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IMPORTANT DATES FOR 2014 Spring Show 6th April Summer Show 29th June Autumn Show 7th September

Keep watching the web site for other major dates i.e. Coach trips / Plant sale etc. www.rayleighhorticultural society.com

Please note memberships are due for renewal from the 1st of January, this can be done at the store or by post on the form on page 2, and the committee would like to thank you for prompt renewal also to wish you a Happy New Year.

Children's Potato Challenge THE SUMMER SHOW Sunday 29th June 2014 POTATO COMPETITION FOR ALL AGES UP TO 13 YEARS Sponsored by Viv Irvine 1st PRIZE £5.00 2nd PRIZE £3.00 3rd PRIZE £2.00

In January come along to the Trading Store and ask for the special Children's Competition Seed Potato,

pot and growing instructions.

PLUS Collect your free SUNFLOWER seeds for

the autumn show challenge.

Sponsored by Jean Cornell

Seed sponsored by Gt. Wakering Tree

Management

Look in the year book under children’s

classes in all 3 shows and try entering something new

from the chairman

Hi all. A very happy new year to everyone, and I hope that all your gardens and

allotments are not too flooded out. It looks like 2014 will be another late start on the allotment like 2013. Starting to dig your plot in these wet conditions now will do more harm than good, so we will have to wait until the soil is a lot drier, which could be a while yet! Now is the time to renew your subscription if you haven't already done so, either at the store, by post to the membership secretary, or at next Club Night, which is on Tuesday, January 28th, and I look forward to seeing you there. You can then obtain your yearbook and start planning what classes you are going to enter in this year's shows. You will notice that there's something slightly different this year with the Children's Classes in that there are instruction leaflets to go with Class 107 "Plate House" (Spring Show), Class 175 "Mosaic Coaster" (Autumn Show) and Class 176 "Halloween Mask" (Autumn Show), (as well as the usual "Potato Challenge" one) and all of these leaflets are available at the store now. Another new thing for 2014 is Class 112 "Easter Basket" (Spring Show) in the Floral Arrangement category. If you have always fancied "having a go" at floral arranging – then now is your chance – as this class is for novices only, and once again, instruction leaflets and also the "oasis" blocks of floral foam are available at the store now. Well, lots of new things, I hope, to inspire the younger ones especially, and I also hope it helps make 2014 a bumper year.

Colin Andrews

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Editors: Janet & Colin Andrews, 339 Eastwood Road, Rayleigh, Essex, SS6 7LH email: peskypixie@supanet.com. Phone: 01702 529000

MEMBERSHIP RENEWAL FORM for 2014

Name……………………………………………………..

Address………………………………………………….

………..…………………………………………………...

Post Code………………………

Telephone number……………………………………..

Email……………………………………………………...

MEMBERSHIP FEE £5.00 Per household per annum.

Send this form with a cheque made payable to

“Rayleigh Horticultural Society” If you would like a copy of the Year Book then please enclose an

A4 stamped addressed envelope with £1.10p stamps on it.

To: The membership secretary, Rayleigh Horticultural Society,

Mr. & Mrs. C. Andrews, 339 Eastwood Road, Rayleigh, Essex, SS6 7LH

Everybody welcome — Members £1.50—Visitors £2.50 January 28th Harry Brickwood “Lillies”

Harry’s garden has been featured on T/V’s “Gardeners World” and in several gardening magazines namely, “Garden Answers”, The English Garden” and “Garden News” .A few years ago Harry was part of a team that won a gold medal at Chelsea. Recently he was the Chairman of “Gardener’s Question Time” which was on Southend Radio (this was the same format as the BBC radio programme)

February 25th Julia Tetley “Weeds or Wild Flowers” Julia has lived in the Southend area all her life and went to Westcliff High School for Girls. She did a part time course on garden design at Writtle College which inspired her to take part in a television competition on garden design for which she was runner-up.

March 25th AGM & Jean Cunningham “Aloe Vera” The benefits of the Aloe Vera plant are said to be many and Jean will be sharing her knowledge about the plant and its history. She will also be explaining its use in many daily products and will be bringing examples and samples for members to try.

Banksian Medal Geoff Blower 124.5 Mike Jollands 105 Norman Holland 55.5 Denise Barlow 55 Tony Rogers 49 Society Challenge Cup Geoff Blower 128.5 Mike Jollands 115.5 Keith Price 104 Phil Baxter 79 Val Watson 63 Rayflower Cup Norman Holland 12 Robin Alabaster 11 Peter Pope 9 Celia Rogers 8 Val Watson 8 Jane Boore 7 Howard Cup Geoff Blower 76.5 Keith Price 68 Phil Baxter 53 Rod Watson 20.5 Tony Rogers 16 Anfilogoff Cup Rod Watson 18 Tony Rogers 11 Geoff Blower 10 Mike Jollands 8 E P Rand not awarded Britten Cup John Sharp 33 Jack Clarke 24 Michael Figg 16 Paul Leaford 10 Floral Cup Denise Barlow 28 Dave Golding 14 Norman Holland 14 Jane Boore 10.5 Barbara Oliver 10 Keith Price 10 F A Enders Cup Carole Noble 59 Jean Robinson 50.5 Val Watson 15

