Headlines

SUMMER IS HERE!

Summer has arrived with a very warm spell of weather and the evidence is clear to see. The image shown here, taken by Committee Member Anne Miller, is of the club’s “Royal” planter in front of the former Post Office on Green Lane. Now looking magnificent the planter is a real credit to those Committee Members who tend it so well.

A NEW LOCAL GARDEN CENTRE

You may be interested to know that the former High Trees Garden Centre is now under new ownership The new family owners are giving the Garden Centre a complete refresh and up date. It has also undergone a name change and is now The Bramhope Garden Centre, located at 9 Otley Old Road, Leeds LS18 5HZ. This weekend the owners are receiving deliveries of fresh new plants to add to the existing large stock of plants and gardening materials for sale. The Club’s Speakers Secretary Marion Lawson comments on how inviting it already looks as the friendly staff are busy working on preparing the large area of the Centre with new stock and developing a new layout. Marion was also very pleased to learn that Centre Manager, Julie, has kindly agreed to sponsor several classes at the club’s Annual Show in September. Having also visited recently I can say with some confidence that it is well worth a visit.

Webmaster.

Given below are the contents of an email that Newsletter Editor Bill Hunt sent to members recently. The contents are self explanatory and you may find them to be of interest.

2025 SHOW – A GREAT SUCCESS.

It is with great pleasure that we report the success of our Annual Show held on Saturday 13th September. A big vote of thanks are due to all those who helped at our first show at the Cookridge Village Hall and also of course to all who attended on the day and to the many people who entered exhibits.

Many thanks to the Show Secretary Maxine Asso and all the committee members who worked tirelessly along with the many who voluntarily gave their services before and on the day. Thank you also to the Judges for giving their expertise on the day. Your hard work was very much appreciated.

A number of pictures were taken on the day and a selection are shown on this website’s Gallery and also on the 2025 Annual Show page.

Once again many thanks to all – without you the Show wouldn’t have been the success that it was.

R.H.S.BRIDGEWATER. 13TH July 2025.

The club enjoyed a great day out on 13th July at R.H.S. Bridgewater. The pictures below were taken by club secretary Joan Waite and committee member Marion Lawson. Joan added the following commentary:-

“We had a lovely day yesterday at RHS Bridgewater. We were a small group, just 15 of us and 2 babies but the staff made us very welcome and we had the opportunity to see the sweet pea show.  Bridgewater is still a work in progress, it has now been open for 4 years, but what they have done is quite wonderful “.

The pictures say it all !

Harlow Carr – Looking superb on the hottest day of the year, so far. 11th July 2025.

Pictures courtesy of Geoff Lawson.

Note the notice board giving details of live music at Harlow Carr during July and August. A very nice way to pass an afternoon.

July 2nd gave another opportunity for a garden visit when member Carol Abbott kindly opened her garden at 4A Blackwood Rise, LS16 7BG. Many of you will already know that Carol’s garden is always a delight and our visit last evening was no exception. It is a garden always worth returning to. The event was for members only and proved a great success with the monies raised being divided equally between our club and the National Garden Scheme. Welcome refreshments were also available. Many thanks Carol for letting us view your wonderful collection of plants and flowers.

and coming very soon:-

CLUB OUTING TO RHS BRIDGEWATER ON JULY 13TH. If you would like to go on this visit then please contact Joan Waite, our club secretary, in order to book a place in the group. We intend to meet at reception at 11am prior to admission. In order to keep costs down we will be travelling by car. Members who do not have transport will be able to arrange a lift by contacting Joan either by email cookridgegardenclub@icloud.com or telephone 0113 267 6185. A private group tour of the venue can be arranged for £5 per head and payment for this will be required in advance. For those who wish to explore by themselves we will all meet at the café at 2pm for tea and cake.

MAY PRESENTATION – Wildflower Seeds – by Georgia Gilbert

The May talk on Wildflowers was delightfully presented by Georgia Gilbert , of John Chambers seeds. It was our last talk until meetings resume at the Village Hall in October.

