Welcome to Askham Bryan College Gardening Club

Background

The Askham Bryan College Gardening Club was formed and formally launched in March 1998. The Principal of the College was keen for the College to become more involved with the local community. i.e. amateur gardeners and possibly further out into the county. The Club has no direct link with the College being totally independent but continues to use the College name and facilities. The College is also very supportive allowing us certain privileges not available to the general public. The new Principal, Liz Philip, on her appointment was invited to be our President and she and other members of the staff have places on the Club Committee.

Aims and Objectives

The aims of the Club are to promote the interests of members in gardening, to hold social activities for all members, organise talks and demonstrations with trips to places of horticultural interest.

Membership

We are a strong active Club with a current membership of over 200, members being drawn from a wide area across North and West Yorkshire.

Meetings

The Club meets on a monthly basis, usually on Tuesday evenings starting at  7.30 p.m.

During the autumn and spring our meetings are held in the Conference Centre at the College with a different guest speaker each time. Subjects have ranged from Landscaping, The Italian Job, Vegetables and from the Potting Shed, a gardeners questions evening.

At least once each year we try to invite a celebrity to come and speak.  Over recent years we have heard from Roy Lancaster, Matthew Biggs, Matthew Wilson, Nigel Colburn, Pippa Greenwood and Paul Hudson amongst others.  We enjoy their enthusiasm and their knowledge is vast.  Arrangements are in place through to the Spring of this year with many interesting speakers, including Bunny Guinness.  We start our Autumn programme in September with a return visit from Chris Beardshaw who we are all looking forward to.

We try and arrange visits on a monthly basis during the summer months and hope for good weather.  Last year we went by coach to visit nurseries in Nottinghamshire just for a day and the year before we did gardens in North Wales over a weekend.  This year we are doing the Malvern Spring Show and visiting other gardens as well.  We try and visit local gardens by using our own transport, especially those that are open for group visits or by special arrangement.

The Future

Arrangements are in hand to cover the whole of the remainder of this year and into next. If you would like more information please click onto membership enquiries.

The Gardening Club Committee and members look forward to meeting you soon.