Hampstead Horticultural Society

Welcome to one of the websites being operated by members of the revitalised Hampstead Horticultural Society. We hold flower shows, arrange horticultural lectures and organise coach outings to encourage those living in an around Hampstead NW3 to co-operate in the cultivation of vegetables, fruit and flowers.

Membership is open to the residents of 'Hampstead and neighbouring boroughs', which is a phrase on our Constitution referring the area around what used to be the Metropolitan Borough of Hampstead. The Borough of Hampstead was abolished in 1965, when it was incorporated into the London Borough of Camden, so you have to look at pre-1965 maps to see where Hampstead and its neighbouring boroughs used to be:

These are some of the districts within our catchment area:

Borough	Districts
Hampstead (now part of Camden)	Hampstead, Belsize Park, Primrose Hill and West Hampstead.
St Marylebone (now part of Camden)	Marylebone, St John's Wood and the western part of the district of Fitzrovia.
St Pancras (now part of Camden)	St Pancras, Camden Town, Kentish Town.
Hendon (now part of Barnet)	Mill Hill, Golders Green, Childs Hill and Cricklewood.
Willesden (now part of Brent)	Kilburn.

We are registered in the Cindex database of services and organisations in Camden. We have a Constitution and a Committee and we hold an Annual General Meeting in March.

We have a lively and active membership and organise a variety of events to cater for all levels of gardening interest and horticultural expertise. These include two horticultural shows each year with classes for flowers, plants, vegetables, fruit, flower arrangements and cookery. There are also two illustrated talks at Burgh House each year on Sunday afternoons in March and November and a Summer Gardens Competition in June with classes such as front and back gardens, tubs, window boxes and hanging baskets.

Members are entitled to receive discounts from local north London garden centres. Beginners and children are always welcome.

Joining our Society

If you are interested in joining our Society, or in applying to be on our Committee after the 2013 AGM, you can contact Hampstead Horticultural Society or you can register your interest on the Hampstead Horticultural Society Meetup Group Website. In particular we would like to invite people to apply for the vacant Officer positions for 'Asst. Hon. Secretary', 'Hon. Secretary Shows' and 'Hon. Secretary Window Boxes and Gardens Competition' at the next AGM in March 2013.

Newsletter and Programme of Events

For the latest information about our Society and our events over the next few months see:

If you delve into the Twittersphere you can also find Alix' up to the minute news about the Society.

Committee

We have the following Committee:

President	Margaret Scanlon
Vice President & Hon. Membership Secretary	Hilda Gill
Chairman	Ken Ellis
Vice Chairman	Rosemary Hunt
Hon. Secretary	Yvonne Byng-Maddick
Asst. Hon. Secretary	No appointment made
Hon. Secretary Shows	No appointment made
Hon. Secretary Window Boxes and Gardens Competition	No appointment made
Hon. Treasurer	Heidi Corsi
Committee Members	Mary Betts, Gerlinde Kathuria, Moira Latham, Kalyani Pal, Joan Payne, Anne Rowe

Nigel Bee was not elected to the Committee. However, as he is the Society's Registrant, he retains a number of rights and responsibilities. He notes that one of these responsibilities is as follows:

Whoever is listed as the Registered Name Holder must provide full contact information, and is the Registered Name Holder of record. Sometimes a Registered Name Holder may register a domain name and then allow another person to use the domain name (such as a website designer registering a domain name for a client). If this happens, and the person actually using the name did not enter into the Registrar/Registered Name Holder Agreement (referred to as a "third party" in the RAA), the Registered Name Holder could be accountable for wrongful use of the domain name by the third party. This will happen if the Registered Name Holder is provided with "reasonable evidence of actionable harm" from the third party’s use of the domain name. In that situation the Registered Name Holder will "accept liability for harm caused by wrongful use of the Registered Name," unless the Registered Name Holder discloses the user’s identity and current contact information.

The Society's Registrant wishes to try to persuade the Society to use this website encourage the residents of what used to be the Borough of Hampstead to co-operate in the cultivation of vegetables, fruit and flowers. He thinks there are potentially large number of residents of Hampstead, Belsize Park, Primrose Hill, South Hampstead, Swiss Cottage and West Hampstead who would be interested in doing this. He is keen to campaign for control of the Society to be given back to these residents. He wants the Society to become the 'Hampstead Horticultural Society' again, instead of being the 'Hampstead Neighbouring Borough Horticultural Society'. He feels that the neighbouring borough of Hendon (now part of Barnet and outside the Borough of Camden) is a separate district where the residents have different interests and he notes that Hendon has its own Hendon Horticultural Society & Gardening Club.

Hampstead, Belsize Park, Primrose Hill and West Hampstead are urban areas where the majority of residents are flat dwellers who do not have their own private gardens. It appears that in these areas the Transition Movement has a much better track record than the Hampstead Horticultural Society as regards encouraging residents to co-operate in the cultivation of vegetables, fruit and flowers.

In urban areas, Societies need to be proactive in finding gowing spaces that can be used by residents. An excellent example of a growing space in an urban enviroment is the roof garden at the South Bank next to the Royal Festival Hall. Some of the people co-operating to cultivate vegetables at this site not only do not have their own garden, but don't have a home at all:

Nigel Bee believes the best way forward is for him, and possibly for other Hampstead Horitcultural Society members, to work with and support the Transition Movement. The Transition Movement has been very effective in setting up a number of community groups for the benefit of residents of Hampstead and neighbouring boroughs:

Transition Belsize (covering part of what was the Borough of Hampstead)
Transition Primrose Hill (covering part of what was the Borough of Hampstead)
Transition Kentish Town (covering part of what was the Borough of St Pancras)
Transition Kensal to Kilburn (covering part of what was the Borough of Willesden)

Transition Belsize, in particular, has some excellent ideas for operating a community group. Some of these ideas are presented in the recent minutes of its Coordinating Group. As you can see, the group does a lot more than just arrange "Eco-empowerment workshops". As well as encouraging residents to take an interest in the growing of fruit and vegetables, the group's activities also encourage people to prepare for the future by improving our local environment and reducing our dependence on oil for transport and packaging.

Transition Belsize's food growing projects are taking place at:

The Fruitery in Belsize Park.
The Heath Strange Garden, above the car park, Royal Free Hospital, Rowland Hill Street.
The Belsize Park Premier Inn

The Hampstead Horticultural Society Meetup Group

Ken has now taken over from Alix as Organizer of the 53-strong Hampstead Horticultural Society Meetup Group. Unfortunately, although this website accurately describes the activities of the Hampstead Horticultural Society, it gives no indication about what the objectives are for the Hampstead Horticultural Society Meetup Group. There seems little point in having an HHS meetup group whose members either don't meet up, or only meet up at non-HHS meetup events. To resolve this matter, the group could consider this guide to writing a Constitution, taking note of the advice given on the Transition US website. However, please note that the Society's Constitution can only be changed if approval is granted by the Society's membership at a general meeting.

Last updated 19.05.12, Nigel Bee.