Who We Are
There have been horticultural groups and shows in Rodmell since the mid 19th century. Leonard Woolf was Chairman of the first modern version of the Society, which later became “Rodmell Horticultural and Allotment Society” on 13 November 1940. The first Rodmell “Flower and Vegetable Show” was held on Saturday 24 August 1946. Judith Bradbury has researched some of the Society’s history below.
Now we are Rodmell Horticultural Society (RHS), and we usually hold two shows each year – a Spring Show and a Summer Show – as well as the AGM with a guest speaker, and a Seedling Sale. We are sometimes able to organise subsidised group visits for “RHS” members to local gardens. Membership of our horticultural society also provides discounts at Paradise Park in Garden Centre in Newhaven.
The Spring Show will be held in the Village Hall on 6th April 2.30 – 4.30pm. Admission £1
The Summer Show will take place on the Sports Field on 17th August 2pm – 4.30pm. Admission £2 per adult; children free of charge.
Both shows are run by the Horticultural Society. All Rodmell households will receive a leaflet approximately two weeks before each show, setting out the categories for exhibits of flowers, vegetables, food items, and arts & crafts, including photography.
If you don’t want to exhibit anything, that’s fine. Just come along and enjoy the fun.
Volunteers are always needed in the run up to the shows, and during the shows. If you want to join in helping to set up and run the shows,
please contact Jill Goldman jill.goldman1041@gmail.com
RHS Committee
Chair Jill Goldman
Treasurer Madeleine Harvey
Membership Secretary Roger Ford
Show Secretary Ali Grace
Committee members Richard Sellick, Candy Thomas,
Sandra Webb, Caroline Archer, Ali Ghanimi and John Harvey.
Joint Organisers of Summer Show Field Events
Candy Thomas, Sandra Webb
Rodmell Horticultural Society is always keen to recruit new committee members and welcomes enquiries. In particular, we are seeking a new volunteer Treasurer. The duties are not too onerous!
We always need more Committee members for our “RHS” – you don’t need to be an expert gardener, just willing to help organise our village shows and other “RHS” events. If you’d like to help us to keep our shows going every year, please contact any of the Committee members.
Please contact Jill Goldman if you are interested, or if you have any questions. jill.goldman1041@gmail.com
The 2024 AGM of the Horticultural Society was held on Wednesday March 6th at 7.30 pm in the Village Hall, followed by a talk at 8pm on ‘Gardening for Biodiversity’ by Suzi Turner, Deputy Head Gardener at Knepp Estate in West Sussex.
26 people were present and welcomed by the
Chair, Jill Goldman.
Minutes of the AGM in February 2023
were taken as read and agreed by show of hands.
Chair’s report. Jill Goldman gave the following report. “I am delighted to say,
that in the past year we have hosted two successful events as well as an
informative talk by Zara Luxford at last year’s AGM on her work at Nymans. Our Spring show
was on 1st April. We had a few more entries than last year, which was
very pleasing. For a change, due to a cold snap in February, the weather was in
our favour, so we had many more yellow narcissi than for a number of years,
leading to a very colourful and happy show. Our Summer show was on 19th
August, and we had live music, a dog show, food and drink for sale and a number
of side-shows and field events. The search for volunteers began in April and
the planning begins in earnest in June. Show schedules are designed and
delivered to households at the beginning of August. Before the event volunteers
collect books and tombola items from villagers and a small army of helpers put
up the marquees, gazebos, bunting, tea tent, dog show netting, tables and
chairs brought down from the village hall, all under the supervision of Richard
Sellick. On the morning of the big day, the Show Secretary and her team are in
place by 8.30am. Exhibitors enter their precious specimens before the 10am
deadline when judging commences. Throughout the morning, cakes for sale appear,
tea urns are filled, books arrive for their stall, the coconut shy takes shape,
as do the welly-wanging, the lucky dip, tombola, and all other games and side
shows. Finally, straw bales appear, courtesy of the Wetterns for people to sit
on. Then at 1.30pm the car park attendants are ready; those on the gate are in
place; this time with a card reader for those without cash and stall holders
are in position. At 2pm the public start to arrive, as does the Patcham Silver
Band and our compere, Paul Mellor kicks off proceedings. This year the sun
shone, Pimm’s flowed, tea and cakes were enjoyed, prizes were won, music
applauded, dogs paraded, burgers consumed and finally, at 4pm cups and plates
were awarded to successful exhibitors. A great success! But now everything is
done in reverse. The marquees and gazebos are emptied; the tables and chairs
stacked up, tea urns and kettles turned off and stored and organisers and
helpers slowly make their way home. The following day the gazebos and marquees
are dismantled, and all the equipment is returned to storage or the village
hall. Of course, none of this would happen without our very hard working
committee, so I will end by thanking all of them; namely Madeleine Harvey, our
long standing Treasurer, Ali Grace, Show Secretary, Roger Ford, Membership
secretary, Caroline Archer, designer of our schedules or leaflets, Richard
Sellick, long standing, and crucial all-round fixer, Candy Thomas and Sandra
Webb, organisers of field events and volunteer stall holders, John Harvey, car
park supervisor and chief leafleteer, Ali Ghanimi tea supervisor, Jane Finch
and Tom Woodbridge. Thank you all.