John Chambers Wildflower Seed has a 30 year history of supplying native British produced wildflower seeds and mixes to landscape and garden lovers across the UK. John Chambers is one of the leading authorities on native wildflower seeds, distributing a comprehensive range of products that protect, enhance and improve the landscape environment.

John Chambers Wildflower Seed specialises in British native wildflower seed, sourcing seed from growers that are long established and stringent in their collection processes. The company prides itself on creating British native seed mixes that can be incorporated into rural and urban projects across the UK.

At the presentation Members were keen to find out how to purchase the seeds and Georgia has provided the following links. She also advises that the best mixture for starting off an area is probably the dual-purpose mix, which contains annuals and perennials. The links are given below:

https://www.johnchamberswildflowers.co.uk/wildflower-seeds-mixes/100-wildflower-mixes/john-chambers-pro-dual-purpose-100-mix

If any members have any enquiries, please email: sales@johnchamberswildflowers.co.uk

https://www.johnchamberswildflowers.co.uk/wildflower-seeds-mixes/100-wildflower-mixes

APRIL PRESENTATION

April 22nd saw another successful meeting at the Village Hall when we welcomed Ben Preston of Cliff Bank Nurseries, Huby. Ben gave a very interesting talk covering the development of his nursery as well as anecdotes from his work at York Gate in Adel. The audience of about 49 was one of our largest in recent times and included a much larger number of guests than normal, which was very pleasing. As well as giving the entertaining talk Ben also judged and gave prizes to the winners of our Spring bulbs competition. It was an enjoyable evening and will be followed in May by a talk on “Wildflowers” by Georgina Gilbert on Tuesday 20th.

MARTIN STRAW

It is with regret that we have to record the passing of Martin Straw on Thursday 10th April , the husband of our Chair, Ruth Straw. We offer our sincere and heartfelt condolences to Ruth and her family at this very sad time.

2nd APRIL – RETURN VISIT TO DELPH COTTAGE.

A return visit to the superb Delphinium Garden went ahead as planned on 2nd April. It was a great success with Colin Parton providing a great deal of useful information . During the visit Colin mentioned that a Delphinium Garden would be featured on the BBC’s “Gardeners World” programme a few days later ( on Friday 4th April ) . Readers may be interested to know that it was Colin’s own garden that was featured, with interesting and humorous commentary from Colin Himself. If anyone missed it it is still available on BBC I Player and is well worth watching. The item was about three quarters of the way through the hour long programme.

HOW SEASONAL IS THAT ?

Committee member Marion Lawson had quite a surprise while working in her garden recently. Take a look at the photograph on the right which shows a section of Marion’s back garden. There you can see a shrub towards the back on the right hand side. Amazingly despite being quite a few years old now, it has never before flowered, but as you can see it has a number of small yellow buds on it all of which look remarkably healthy and well. What a nice time to flower – just before Easter. Take a close look if you can !! Amazing. It seems these plants are very rare. And just a small word of caution. Marion takes her dog Rascal out for a walk twice a day. frequently after dark. So, if you spot her peering over peoples fences and hedges do not be alarmed, Marion isn’t a trainee burglar – she’s just checking if anyone else in Cookridge has a similar plant. So far none have been found !

HAPPY EASTER.

EVENTS FOR JUNE, JULY and AUGUST

Readers may have noticed that our Events Calendar has been updated and now shows entries from September ( the Annual Show ) through to and including December ( the Christmas Fuddle ). You may also notice that at the moment there are gaps for the summer months of June, July and August. Events for those months are very much in the pipeline though and include a car sharing visit to RHS Bridgewater and a return visit to Carol Abbott’s superb and very local garden. Full details and dates will be shown on the Calendar of Events page of this website as soon as they have been firmed up

ANNUAL SHOW 2025

Preparations are progressing well for the Club’s 2025 show in September. The Show Committee have already been busy measuring up for the table layout to enable the staging of the 60 classes at the show which will be held on 13th September at our new “Home” the Cookridge Village Hall. A schedule of all 60 classes for the show is given under the “Annual Show 2025” tab on this website.

