SEASONED gardener and chairman Pete Chamberlain kicked on our annual programme with a fascinating talk and demonstration of old gardening tools on 4 February. He had brought with him an impressive selection of implements inviting the audience to name them and their purpose with mixed (and sometimes hilarious) results. Amongst the tools were traditional Dutch hoes, clay forks, daisy grubbers, muck rakes, swoes, seed drills, as well as some amateur gardening magazines from the 1940s and 50s.

On 4 March, the Club is venturing out to Church Lench Village Hall (7.30pm) where Bob Brown will be helping us to plan for a glorious summer display with his talk on Brightening up the Garden in August which promises to be very interesting. A lift is available at 7pm from Bishampton Villages Hall.

This year’s programme is packed with a variety of talks and visits including the Club’s annual trip to Biddulph Gardens in Staffordshire on Sunday July 19. The garden is a Victorian masterpiece created by James Bateman.

The icing on the cake at the end of the year will see hearthrob gardener Chris Beardshaw talking about ‘The English Garden’, on Wednesday, November 4 at the Villages Hall in Broad Lane. Tickets are expected to be a sell-out very quickly once tickets become available in the Spring.

Chris, who was born and brought up in Worcestershire and now lives in the Cotswolds, is now a well-known plantsman, TV presenter, author, and designer, and has won an astonishing 30 RHS medals during his career.

He studied at Pershore College and became their youngest lecturer in Horticulture, Garden Design and Garden History in the 1990s. He went on to study design and from there developed his career in broadcasting featuring on BBC programmes including The Great British Garden Revival, British Gardens in Time, Deep Down and Dirty and Gardener’s Question Time.

Chris previously visited Bishampton in 2008 and the event was an overwhelming success. Tickets for the talk will be £15 for non-members and £10 for members. Expressions of interest can be sent to info@bishamptongardeningclub.org.uk

Printed copies of the annual programme are available from the Village Shop, from members of the Committee, emailing info@bishamptongardeningclub.org.uk or by downloading a copy from the website at www.bishamptongardeningclub.org.uk

LESLEY MILLER