IOH Northern Branch Programme 2008.

PLEASE CONFIRM YOUR ATTENDANCE AT ANY OF THESE EVENTS BY EMAILING GRAHAM PORTER at graham.porter@ntlworld.com OR CALL HIM ON 01484 319781 / 07711704152.

If you are able to offer shared transport, please let Graham know so that he can connect people together!!

* See special note for ABM!!

** Harrogate Spring and Autumn Flower Show volunteers needed urgently please!!!!

March 8^th ? Matthewmans Sweet Peas, - 10 am for 10.30 am ? coffee and biscuits. The visit will be to the nursery at West Bank, Carlton, near Selby and not to the offices at Pontefract. (www.sweetpeasonline.co.uk ) . Matthewman?s is one of the countries leading Sweet Pea breeders, showers and seed suppliers with a list of awards longer than his sweet pea flower petioles!!

April 12^th ? YHOY Northern Regional Final ? East Durham and Houghall College (www.edhcc.ac.uk ). Thanks once again to the North of England Horticultural Society (www.flowershow.org.uk ) for their continued and generous sponsorship of our regional competition and to MorePeople (www.morepeople.co.uk ) for sponsoring the heats nationally. Thanks also to Rollins Bulldog Tools Ltd (www.bulldogtools.co.uk ) and Thompson and Morgan (www.thompson-morgan.com ) for sponsoring prizes for the regional finals. At the time of writing this piece, there are five of our regional colleges taking part in this years competition (Askham Bryan College (www.askham-bryan.ac.uk ), York, East Durham and Houghall College, Durham, Shipley College (www.shipley.ac.uk), Bradford, Bishop Burton College (www.bishopb-college.ac.uk), Beverley and Park Lane College (www.parklanecoll.ac.uk ) ,Leeds) and we look forward to taking the winner to the National Final at the Eden Project on May 3^rd where a £2000 travel bursary awaits the National winner. For more details of the competition nationally visit www.ioh.org.uk .

The day?s programme includes assembly and competition at 10.30 am for 11 am; Buffet lunch (£5 per head for non-competitors) at 1 pm and provisionally, a tour of college grounds at 2 pm.

**April 24^th to 27^th ? Harrogate Spring Flower Show (www.flowershow.org.uk ) ? IoH stand. Our opportunity to sell the IoH to nurserymen, growers, suppliers and professionals, as well as meeting up with existing members and seeing the show. Volunteers are needed to help set up and manage the stand (half day only needed but more ?shifts? if you are able) ? free show tickets available for all volunteers!!

May 3^rd ? YHOY National Final ? The Eden Project, Cornwall (sponsors include the Percy Thrower Trust and the Horticultural Development Council).

May 7^th - Branch Committee Meeting ? Johnson?s of Whixley, 7 pm start, 9 pm finish!

May 10^th ? Slack Top Nurseries, Hebden Bridge (www.slacktopnurseries.co.uk ), 10 am ? tour of alpine nursery. Visit one of the true alpine growers still surviving and thriving and see how they are helping to revive the fortunes of alpine plants.

*June 14^th ? Annual Branch Meeting - Lakeland Horticultural Society Gardens, Windermere (www.holehirdgardens.org.uk ). 10.30 for an 11 am start to the ABM with a tour of the gardens after lunch ? finish around 3 pm. A buffet lunch will be provided at a small cost (TBC). Committee positions to fill ? Vice Chairman, Branch Correspondent, Treasurer (due to retirement of Andrew Jackson after 19 years on the Northern Branch Committee), at least two new committee members. Interested members to contact Graham Porter at graham.porter@ntlworld.com , 07711704152 or 01484 319781 by May 10th 2008.

PLEASE CONFIRM YOUR ATTENDANCE AT THIS EVENT BY March 14^TH 2008 SO THAT CATERING AND OTHER NECESSARY ARRANGEMENTS CAN BE MADE. EMAIL GRAHAM PORTER at graham.porter@ntlworld.com OR CALL HIM ON 01484 319781 / 07711704152.

**September 12^th ? 14^th ? Harrogate Autumn Flower Show ? IoH stand. Volunteers are needed to help set up and manage the stand (half day only needed but more ?shifts? if you are able) ? free show tickets available for all volunteers!!

