History of the FGS
A garden club had originally been started by an officer at the airfield in 1952. It was called the Foxton & District Garden Holders Society and ran for 15 years.
In 1988 Paddy Bailey and Peter Pickering, who were both keen gardeners decided to try to reform a garden club in the village. The formation meeting was on 23rd October 1990 at the Robert Monk Hall, the village hall in Foxton. Jack Simms, the treasurer from the original society was present and gave us £116 which had been sitting in the bank for over 20 years together with all the original books and three prize cups. We also had a donation of £50 from Foxton Heritage to get us started. The committee was Paddy Bailey, Moira Wheeler, Bernard Rice, Alan Small, Cliff Holmes and Peter and Rita Pickering.
The first open meeting was held on the 14th November 1990 and the following year we agreed to open 'Foxton Gardens' in June and an annual show in September. A lot of hard work from the committee and members went into these projects and we were able to give donations to the village and charities.
Peter Pickering retired from the Society in 2002 when he and his wife went to live in Devon. Paddy Bailey then took over as Chairman until 2018.
Paddy did a marvellous job on the committee for 28 years, the last 16 of those as Chairwoman. She was initially the Programme and Speakers secretary as she knew such a lot of people in the gardening world. Anything to do with food and the kitchen, Paddy was the leading lady. Indeed, no AGM supper can be without Paddy's famous Beetroot Ring!
The Society has continued to the present date, without break, and still has a healthy membership from both inside and outside the village.
Click below if you would like to view the minutes from the very first meeting.
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