Gardening enthusiasts celebrate 20 years

2:00pm Tuesday 19th August 2008

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A SOCIETY of green-fingered flower enthusiasts celebrate 20 years since humble beginnings as a small gathering that flourished into a group of 200 members.

The Severnside branch of the Cottage Garden Society is in its 20th year after three ladies from Uley started the group of local garden enthusiasts.

Today the society has over 200 members from all over the area, as far as Tewkesbury to Iron Acton to Malmesbury.

Kathy and Maurice Bullen have been members of the Severnside Cottage Garden Society for over 18 years and love to get ideas for their own garden by looking round other member’s gardens.

"We like everything about the society, especially the holidays and trips out," said Maurice, of South Street, Uley.

"We always have very informative meetings with interesting speakers and everyone shares an interest in gardening."

In its early years the group met in member’s houses, before moving to the café at Highfield Nurseries, in Whitminster. When it outgrew the café the society transferred to Whitminster village hall for monthly meetings.

The aim of the society is to encourage members to preserve gardens, and with this in mind talks are arranged on diverse gardening topics from pruning and potting to compost and cuttings.

Sue Strain, one of the founding members of the Severnside group, said: "We really started to get popular when Geoff Hamilton did an episode on cottage gardens for Gardners World on the BBC.

"Since then it has grown in popularity. The society is really good value for money at £2.50 for the year and in that members get excellent speakers at meetings and trips out."

Sue added: "Everyone is very friendly and not at all competitive like a gardening club.

"We have some very talented members who have beautiful gardens and we love to go and look at members gardens to pick up ideas."

The Severnside Cottage Garden Society meets on the last Wednesday of the month from September, at Whitminster Village Hall, at 7.30pm.