Treasurer’s report. Madeleine Harvey presented the accounts for
the period 1st January 2023 to 31st December 2023. The
year opened with £3,306 and closed with £3,994 giving a surplus of £688 over
the year. During 2023, the Horticultural Society organised two events. The
first was the delightful Spring Show in March which gave a surplus of £258. The
second event was the Summer Show in August, which was a great success and very
well attended. We trialled the optional use of contactless payments. This
proved to be very useful for members of the public who do not normally carry
cash. We raised a surplus of £2,302 from the Summer Show. Additional income
during the year was from membership fees and from donations for the use of the
society’s equipment. On the expenses side, the society paid £35 in affiliation
fees to the Royal Horticultural Society together with public liability
insurance of £100 to provide cover for our events. Miscellaneous expenditure of £105 was for
another card reader, for stocks of show cards and for new fencing for the dog
show. At the end of the year, the committee decided how to spend some of the
surplus funds. A new tea tent was purchased to replace the old one that was
showing its age together with another gazebo, a total of £1,109. Donations of
£500 were made to Rodmell Good Neighbour Scheme and to Rodmell Village Hall.
The adoption of the accounts was proposed by the treasurer, seconded by Chris
Wettern and passed by show of hands.
The membership
secretary
thanked everyone who had paid their membership tonight and he explained how
important this was to keep the Society afloat. There are discounts available at
Paradise Park and Royal Horticultural Society Gardens for members.
Next AGM to be
held in February/March 2025
Committee for 2024 Jill Goldman
(Chair), (Treasurer TBA), Alison Grace (Show Secretary), Roger Ford (membership
secretary), Richard Sellick, Caroline Archer, John Harvey, Madeleine Harvey,
Candy Thomas, Sandra Webb, Jane Finch, Ali Ghanimi. Not confirmed Tom
Woodbridge.
The AGM was
followed by a fascinating talk ‘Gardening for Biodiversity’ from Suzi
Turner, Deputy Head Gardener at the Knepp Estate. She described the ethos
behind the Knepp project and the ongoing development of the bio-diverse garden
next to the castle. Her talk was illustrated with excellent photographs of the rapid
changes in the estate.
Special Offers for RHS Members at Paradise Park
Paid up members of Rodmell Horticultural Society (RHS) are entitled to a Loyalty Card at Tate’s Garden Centre, Paradise Park, Newhaven, which earns them £1 for every £10 spent.
If you haven’t picked up your Loyalty Card you can collect one from the Paradise Park Information Centre on production of your Rodmell Horticultural Society (RHS) membership card.
History of the RHS – Judith Bradbury writes:
Whilst researching the ‘Rodmell Remembers’ project I trawled the British Newspaper Archive. In reading the documents thrown up by searches on Rodmell I came across quite a few references to annual Rodmell Flower Shows. It is often stated that our Horticultural Society was founded by Leonard Woolf in World War II to encourage allotment growing. In fact it would appear our origins go back much further than that but that Leonard Woolf was instrumental in resurrecting the organisation. On reflection this seemed obvious to me ….it seemed inconceivable that such a rural village did not have such activities going back to at least Victorian times. The information I have extracted is of course limited to what is available on the archive online. So whilst I can now trace our origins back to an article in 1856, it may well be fairs were held in Rodmell much earlier than that although they may have been of a more agricultural nature.
