Japanese Plants in the wild
Diane Clement, Wolverhampton

Diane has given lectures for the Alpine Garden Society, Plant Heritage, Hardy Plant Society, Cottage Garden Society, The Plant School, Cyclamen Society and many local Gardening clubs and Natural History Societies. 

Diane was for many years Director of the Seed Exchange for the Alpine Garden Society, which is the largest seed exchange of its type in the world run entirely by volunteers. 

During her travels in Japan, Diane visited a range of varying habitats from seashore to mountain top and lots of woodland and marshland, all incredibly rich in numbers of species. She was interested to see many plants familiar in UK gardens growing in their natural habitat. and found it exciting to see some rare woodland plants

Balcony Gardening
Diane Harrison

Diane trained at Myerscough College and has 30 years of gardening experience under her belt.  She is Plantaria Manager at family run Avant Garden Centre and has a wealth of knowledge and experience on the subject. Diane also founded the monthly garden club at the garden centre with her sister, Anita.

Celebrity Speaker
Painting  with Plants

Chris Beardshaw

Chris trained in horticulture at Pershore College and holds a BA Hons and PGDip in landscape architecture from the University of Gloucester. He runs a bespoke Garden Landscape Design company operated from the Cotswolds and is renowned designer and knowledgable plantsman.  He has won 35 prestigious design awards, including 14 RHS Gold Medals and the Kew Gold Award  in 2017. He has also been voted for the People's Choice Award six times, most recently in 2023

Since his first broadcast as the expert on Surprise Gardeners for Carlton TV in 1999, Chris has made many appearances on TV, including Real Rakeovers for the BBC, Weekend Gardener for UKTV Style in 2000, Gardening Neighbours, Housecall, The Flying Gardener, The Great British Garden Revival, Beechgrove and Gardeners World for BBC2.  He is a regular panel member on BBC Radio 4's Question Time

His current areas of activity include:

• responding to complexity and change through a design approach
• fostering resilience for landowners and their neighbouring communities
• creating non-formal human organisations that work
• energy planning for resilience at the small (neighbourhood) scale

James was formerly a police officer, starting in London and finishing as a Detective Inspector at Moss Side in Manchester. After he left the police he began to write and in 2020 his debut novel was published in 2020 – a crime thriller called The Trail (longlisted for the Boardman Tasker Award). He has continued to write and publish novels in the
critically-acclaimed DCI Castle series. James is also a keen climber and .mountaineer.

James lives in the Peak District with his wife and he runs tours of his smallholding.. They are self-sufficient in fruit and vegetables, and keep chickens and bees but  James' real passion is fruit trees, especially apples of which he has around 80 varieties, 

Evening visit to Chadwick Close Farm, Smithills

Fantastic food and Drink from Garden Herbs
Barbara Depledge

Barbara grows grow culinary, medicinal and fragrant herbs and writes on simple home medicinal remedies, recipes and how to have fun making simple cosmetics from herbs and flowers.She is a former Chairman of the Herb Society UK, served on the Council governing this charity for three years and has been a member for 22 years.

Now retired, Barbara is filling life-long ambitions to travel to as many parts of the world as possible, including the island of Rarotonga in the Cook Islands which is just about as far as it is possible to go from the UK.

4 DAY GARDEN HOLIDAY

Gardens in Cambridgeshire

4-Day Holiday

ANNUAL SHOW

Set within the 18th century walls of the original kitchen garden for Scampston Hall, today the Walled Garden has a modern feel to it but complements the adjacent 18th century 'Capability' Brown parkland. The garden had been derelict for nearly fifty years when Sir Charles and Lady Legard undertook the huge renovation task. The Legards enlisted the help of leading Dutch garden designer, Piet Oudolf, and the design for the walled garden was conceived in 1999. 

Since opening to the public in 2005, it has received a great deal of international acclaim. Although Oudolf's planting ideas are now much imitated, the Walled Garden is an outstanding example of how he combines his skill as a designer with his authority and knowledge as a plantsman. It still remains his largest private commission in the UK.

Edible Plants and Fungi
David Winnard

(David Winnard replaces David Hurrion who is unable to come this year.)

David 's background in wildlife started when he was 5. He  gained first class honours degree in wildlife photography before starting Discover the Wild, where his aim is to share his passion for identifying species and to help people forage safely and sustainable for wild foods.

He is one of the most respected foragers and naturalists in the North of England and Wales, having worked with and for organisations including the BBC, RSPB, Lancashire Wildlife Trust, City of Trees, Groundwork, Brockholes as well as many local councils, groups and organisations. He also works closely with a number of gin companies helping them use wild plants and fungi in their drinks.

Holcombe Moor Restoration Project
Nik Taylor

AGM, Social Evening with Potato Pie Supper and Quiz

The AGM and social evening is for existing members of the society only.