A Fox Cup Val Watson 25 Rosemary Wheeler 20 Sweet Pea Bowl Peter Hayday 28 E H Travers Shield Gavan Dixon 18 Mike Jollands 10.5 W L Raw Cup Mike Jollands 44 Jane Boore 20 David Spencer 20 Phil Baxter 18 Geoff Blower 13 Keith Price 13 Rayleigh Whopper Veg Cup Wallace Garnell 33 Keith Price 9 Fowler Cup Sheena Booth 21 Valerie Mitchell 15 Ian Crawford 12 Jane Mitchell 11.5 Ron McEwen 9.5 Janet Andrews 9 Corrine Scott 8 Joyce Winship Shield Geoff Blower 13 Gabrielle Crawford 10 Peter Pope 6 Denise Barlow 5 W Gale Ladies Trophy Denise Barlow 55 Jane Boore 37.5 Val Watson 23 Barbara Oliver 21.5 Audrey Slemmonds 19.5 Gabrielle Crawford 19 Children’s Cup Holly Watson 21 Jessica Dean 17 Abby St Ledger 13 Novice Cup Heather Butcher 34 Jane Lydford 14.5 Philip Blower 8 Foley Rose Bowl Mike Jollands 32 Denise Barlow 16 Norman Holland 8 Tony Oliver 7

Rayleigh Horticultural Society Cups - Winners and Runners up - points 2013 ‘takes your fancy’

Here we are again with the 1st newsletter of the New Year. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who attended our shows in 2013 and supported the Society in various ways. Grateful thanks are extended to you ALL. Do take a look at your new Year Book - you will see there are some different classes which have been included. Our Spring show is on 6th April so now is the time to start thinking about what you could grow to enter. Go through your books and highlight anything that takes your fancy - preparation is the key to success! Peter Noble, Show Manager

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‘tobacco, sugar & rum’ Some of the pictures shown at October's Club Night were of the 'I wish' variety - although some were definitely not! The talk was on Cuba, somewhere most of us had heard of but didn't know much about. The picture showed an island with beautiful natural scenery, many impressive public buildings, but also much poverty. They do have an excellent education system and heath service, but with the average pay of £30 per month the living standard can be imagined. The economy is dependent on tobacco, sugar and rum, and presumably tourism as well as the island is only 30 miles from Florida and the same distance from Mexico. The speaker had visited the island with an organised tour, and from the pictures I should think it wouldn't be sensible to try and 'do it yourself'. Interesting, though.

Report by page 3 reporter Pat Hill

ALL GARDEN MAINTENANCE

including weeding,

grass cutting, and edging, pruning, hedge cutting,

planting, turfing, fence and decking,

preservation & painting

R.H.S. Qualified at Writtle College

Christopher Ray 01268 742 290 or 07428 376 155

"Rayleigh and all surrounding areas"

Green Gardens

OPENING HOURS AT THE STORE JANUARY

Tues, Thurs, Sat 10.00am - 12.30 pm Sunday 10.00 am - 12.00 noon

FEBRUARY till OCTOBER

Tues, Wed, Thurs, Fri, Sat 10.00am - 12.30 pm Sun 10.00 am - 12.00 noon

Late Night opening dates to be announced

1st Coach Trip of 2014

WISLEY

Sunday 18th May Tickets £12 .Coach only

Tickets available from - The Store - Club Nights - or Ann Baughen 01702 527456

The Rayleigh Horticultural Society 2013 award winners (Thank you for the great shows, ed)

Photo by Tony Oliver,

STOP PRESS All your usual seed potatoes

are now in stock Don’t forget the new range of Darlac tools

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A very happy new year to you all and I do hope you have all had a restful Christmas So, now we can start again making arrangements for the new growing season, and to start you all off I would like to let you know about the beautiful Roses we have in store, these have been especially selected for their Colour, Fragrance and Vigour. They will make good specimens just as fragrant cut flowers, or with some TLC they will make good exhibits for our shows. The specimens we have are, Grandpa Dickson, Piccadilly, Champagne Moment, Margaret Merrill, Absolutely Fabulous, Deep Secret, Just Joey, Silver Jubilee, Cream Abundance,

Rhapsody in Blue, and still to come Arthur Bell. If you are not familiar with any of these, we have provided illustrations at the store. These are all being sold potted up in 4 Lt Pots @ £4.60 each. You can find these for sale at between £7.00 and £10.00 each at various other garden centres. A newcomer is the Belle Tunnel Frames, we are offering these as a set of five stout hoops that incorporate eyes to

locate canes for support together with three, eight foot canes and sufficient fleece to cover and anchor to make an eight foot tunnel that allows approx. 60cm growth all this for just £24.99. If however you fancy making something a little more substantial we still have plenty of the horticultural clear PVC that measures seven metres wide, so with two hoop sets you could create a twenty foot tunnel, you can of course use these to any configuration that you choose. We still have a selection of the Obelisks of different shapes and sizes for your Clematis plants or whatever you fancy training up them. We also have new flower seeds in stock. Don't forget our excellent range of DARLAC tools for creating a first class job on the hedge, lawn and all those pruning jobs that are about to present themselves. Also a newcomer is Calcium Nitrate this is now available in 1kg measures for your convenience in 2014. We hope we can make this a super growing year. I am here for any comments, question or suggestions and looking forward to hearing from you. Please note my phone No. in the year book is incorrect and should read 01268 952936 if I'm not home then you should be able to reach me on my mobile 07445 786524

All the best for now. Fred Bartlett E&OE

FREE OF CHARGE Pick up your FREE copy of

‘Country Gardening and Lifestyle’ magazine next time

you are in the store