Feedback concerning our new meetings venue at Cookridge Village Hall has been positive with a good attendance at our January, February and March meeting so we look forward to seeing as many of you as possible in the coming months.

Committee member Marion Lawson wishes to remind everyone that we’ll have our ‘Suggestions’ box at our meetings and will therefore welcome feedback about what you have attended together with suggestions for future speakers, topics or activities. A pen and paper will be provided at the box so that no-one need worry if they have left a pen or pencil at home. If making a suggestion it would be appreciated if you would also leave your name and a contact no. or email address so that we can discuss your ideas with you if necessary.

Although we are still quite early into the new year we need to think ahead to our summer activities, in particular our Open Gardens Evening. Please consider opening your garden sometime during the high summer period for members and friends to visit. Further details can be obtained from any committee member.

Former club chairman Eric Wells would like to remind everyone that, as from the FIRST FRIDAY IN FEBRUARY, HORSFORTH GARDEN SHOP will be open each Friday evening between 7.00 and 8.00. The shop is located on Featherbank Lane, close to the junction with the Ring Road and membership is £1 for the whole year. There is a wide range of items on sale including composts, fertilisers, tools, canes, pots and much more. Visitors are welcome to have a conducted tour to help them to decide on requirements “.

Our last meeting at the Methodist Church Hall. December 11th 2024.

Wednesday the 11th December saw our last meeting at the Methodist Church Hall. Although for that reason the evening was tinged with a degree of sadness it was nevertheless an excellent and well attended meeting with a great deal of audience participation and not a small amount of good humour. Our guest speaker was Sue Degnan and her topic was “Willow Weaving Demonstration”. Sue explained the different types of willow which are used and bought along a number of examples of her own work. After the presentation members and guests were invited to have a go at making their own wreaths with Sue’s guidance. Many of the wreaths produced were very good and would grace any setting . The photograph to the left gives an impression of how attractive they were. Many thanks must go to Sue for providing such an entertaining and fun evening on this our final meeting of the year.

After the weaving had been concluded a Christmas Raffle Draw was held where in excess of 20 prizes were given. It is with some degree of embarrassment that I write that I won the first prize, as evidenced by the picture on the right. Our ( and in particular my ) thanks go to Committee Member Maxine Asso for doing an excellent job in organising and running the raffle so well.

Geoff Lawson.

A few Pictures from our 2024 Annual Show.

More news about the 2025 show is now available under the Annual Show 2025 and Show Schedule tabs, including all of the show classes.

RHS HARLOW CARR VISIT – Sunday 14th July 2024.

Sunday 14th July saw the Club’s visit to RHS Harlow Carr. 13 hardy members, relatives and friends enjoyed a great afternoon in the Gardens and although the weather could have been kinder it didn’t detract from the beauty of the gardens nor the enjoyment our group shared. In addition to a walk around the grounds, which are always superb, we were entertained by a male voice choir and also were able to visit the recently opened RHS Harrogate Arms Cafe in the former hotel of the same name. The cafe is now fully open and will become an added and welcome attraction to any visit. Shown below are a small selection of pictures taken by club secretary Joan Waite and Geoff Lawson. More images can also be seen under the “Gallery” tab as the top item on that page.

CLUB SCARECROW WINS £50 !

We are delighted to announce that the Scarecrow designed and put together by Committee Member Marion Lawson has won a £50 donation for our Club from the Modernians Rugby Club. Early in May the Cookridge Scarecrow festival took place and attracted a high number of scarecrows in the area. Somewhere in the region of 1,000 people walked around viewing the scarecrows and were greeted by spectacular, colourful and imaginative displays. It was a great community effort and showed great community spirit. We were delighted that our entry was rewarded for standing out in the unpredictable weather over the weekend of the festival. He is now enjoying a well deserved rest !

The picture to the left shows “Digger” on display over the Festival weekend and if you listen carefully to the one on the right you can almost hear him asking “Where’s my cuppa “!