Painter's Forstal Gardeners' Club
Painter's Forstal Gardeners' Club - A Potted History
In the small back room of the Whitehill Chapel back in 1979 on a cold December evening, 43 of the local Painter's Forstal residents got together and decided it was about time to start a gardeners' club. Between them they agreed there would be monthly meetings, a summer outing and a summer show to be held every July.
This format remains pretty much the same today, although we have added a few events since then such as the Spring Show, a Dahlia competition and a Christmas party! One of the attractions of the Gardeners club was then, and still is today, the discounts that club members can get on their seeds, fertilisers and composts.
Whitehill Chapel
The first talk was presented early in 1980 by Diane Jenner from Kennaways, followed in May 1980 with the first club outing to Sandling Park.
July 1980 saw the clubs first ever Summer Show. This was a tremendous success with over 105 classes with both open and members classes
As you can see from this article published in August 1980 the event was a resounding success and the Painter's Forstal Gardeners' Club would never look back
In 1985, with the club firmly established and having been put on a waiting list, we were accepted into the ‘Neame Cup’ gardeners’ quiz competition, an annual event to find the most knowledgeable gardeners’ clubs.
In that first year we beat teams of four from Challock, St Dunstans and Barham to set up a final with Chartham.
Which I’m delighted to say we won!
At the 2018 Summer Show we were delighted that five of the original club founders all came along to show their support!
