Welcome to the Saffron Walden Horticultural Society Web Site
The Summer Show will be on Sunday 26 June 2022. The Show Schedule can be found here
The Autumn Show will be on Sunday 18 September 2022. The schedule can be found here.
A Brief History of the Saffron Walden Horticultural Society Established 1819
The above Society was originally established for the encouragement
of Horticulture, Botany and Agriculture.
The President was the Right Honourable Lord Braybrooke and it is
recorded that 2 very prominent citizens of Saffron Walden William
Chater (1802 – 85) and Francis Gibson were both committee members when
it was formed in 1819.
The Saffron Walden Horticultural Society held its summer fete
intermittently in Bridge End Gardens during the 19th Century. In 1883
the Summer Exhibition was held in the Ornamental Grounds, Bridge End,
by kind permission of Lewis Fry, Esq, M.P. and included the mounted
band of the Royal Artillery by permission of the Assistant Adjutant
General. These exhibitions developed into large annual shows and were
held at Audley End Park. Extra trains were laid on from Colchester and
Cambridge to cope with the influx of visitors for these important
events.
However by 1901 the Society had hit financial difficulties with a loss
of patronage and falling membership, it was decided to disband.
It was eventually revived in 1922 under the leadership of the Town
Mayor, David Mill and in the inter war years, smaller shows were held
in conjunction with other organisations, such as the Horse Society.
Very few shows were organised during the Second World War and by 1951
support for the Society had again diminished, so the decision was
taken to disband the Society for a second time. A completely
fortuitous revival occurred in 1977, when George Scrivener organised a
Rose Show as part of the Jubilee celebrations, which later evolved
into the Saffron Walden Rose Society and ultimately the Saffron Walden
Horticultural Society was reborn.
Ever since the Society has gone from strength to strength and is now
established boasting a substantial membership and a busy programme of
events with which to celebrate their Bicentenary.
Data Protection Policy
The General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) came in to force on 25 May 2018. Under the new regulations, the society needs to advise members how we use the personal data that they provide as part of membership applications. You can read our full policy by clicking this link.
Join Our Facebook Group
If you have a Facebook account, please feel free to join our Facebook group.
We hope it will be a forum for discussion of all things horticultural as well as a way of letting members know about upcoming events.
Visit our Facebook Group and send us a request to join.
To join Facebook go to www.facebook.com
News
newsletter
Read our latest newsletter here
For older news please see our Archive page