Memories from Alan Roberts about the Burbage Gardening Society
When Alan handed over his beloved gardening Society to new committee members, he kindly wrote a little memoir about his time in the society and here in Alan’s words below is what he wrote.
“When Kathy and I moved to Buxton in 1960, we were lucky in our search for rented property as there was a bungalow available on Cavendish Avenue. We moved in there and enjoyed the location with open grassland at the back and sheep and cows grazing there at different times.
Burbage was a distinct community at that time with ‘Buxton’ stopping at Temple Road and Burlington Road and Burbage had its own character with village shops, school, church, pub and local societies. As our interest in gardening grew, we paid several visits to the annual Burbage Gardening Society Show at Burbage Institute. The room would be packed with tables for entries in different categories of flowers fruit and vegetables and with many visitors. Judges would make the awards for each category. Excellent home made cakes would also be available, along with cups of tea and other soft drinks.
However, over the years Burbage changed as many new houses were built, the school moved to Cavendish Avenue and several of the local shops closed, perhaps around 1985.
Then in 2007, the rev Hudghton set up a meeting in Burbage Church to discuss the setting up of a revived Burbage Gardening Society, as a way of strengthening local community activities. About a dozen people attended and supported the idea-the society was revived! A committee was set up which Kathy and I joined – I was nudged into being chairman while Kathy worked hard on finding speakers for the 2008 programme.
The new committee soon sprang into action and an autumn snow was set up at Burbage Institute, this was on a smaller scale than the ones organised in the past and it benefited from the discovery of a vast store of vases beneath the stage at the institute, survivors from the previous regime. Floral displays were properly displayed. In a change from earlier times, visitors to the show were encouraged to vote for their favourite entry in each category, instead of appointing judges.
A programme was arranged for 2008 with a spring show, an autumn show and monthly meetings at the Institute, apart from summer months when visits to gardens of interest were arranged. Membership grew to a comfortable level and some other activities took place – tidying up some green spaces, assisting with planting snowdrops at Burbage Church, helping with gardening sessions at the new school.
By 2017, members had joined the society from across Buxton and activities had become focused on the main programme with just one annual show. Then of course in 2020 the Covid outbreak caused a shutdown in group activities and things went quiet. A steady recovery began in late 2021 with the main programme in place for 2022. It was the start of a new phase in the society activities and, after many years of support for the society, the main officers from the pre Covid times decided to retire and welcome in a new set of officers on the committee. With the new committee in place, from October 2022, I look forward to the next few years of the society’s programme”