Here are some extracts that seemed of interest to me:-
The Sussex Advertiser and Surrey Gazette 29th July 1859: ‘Horticultural Show and Fancy Fair’
This show is reported to be Rodmell’s inaugural show and was a plan originated by the Reverend P de Putron with his efforts seconded by the gentry and agriculturists of the neighbourhood. The article explains it came about to inaugurate Rodmell’s parochial school. The fancy fair element was in aid of funds for the school. Tea was served on Mr Saxby’s meadow where a booth had been erected. Amusements included a greasy pole, jumping in sacks, jingling matches* and leaping. Mr Saxby exhibited some novel plants including specimens of netted cantelope (sic), the custard plant and ‘a remarkable specimen of cucumber’. The event concluded with a merry dance and dispersed after everyone joined in the National Anthem.
The Sussex Advertiser and Weald of Kent Chronicle 30th July 1864: Rodmell Floral and Horticultural Show
This is such an interesting article it seemed worth printing most of it out ….
‘On Thursday last the little village of Rodmell presented quite a gay and animated appearance. Flags waved in all directions, all the villagers who were able to do so came out in their holiday attire, and for some time in the afternoon there was a constant rattle of carriages over the hard roads, each with its complement of visitors from Lewes, Brighton, Newhaven and Eastbourne, while many others wended their way thither on foot. The occasion for all this unwanted bustle was one which deserves our best attention and support. Five years ago, as an incentive to the cottagers in Rodmell to take more interest in garden operations than they had hitherto done, several gentlemen of the locality formed themselves into a society, and offered a number of prizes for the best cultivated gardens and the finest show of fruit and vegetables grown therein by the cottagers. The experiment succeeded, a show of fruit and vegetables was produced which the promoters of the undertaking were not ashamed for the public to see and criticise, and, while the public were invited to attend, the day was set apart as one of general holiday in the village. The school children had their treat, while for the rustics, congenial amusements were provided. The fifth show of flowers, fruit and vegetables took place on Thursday and although the entries were not large, there was a slight improvement upon the previous show. In a field near the centre of the village, a long tent had been erected and decorated with considerable taste; on either side were the following mottoes:-
‘God Save The Queen’ the letters formed of moss, enclosed by a framework composed of the young shoots of fir trees;
‘Preserve and Prosper’ in leaves of prickly holly;
‘Pray and Labour’ also in moss
‘Sow and Reap’ in ivy leaves, with an edging of the same.
Along the sides were ranged tables covered with flowers, fruit and vegetables; the majority of the first named being fuchsias and geraniums, and baskets of cut flowers and tastefully arranged wild flowers; the show of fruit was not large, and the principal portion consisted of gooseberries of different descriptions; the vegetables forming the chief portion of the show and the show of potatoes were very good. Mr James Woollard, a nurseryman of Cooksbridge, also exhibited a collection of cut roses and other flowers. The judges were Messrs Woollard, Wheatley and Carr who were assisted by the Secretary Mr J Burne and the Treasurer the Rev P de Putron made their awards early in the day, and the show was opened to the public at 1 o’clock. The Lewes Military and Town Band was in attendance and discoursed sweet music at intervals during the afternoon. The ‘Magic Post Office’* in which a bevy of fair ladies officiated in the delivery and receipt of letters was much patronised, and afforded endless amusement, besides adding a good round sum to the funds. Under the active superintendence of Mr Edward Burne, running matches for adults, boys and girls, were engaged in, the winners being presented with some useful articles as a prize. There was also a jingling match, and jumping and other sports to keep the company alive. About 4 o’clock in the afternoon, the children of the Church Sunday School, to the number of about 100, had tea, picnic fashion, seated in a circle on the grass after which prizes of books, microscopes and useful articles, for regular attendance and good conduct, were distributed amongst them. Visitors had an opportunity of inspecting the Parish Church and in the school room adjoining there was an exhibition of works of art, including some fine photographs, articles of vertu, and dried specimens of plants and herbs, free of charge and well repaid the short walk from the flower show. The cottagers prizes were distributed by the Rev de Putron, at half past six, at the entrance to the tent, and consisted of sets of plates, knives and forks, saucepans, tea trays, candlesticks, teapots, bellows and useful culinary articles. The following is a list of successful competitors’……etc
Sussex Advertiser and Surrey Gazette 25th July 1865
A report of the sixth annual show, which included a cricket match. The Abergavenny Arms ( Landlord Mr Baker ) provided the refreshments.
