Participants in the Ride and Stride will be visiting as many Surrey churches as possible, either on foot or by bicycle,  hoping to raise money by being sponsored. The money raised will be split equally between the Surrey Churches Preservation Trust which gives grants to Surrey churches for essential maintenance work, and the participants’ own church.

     In addition St. Mary’s will be open to welcome all visitors regardless of participation in the sponsored event with a series of activities and displays taking place through the day. These will include the  Registers of Baptisms, Marriages and Funerals being put out for perusal, a display of old photographs of St. Mary’s Church, School  and Oxted and displays of some of the activities organised by members of St. Mary’s church. There will also be guided tours up to the top of the church tower from approximately  11.00am and again from approximately 2.00pm and 4.30pm.   At 4.00pm there will be a bell ringing demonstration and the chance to look at the workings of the St. Mary’s tower clock. It must be noted that all tours up to the top of the tower are taken at the person’s own risk as the staircase up to the top is quite steep and narrow. The effort is worth it however as the view over the whole of Oxted from the top of the tower is quite spectacular. 

     Throughout the day members of St. Mary’s  Church including members of the clergy team will be available to answer queries and to show people round the church and refreshments in the form of home-made cakes and tea, coffee and soft drinks will be available – served outside if it is fine or in the tower area if the weather is too cold or wet.

     Do come and visit what is Oxted’s oldest and most historic building --  it was mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 and has a wealth of interesting features including many old and artistically interesting stained glass windows, Crusader graves and interesting architecture.

      Entrance is free.

      For more information ‘phone V. Adamson on 01883 714859

LIMPSFIELD IN BLOOM 2014

Here is a selection of shots taken on 8 August of this years display in Limpsfield. You have to wander on foot through the village to take in all that is to be seen, but the effort is well worth while. We wish every success with their entry into Britain in Bloom.
Cranbrook, Crawley and Farnham, are the others in the competition.
The winner will be announced at the Britain in Bloom (South & South East) awards on 8 October.

125th ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION

Thanks to Sandra and Alan we were able to celebrate the 125th Anniversary of LODHS in the lovely setting of the home in Rockfield Road. To make things even better the sun shone, and the "light " lunch was very tasty. Here is the setting and a couple of pictures of the garden. Thank you to all those who helped to make the day a success and not least those who were able to join us.

PIMM'S NIGHT JULY 2014

As has been our practice for a number of years our last monthly meeting of the summer includes a glass (or two) of Pimm's plus strawberries and ice cream. Delicious!
We were also entertained by Sylvia, who gave a demonstration of "how to exhibit at shows". A most enlightening, and a timely reminder to get ready for our show in September. Sylvia is seen here assisted by Linda plus a table full of vegetables and plants of all shapes and sizes.

New for this year is our Sweet Pea challenge. Rick and Linda were the joint winners with Julie a worthy third.

Hurst Green Summer Flower Show 2014

Wednesday 11 June was the date for the Summer Evening Flower Show at St Agatha's Hall staged by the Hurst Green Gardening Club in association with LODHS. What a happy occasion it proved to be with a good number of exhibits and a good size crowd to enjoy it all, refreshed by a glass (or two) of Pimm's. The show was judged by the inimitable Sylvia Pocock, and the best entry in show was awarded to Linda. Congratuations on her prize winning vegetable entry.
What a delightful and relaxing occasion.

The fruit and veg entries. Linda's winner is on the left

VISIT TO STANDEN

We were fortunate in obtaining an invitation from James Masters for a private visit on Thursday 5 June to the garden at Standen, near East Grinstead. Despite his busy schedule we were given a first class tour and were able to see things at their very best. Here is a picture of some of the party that went along. Thank you James for making it possible.

Photo by Rick Meakin

JUNE 2014 MEETING

Roger Platts wowed the crowd with his tale of mounting his Chelsea Centenary entry in 2013. Apart from anything else an incredible lesson in logistics to get everything built and set up in time for the opening. Roger also takes pride in the fact he does not use any particular mechanical aids except to lift pallets off the lorries. Will he do it all again? Well never say never.
He brought along a tremendous selection of plants from his nursery near Edenbridge. Just look at one of the monsters.

  

 Below is the winning entry from Roy Eaton to our Monthly Competition.  A delightful collection of aquilegas.

ROGER PLATTS WEDNESDAY 4 JUNE

ROGER
PLATTS

To mark the centenary of The Chelsea Flower Show, Roger created a garden for M&G in 2013 called ‘Windows through time’.
We are delighted to welcome him back to speak to us about exhibiting at Chelsea and the Centenary garden.
So make a note of Wednesday
4 June to come and hear him.
If you are not a member a very limited number of tickets are available. Please call/text 07913016687 for further details.

PLANT SALE 2014

Our Plant Sale took place on a rather wet and uninviting Saturday morning in the middle of May. The top photo shows the what goes on setting up the hall, and the lower the action when the buyers are let in. Lots of first class plants to choose, most of which are not offered by supermarkets. All the proceeds support our activities throughout the year, and the plants are donated by members.

Hops and Hop Pickers

At the beginning of May our speaker was Chis Stewart, whose subject was Hops and Hop Pickers in the county of Kent. This was a combinations of general and social history, horticulture, beer and not not to mention a drop of economics. What a deluge of information to take in to what was a very large industry that has all but disappeared in the country.
It seems that that largest hop growers in Europe is Germany.

Daffodil Champ 2014

Back at the end of 2014 when we had our AGM members were offered "Carlton" daffodils to grow, and to bring them back to a spring meeting to let the remaining membership chose  the entry  they thought to be the best. Here is our winner Margaret seen at the April Meeting with her prize winning entry.

FUCHSIAS PT 2

Here we see Carol Gubler presenting her talk at our April Meeting. A quick fire fact filled hour or so without slides, but with actual potted examples of fuchsias. Another of our speakers with unbounded enthusiasm for their chosen topic.

Your Fuchsia is here......

Come and join us on Wednesday 2 April at 8pm in the Red Cross Hall, Oxted for our monthly meeting. The guest speaker is Carol Gubler who will be talking about fuchsias through the season.
Carol has written a step by step guide to fuchsia growing, and will, without doubt, inspire us to grow some this year
In addition members will be bringing their "Carlton" daffodils, and those present at the meeting will be judging which they think is best.

Eyes to the Right!

You may want to take a look at a couple of additions to the is site. We have a new page for the LIMPSFIELD COMMUNITY ORCHARD, with their latest Newsletter, and a link for THE TWEET OF THE DAY. This link is to the BBC website giving access to all their broadcast Tweets of the Day. You can just listen to them or download them to your own computer.
Just give a couple of click on these links which you will find just to the right of this note.