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Do you enjoy gardening?
Cheam & Cuddington Horticultural Society (CCHS) was founded in 1893 and has maintained close ties with the local community during its long and prestigious history. The object of the Society is the promotion, advancement and enjoyment of horticulture and gardening.
The Society holds two shows a year, three informal evening meetings and an annual quiz as well as producing four annual newsletters and a schedule that defines the classes of entries for the summer and autumn shows.
It was agreed at the 2016 AGM that the subscription for 2017 will be £3.50 for individual members and £6.00 for joint membership.
Please click on the "About the Society" tab in the menu bar to read this article in full.
Deputy Mayor Joins125th Anniversary Autumn Show Celebration
Cheam & Cuddington Horticultural Society (CCHS) celebrated their 125th Anniversary on Saturday 8th September with the help of Sutton’s Deputy Mayor and Deputy Mayoress. The show took place at St Dunstan’s C of E Primary School in Cheam Village. It was a beautiful day with a steady stream of visitors. The chairman showed the Deputy Mayor and Deputy Mayoress around. Visitors, members, competitors, proud parents and excited, happy children combed the exhibits. Some checked to see if they had won, others compared the quality and variety of locally produced fruit, vegetables, plants, flowers as well as an impressive array of domestic classes. There was also a selection of historic gardening implements and horticultural medals on show. If you would like a reminder of the day, to see who won or what you missed, select the the photo gallery from the menu above.
CCHS's Cheam Park Flowerbed Marks 125th Anniversary Celebration
As part of the celebrations for the 125th Anniversary of our society in 2018, we approached Sutton Parks Department to secure permission to plant a flowerbed in Cheam Park. Several possible beds were discussed and the major difficulty was that many beds have perennials that cannot be disturbed or moved. We finally decided on a bed that is situated to the left of the newly refurbished building that will be used as a nursery. It has a low wooden fence at the back and borders the path. The ‘Friends of Cheam Park’ also met to give us their stamp of approval.
Before embarking on the planting we had to create a plan of planting that would allow the bed to look attractive throughout the year. Richard Bailey and I put our heads together over several cups of coffee and finalised a planting plan and an order for bulbs and perennials. The hard work began with the digging over the flower bed. It had large clumps of geraniums and an enormous rosemary bush that had to be removed. Ten full black bin bags later it was all gone! We had the help of Rob Baldock and his wife which made the task easier. The border had a strip of turf that butted up to the path which looked scruffy and was full of weeds. We decided to replace the grass with new strips of turf. The next time the four of us met we laid the new turf and finished digging over the bed.
We needed extra help for the planting phase and asked our club members for help. An extra four people met us on a Saturday morning and Richard organised us quickly planting daffodil Actaea, snowdrops, cyclamen, crocus and hyacinths. Sutton gave us two large bags of `Tete a Tete’ and `Golden Harvest’ daffodils which were distributed in clumps of thirty. In the centre of the bed we marked out a large ‘125’ using Ophiopogon Planescens `Nigrescens’ (black grass) and ¬Carex Hachijoenis Evergold’ (variegated grass).
Another planting session was agreed and we planted mixed Ixia and lily of the valley around the ‘125’ and perennials, alliums, leucojum aestivum, astrantia, eringium, `Dryopteris Filix-mas’ ferns and geraniums. At a later date we will plant some bedding for instant colour. We are currently negotiating a plaque which will stand at the front of the bed to explain to the public the reason for the bed being planted.
We will post more photos and information as the bed develops.
Margaret Fisher
Untangling our Long, Local History – Can You Help?
Cheam & Cuddington Horticultual Society has a long and prestigious history and has always maintained close ties with the local community. We are in the process of putting together as much information as possible about our history. Members old and new, and their families, have shared awards, trophies, photos, memories and memorabilia from the Society. We would certainly appreciate it if you or your family could help us.
We are just getting started, but below is some information and also a bit lifted from May’s newsletter (follow the link under “A Slice of Society History" or look on the back page of this month's newsletter). This contribution was written by Richard Bailey, who is editor of our newsletter, a member of our committee as well as the Royal Horticultural Society's Fruit, Vegetable and Herb Committee. Richard has also been a judge at the Chelsea Flower Show. However,although Richard starts his account in the mid-1970s, we have information and photos from well before that.