It is probable at some stage the tradition of the show was allowed to lapse but the activity is resumed in 1905 and seems to run up to the start of the first World War.
Sussex Express, Surrey Standard and Kent Mail 28th October 1905: ‘Rodmell: Proposed Flower Show’
A meeting was held to consider the advisability of forming one big show, to be called the Brookside Flower Show and to take in the villages of Kingston, Iford, Rodmell, Southease, Piddinghoe and Telscombe, in place of the show at present held at Iford. The Marquess of Abergavenny was written to asking him to accept the presidency. Vice Presidents were Messrs Aubrey Hillman, J Stacey Snr, J Stacey Jnr, J C Robinson, A Gorham, E Runtz, J Hobson and F Baker. The Treasurer was H R Bishop and Secretary J Hobson Jnr. It was proposed the rest of the committee be formed from 1 member for each village.
Sussex Express, Surrey Standard and Kent Mail 7th September 1907
‘Brookside Horticultural Show opened by Lady Aubrey-Fletcher at Rodmell’
Entries numbered about 500, nearly 200 more than last year. The Marquess of Abergavenny was the president of the show and vice presidents included Sir Henry Aubrey-Fletcher, The Rev J B Hawkesford, Mr F Baker, Mr C S Beard, Mr T Colgate, Mr W G A Edwards, Mr C Goring, Mr A Gorham, Mr J Hobson, Mr A T Kenward, Mr E Runtz, Mr J Stacey Snr and Mr J Stacey Jnr. Held at Rodmell in Mr J Stacey Jnr’s barn. The judges had to visit 67 gardens, to do which they had to cover 30 miles, and each garden was inspected 3 times. There were several non-competitive exhibits including a magnificent anchor composed of choice flowers. The show was opened by Lady Aubrey-Fletcher – Sir Henry had travelled all the way from Wales in order to be present.
Sussex Express , Surrey Standard and Kent Mail. Sat 12th September 1908: Brookside Flower Show
The 3rd annual exhibition was held in a barn belonging to Mr J Stacey Jnr at Rodmell. The number of entries is reported at 616, an increase of 60/70 on the previous year.
Sussex Express, Surrey Standard and Kent Mail September 10th 1909
The Show was held in a barn at Rodmell lent by Mr J Stacey Jnr – the lofty building was prettily decorated by flags. There was keen competition in the runner beans. A hive of working bees was exhibited.
In 1910 the show was held in Mr J C Robinson’s stock yard at Iford.
Sussex Express, Surrey Standard and Kent Mail, 6th September 1912: Brookside Horticultural and Industrial Show
Mr J C Robinson’s barn at Iford presented an unusually attractive appearance on Wednesday, the occasion being the seventh annual Brookside Horticultural and Industrial Show (Industrial in this context appears to mean home industry, i.e. jams , pickles etc).
There are some minor reports of shows in the 1920s, the report of 16th September 1927 reporting a decline of interest. There are no reports for the 1930s.
On 16th September 1942 it is reported there was good attendance when Rodmell Horticultural Society held its first public meeting at the Village Hall.
*Notes:
Jingling Matches: …this is an old English game in which blindfolded players try to catch one not blindfolded player who keeps jingling a bell.
*Magic Post Office? I haven’t been able to discover what this means.
It is interesting – and heartening – to read of so much continuity between then and now – bands, tents, teas, greasy poles, races, dances etc, are all quite likely to feature in our modern Summer Shows. I was also surprised that a display of fine photographs are an early feature of the shows.
