We are very disappointed to have had to cancel our Autumn Show, scheduled for 5th September. We left the decision as late as possible in the hope that things might change or there might be a way of staging some kind of a limited event, but this has been impossible to organise in a way that would keep everyone safe and secure.
This is particularly sad because we know that so many people have been spending a lot of time on their gardens, allotments or even containers/window boxes, growing all sorts of things, both those that are edible and those that are beautiful – and of course some plants are both – whilst others have taken up the challenge for the first time.
Other people have had extra time to spend on their hobbies / craftwork or to take up a new pursuit, and while some of the products of these activities, such as woodworking, will still be okay to exhibit at next year's Show if wished, others of course have a shorter shelf life.
Since the lack of a Show this year means that it will not be possible for the fruits of all these labours to be shown in the usual way, we have decided to organise a virtual mini Show, so that everyone can still share what they have been doing.
The idea is for as many people as possible to send in photographs of their activities and/or achievements and we will then post these into a dedicated portfolio. They don't have to be things that you might have entered into the Show and it is definitely not intended to be a photographic competition, just a way for people to show others what they have been doing or just to cheer people up with photos of beautiful or interesting flowers, gardens in full bloom, etc.
If you have any photographs of past HHS outings that you would like to share please feel free to send those too, although as we don't want the site to become too busy there may not be space for all of them, depending on the overall response.
As we have been advised that it is best to assign one person to have control over the portfolio, all images should be emailed to me at gay.jordan@outlook.com and I will then upload everything. We are intending that the site should go live a couple of days before what would have been Show day, so please send me all contributions as soon as possible and in any case no later than 1st September.
Once the portfolio is complete, I will send out the link by email to those who have sent me things and it will also be shown via a post on the Haddenham Facebook page and on the Haddenham.net website; if you would like to discuss anything you can contact me by email or on 01844 291490.
To further try and fill the gap left by the cancellation of the Show and following the success of our event in April, we are organising another plant and produce exchange/free distribution on 5th September. As before, the outlets will be my house (13 Gibson Lane) and George and Jeanne Marshall's (98 Churchway). The event will start around 9.30am, but if you would like to drop any contributions round the day before to get things started this would be very welcome.
Once again, the idea is to spread around some plants and produce that are surplus to requirements, as we would have done at the Show. There will be no charge, but as last time we will put out a box in case anyone wants to make a donation on an entirely voluntary basis.
Both the above initiatives are open to everyone, not just HHS members, but if you would like to join the Society in order to take part in our member only activities, such as our seed order scheme which offers a huge selection of cut-price but high quality seeds and sundries giving considerable savings over online or mail order purchases, it only costs £4 per family membership per year; contact me (details as above) for an application form.
