Our speaker at the March meeting was Ed Fairey from the National Garden Scheme. Some of us may know this as the ‘Yellow Book’ and may have visited some of the gardens. It is a scheme where gardens are opened for charity. Many of these are private gardens that only open on selected dates or by appointment, but sometimes larger, commercial gardens take part in the scheme too. Most gardens offer tea and cake on their open dates, all of which are made by the homeowner or volunteers.
Ed Fairey showed us some fabulous photos of his garden at Mayfield Farm, Ardleigh (near Colchester in Essex) which he explained he now opens by appointment. He first opened his garden three years ago and to his surprise, and to some degree shock, 350 people turned up. He invited the club to visit.
Ed gave us an interesting potted history of the NGS. The NGS first opened gardens 95 years ago. William Rathbone, a wealthy entrepreneur, had employed a nurse to look after his wife. After she died, Mr Rathbone asked the nurse to go out in the community and find out what healthcare was needed. This led to the creation of the nursing profession and the district nursing service called the ‘Queens Nurses Division’. In 1926 Elsie Wagg suggested opening gardens to raise funds for the nurses. In 1980, the NGS became independent of the Queens Nurses Division and now supports a wide range of charities.
There are open gardens are across the country including London and Essex. You can purchase the NGS book, which is printed yearly, or you can pick up their booklets at various gardens and garden centres. They also have a website on which to search for gardens at www.ngs.org.uk.
