Allotment Watch - New PCSO Contact

PCSO Julie Green is now our contact for Allotment Watch. If you are a victim of crime it is best to contact the police themselves on 0845-60-70-999 so that the call centre can give the incident a crime number and catalogue it. To some extent the number of incidents logged officially determines how much patrolling of the sites we get.

(29/08/2010)

Changes on the Committee

As you probably know already, Ken Willo relinquished his position as membership secretary some time ago now and stepped down from the committee.We should like to thank Ken for all the hard work he put in taking a pro-active approach to increasing our membership as well as organising trips to Wisley which were always a success. Our new membership secretary is Peter Foan whose details appear on our Membership page.
More recently Peter Webb has had to leave the committee and his postion as Association secretary becuase of pressure of work (we're not all retired, you know!). Peter has done a great job as secretary and we should like to thank him very much for the commitment and professionalism he brought to the role. We hope to have a new secretary before our AGM in November but in the meantime could you address all queries to our Chairman, Ian Dunster.

(17/08/2010)

Late Availability Wisley Trip Tickets

There ae 2 late availability Wisley trip tickets due to cancellation. Only £10 for coach and entry to Wisley this Saturday.
Ring Dennis Dixon NOW on 692440

More Thefts on West Tarring Allotments

We are sorry to report another outbreak of theft of produce at West Tarring allotment site. Several people have had their gooseberries taken and two people have had their tomatoes taken, 18 plants in all. All of this in the past week. Can we please emphasise to everyone the importance of locking the gates after arriving and when leaving. This ought to help keep unauthorised people out although we are well aware that there are a lot of keys out there which never got handed in when people gave up their plots. Unfortunately we also have to concede that some allotment holders are actually stealing from other people's plots. If you see anyone strange on a neighbouring allotment we realise that challenging them can bring its own problems but please at least report it to one of the overseers or someone you know on the committee.

(20/06/2010)

New Treasurer

Bob Bingham has become our new Honorary Treasurer follwing the retirement of our previous treasurer, Bob Chalcraft. On the other hand, Ken Willo has given up his post as Membership Secretary. We will seek to fill the post at our AGM if no none has stepped forward before then.

(08/06/2010)

Worthing Horticultural Society Spring Show

Les with wife President Jenny Cuer-Green in the background talking to BBC Radio personality Jean Griffin.

Saturday (20th March) was Worthing Horticultural Society's Spring Show in the Mehodist Church Hall at Offington Park, Broadwater. Spring is still on its way really this year but somehow exhibitors had put on a really good display. One of the Red Carders explained it was all made possible with polytunnels and heaters and moving things about to bring plants forward/hold them back (and a load of work). All worth it in the end and oh! the smell as you walked in the hall - delightful!

              

               

(20/03/10)

 

Vegetable Talk

Peter in full flow

A well attended Worthing Horticultural Society AGM on Monday evening (8th March) featured a talk by Peter Webb on Growing Vegetables for Showing. You would not believe the lengths these guys go to to attain that Red Card: washing potatoes in milk, dusting onions, artificial lighting, growing carrots in tall containers and potatoes in huge sacks, etc. It was very entertaining and useful too with tips on good varieties and cultivation techniques. And let's face it - nice vegetables are good to eat too and there was much for the ordinary vegetable grower to take on board in terms of sowing/planting times, crop protection and the like. The talk was supplemented by an excellent slide presentaion showing many of Peter's successful show entries and vegetables growing in situ.

(09/03/10)

 

Rotary Hobbies and Leisure Fair

Saturday (6th March) was the Hobbies and Leisure Fair in Worthing's Town Hall buildings at which we had a stall manned by 2 committee stalwarts, Pete and Ken, for most of the day. Here they are displaying their wares.

             

The messsage for the day was you don't have to have an allotment to be a member and enjoy the benefits that membership brings. It must have worked because none of those who joined on the day actually has an allotment but from now on they can use our shops, go on our trips, attend the dinner, etc..etc. To find out more details of the advantages of becoming a member go to our Membership page.

Show Schedule

Sowing is very much in mind now and if you want to know what to sow to have a chance of winning a prize in our September show have a look at the 2010 show schedule which is now available from our stores. For those of you who don't want to move from your chairs you can download it by clicking here.

Association Dinner

The Windsor House Hotel hosted the Association Dinner on Friday, 19th February. 70 diners enjoyed a 3-course dinner + coffee and biscuits for the princely sum of £20. The evening started with a lucky ticket draw won by Mrs Humphreys and ended with a 747 competition, the bar finally closing after 11.00pm. After dinner there was a closely contested quiz, the winning team sneaking home by a mere ½ point from 2 other teams. The prize was 40 packets of seeds to be divided by the 8 team members - Happy Sowing. This was followed by a raffle where the prizes were somewhat more substantial including bottles of alcoholic beverages such as Scotch Whisky and wine. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves thoroughly and thanks go to the Windsor House Hotel and the dinner organisers, Ken Willo and Jack Powis. For pictures of the event click here.

(21/02/10)

WHS Website Launch

Worthing Horticultural Society now has a website at http://www.worthinghorticulturalsociety.org.uk.

(19/02/10)

Seedy Sunday

Sunday, 7th February sees the country's biggest annual seed-swapping event at Hove town hall. As well as seeds there are talks and demonstrations and books and plants for sale. It costs £1.50 to get in and lasts from 10.00am until 4.30pm. For further details go to
www.seedysunday.org

(01/02/10)

Allotments lost in Hampshire

Eastleigh Borough Council has won outline planning permission to build 89 homes on an allotment site at Woodside Avenue, even though there is an allotment waiting list of 300. The council said: "The council has to balance between supporting allotments and providing good quality housing in sustainable locations like Woodside. The council has provided five new allotment sites with much improved facilities. By disposing of Woodside Avenue we will be able to improve facilities for the remaining 47 plots."
But the equivalent of 90 full-sized plots will be lost across the borough.
Tony Murrills of the Eastleigh and Bishopstoke Allotment Association admitted he was bitterly disappointed with the decision but said they would fight on. "We fought to try and save this site and two others in the town for the last seven years. This has been a very long and hard-fought campaign", he said.
Makes you wonder just how safe from developers allotments are, doesn't it?

(29/01/10)

The Dinner

I have been asked to advise any stragglers that most tickets for the Annual Association Dinner have now gone and the final date for bookings is the 23rd of this month (January!), the dinner itself on Friday 19th February. The venue and cost are the same as last year , £20 a head at the Windsor House Hotel. I think it's fair to say everyone had an excellent time last year which is probably why numbers are up this year. We have had to impose a cap of 72 so if you have not yet reserved click here for a booking form to send to Ken. All details of the dinner and the menu choices are on the form.

(09/01/10)

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