Savill Garden,
Wick Lane,
Englefield Green,
Egham,
Surrey

The society is very grateful to the management team at Windsor Great Park for hosting the thirty sixth Annual General Meeting of the BHHS at their beautiful Savill Garden on a very hot Sunday, the 1st of July.

The Savill Garden is laid out in 35 acres of interconnected gardens. It forms part of Windsor Great Park which also includes the Long Walk, Deer Park,Swinley Forest, and Valley Gardens, as well as Virginia Water. 

The AGM was held in a marquee in the Lawns area of the Garden. To get there we had to go through the very impressive Visitor Center with its undulating oak roof constructed from sustainable timber sources from within Windsor Great Park and shaped to look like a rippling leaf. We put on a display of plants with information about the society in the Center for the benefit of the general public.

Following the usual society business and the various reports given by the members of the committee (details of which can be found in the minutes), three awards were presented this year by our Chairman Jonathan Hogarth as follows :
The Eric Smith Award to Jim Allnutt for his efforts in maintaining the BHHS Facebook page
The Grenfell -Grounds Award to Andrew Whittle for maintaing & upgrading the BHHS website
The Peter Fernyhough Award to Robert Prigmore for his work in promoting the BHHS at various plant shows across the country.

The meeting ended with the popular annual auction of plants kindly donated by the members. With Stephen Baker, the well-established first-choice auctioneer unable to attend this year's AGM, Andrew Whittle was drafted in as a replacement. Although we couldn't quite match last year's total, the proceeds were gratefully received by the society.

For those members who hadn't succumbed to the blistering afternoon heat, Harvey Stephens, the Deputy Keeper of the the Gardens, had very kindly arranged to lead a guided tour of the garden to coclude the day's events.

 

RHS Harlow Carr
Cragg Lane
Harrogate
North Yorkshire

The 2017 AGM was held at 10.30 am on Sunday the 7th May in the Bramall Learning Centre at RHS Harlow Carr. It was a great venue and we were all made to feel very welcome, so our thanks go to Harlow Carr and the RHS.
The AGM was preceded on the Saturday by a Hosta leaf show, a display of hostas and a display of the contents of the Society's Hosta Library, all of which were open to the public. Plants were also for sale . The attendance from the general public on both days was good, the displays were very much appreciated and a lot of plants were sold.
The visitors were asked to vote for their favourite cut leaf. H.'Dinner Jacket' was the victor. An informal poll of the display plants produced an overwhelming vote for H.'War Paint'.
Photographs of the event are shown below - click on the image to enlarge it. Thanks to Marjorie Sturman for providing these.

Of the 6 awards the BHHS makes each year at the AGM, only 5 were awarded this year as, unfortunately, there were no nominations for the Newbold Hemerocallis award. Of these 5 awards that the committee made, only John Baker was able to attend the meeting to receive his.
Details of the awards are as follows :
Peter Fernyhough Award to Paul Harris of Brookfield Plants (for successful show work).
Dick Kitchingman Award to Jan and Andy Wyers for their work in maintaining the Hemerocallis Library, Jan for taking charge of the DelightfulDaylilies robin and for checking and correcting daylily photos and IDs on the new website.
Eric Smith Rosebowl to Jim Allnutt for overseeing and maintaining the Society's Facebook page.
Newbold Hosta Vase to Mark Roberts of Stafford Lake Nursery for Hosta 'Niki Mouse'.
Grenfell-Grounds Trophy to June Colley and John Baker for their outstanding contribution to the Society, including the production of the Bulletin over the last 9 years.

June Colley and John Baker were also presented with Certificates of Appreciation from the American Hosta Society.
The traditional annual plant auction followed, with Stephen Baker once again taking the role of auctioneer. We raised more from the sale of plants at the Cut Leaf Show and the auction than we've rasied at any previous AGM.

To view the Minutes for the 2017 AGM click here
To view a list of the Committee Members for 2017-2018 click here