2025 – Our 175th Anniversary
The Malvern Hills Gardening Club is celebrating the 175th Anniversary. To celebrate, we had a stand at the RHS Spring Festival and held a Birthday Party at Madresfield Court. This post provides a brief history of the club, and then covers the RHS Show and the Madresfield Court visit, and ends with the flyer for the club show.
A brief History of the Club
Founded in 1850 as Malvern Horticultural and Floral Society (by 1877 shortened to Malvern Horticultural Society) its only purpose was to hold annual shows. Over the years the focus has shifted, in line with the changing status of gardeners and gardening, and our activities now include talks, garden visits, social events and the Club still holds an annual show.
The first Show “took place in the beautiful grounds of William Eastted, Esq.” at Ellerslie House, Abbey Road on 11 July 1850 – now part of Audley Ellerslie retirement village. The founder of the Society, a local churchman Rev T Dyson, wanted “to encourage cottagers of the neighbourhood in the habits of neatness & industry…”. “A subscription list was opened and a very handsome sum quickly obtained” and then it was agreed to “connect a flower show” with this. Inflation is evident when we look at the cottager’s competition: 1st prize was £1.10 shillings for those with rents between £5 & £10 and the Class 2 for rents under £5 had a 1st prize of £1. In today’s money these equate to rents of £860 – £1,720 and prize money of £170 . Today’s show offer no prizes beyond pride and the acclaim of friends and family.
Shows continued to be held during the war years and were, briefly called Horticultural and Utility shows, reflecting the post war effort to encourage resourcefulness and making the best we could of what we had. And this is probably where the inclusion of cookery and craft classes came from – a trend which continued until the early 2000s. A lot of garden clubs were founded post WWII with gardening more accessible to a wider public, who had their own gardens and had been introduced to gardening/ growing by the Dig for Victory campaign and the early gardening experts such as Percy Thrower. This led to talks becoming a feature, as well as garden visits which were of particular value when lower car ownership rates meant that the club’s bus trip offered a real benefit.
Activities of Malvern Horticultural Society between the 1970s and early 2000s included annual plant sales, harvest suppers, a Gardeners’ Question Time (held in Malvern Theatre), a celebrity lecture (Anne Swithinbank for our 150th anniversary), taking part in the RHS Chelsea Flower Show hanging basket and window box competition, where we achieved bronze, silver and silver-gilt medals on different occasions.
The Society was one of the first to affiliate with the RHS (Royal Horticultural Society) in the 1890s and has maintained that link. assisting with the plant crèche at Malvern Spring and Autumn Shows.
We continue to hold an annual show in August, though the nature of it is a little different. In 1850 “a band was in attendance and played during the afternoon” and “between 400 and 500 ladies and gentlemen, attired in all the gaiety of summer fashion” attended. Our show is more down to earth and comprises the competitions and simple refreshments! The societal changes are also evident through a comparison of some entry requirements. We grow for ourselves in small gardens; the “amateurs” of 1850 were the social elite who had large gardens and gardeners.
Our Stand at the RHS Spring Festival
As part of the planning for the Anniversary, the club committee discussed how we could promote the club and celebrate the formation of we think is the oldest gardening club in the country. In a moment of madness (or inspired genius) the committee decided to ask the RHS if we could have a stand at the RHS Spring Festival. The RHS agreed, and the enormity of the task then became apparent.
We were very lucky to gain a new member Cat Clarke whose artist talents, helped by Rachel Salisbury’s horticultural expertise, led to an excellent concept and design for the stand. The stand had “then and now” plant displays, with a central area which explained the clubs origins and ethos. The club was given the option to be judged for a medal, and Rachel upped the ante by accepting this challenge.
Cat and Rachel gathered historical information to go on the stand, produced poster boards and graphics and created staging. Members were invited to provide plants for the “then and now” displays, and these were supplemented by David Butt with plants from Madresfield Court. An impressive floral display was created by Mary Pillon, and a buttonhole by Valerie Butcher. Sponsorship was kindly given by Audley Ellerslie, recognising their link to the club’s first show.
The stand was then assembled before the show opened and after judging was awarded a Silver medal. This came with a cash prize. The stand was much admired by the visitors, and was featured in a Radio Interview with BBC Hereford and Worcester. We gained new members, and are even considering having a stand again !
Birthday Party at Madresfield Court
The club committee also discussed different ways in which we could celebrate our birthday with our members. Our President, David Butt, kindly offered to arrange of the club to have a special visit to Madresfield Court where he is the Head Gardiner. The event was held on Saturday June 28th, with the club funding half of the cost form our reserves. MaggieJo and Mary worked hard to organise the day and collect all of the admission fees.
We were blessed with excellent weather, and enjoyed both a tour of the house and the gardens. The house tour was fascinating, given the Court’s interesting history, exceptional arts and crafts decoration and very informative tour guides. The garden tour provided highlights of the garden, with wild orchids still in flower and plenty of advice for our own gardens from David.
The day was completed with tea and cake in the formal dining room, with a celebration cake provided by Patsy Crowley.
Club Show 2025
The 2025 show was a great success, with over 180 entries – an increase over last year. The show was expertly organised by Keri, with support from Rachel and the show committee.
The winners of each section were as follows:
The overall show winner was Phil Bunyan.
The RHS Banksian Medal was awarded to Helen O’Donnell for best all round horticultural performance.
Malvern Hills Gardening Club 