October 18^th ? Blagden Hall - visit to autumn garden in Northumberland to see Lord Ridley?s collection of Acers at Blagden Hall near Morpeth. Visit to commence at 10.30 am for 11 am. Light refreshments may be provided. Visit www.northern-heritage.co.uk for a location map.

Members from other branches and horticulturally related organisations are welcome to attend all of our events but should call Graham and book their place in the same way as Northern Branch Members, please!

IF YOU HAVE ANY SUGGESTIONS FOR FUTURE VISITS OR EVENTS, PLEASE FEEL FREE TO CONTACT GRAHAM PORTER IN THE FIRST INSTANCE.

2007 ? 2008 IOH NORTHERN BRANCH COMMITTEE.

Chairperson ? Graham Porter FI. Hort.

Vice Chairperson ? David Beardall FI. Hort.

Treasurer ? Andrew Jackson FI. Hort.

Secretary ? Dianne Anderson MI. Hort

Branch Representative to Council ? Graham Porter

Branch Website Manager- Robert Laycock FI. Hort

YHOY Organiser ? Graham Porter

Branch Correspondent ? TBC

Committee members- David Barker MI. Hort.

Alwyn Gornall FI. Hort.

Mike Hirst MI. Hort.

Joy MacMahon AI. Hort.

Michael Myers MI. Hort.

Eric Richards MI. Hort.

Dawn Richardson MI. Hort.

Alan Simson MI. Hort.

Liz Simson MI. Hort.

D11^th December 2007

Roger Burnett, Parks and Countryside Manager for Scarborough Borough Council, has been appointed as Chairman of Judges for RHS Britain in Bloom.

Roger succeeds Jim Buttress who retired after serving as Chairman for three years. Jim Buttress received the RHS Britain in Bloom Lifetime Achievement Award in September for his commitment to the campaign.

Roger has been vice-chairman of the panel for three years, and a national judge for five years. Roger is also a member of the Yorkshire in Bloom Executive, as well as a Yorkshire in Bloom and Green Flag judge.

Roger will oversee the panel of 13 judges and guide them through both the summer judging tour and the recently introduced unannounced judging in the spring.

Roger said, ?I am very pleased to take on the role of Chairman of Judges and intend to further the campaign by working with the RHS team and our partners to introduce a five-year plan early in 2008. RHS Britain in Bloom is a highly effective environmental campaign but we need more communities to take part to ensure it grows from strength to strength. As chairman of judges I hope to help increase participation and ensure more communities throughout the UK have opportunity to benefit from the campaign.?

RHS Director of Science and Learning, Simon Thornton-Wood, said, ?We welcome the appointment of Roger as Chairman of Judges for RHS Britain in Bloom. The RHS have been custodians of the Britain in Bloom campaign since 2002, and during that time we have had the opportunity to work with many horticultural expert judges as well as over 1000 Britain in Bloom communities and more than 400 Neighbourhood Awards communities who all volunteer thousands of hours of their time each year to the Britain in Bloom cause.

?Working with Roger and the team of judges, as well as the Regions and Nations in Bloom, the RHS intends to continue to expand our community gardening programme through the Britain in Bloom campaign and bring the joy of gardening to even more people in the UK.?

The RHS Britain in Bloom judges volunteer many hours for the campaign including the solid two-week full time summer judging tour, a week of unannounced judging in the spring, attendance at meetings, awards and speaking appointments.

The launch of RHS Britain in Bloom 2008 will be held in Roger?s home town of Scarborough on the 28^th February 2008.

Scarborough will also be competing in the 2008 UK finals, having achieved a Gold Standard and winning the Coastal Category in RHS Britain in Bloom in 2006.

RHS Britain in Bloom is open to any community wanting to make a difference to where they live. For more information or to get involved, go to www.rhs.org.uk/britaininbloom

After the success of the 2006 competition, when we had over 1000 students taking part and over £7000 worth of sponsorship nationwide, the organisers of the 2007 are hoping to include more students and to be able to offer higher prize money than ever before.

Since last year, the North of England Horticultural Society has increased its regional sponsorship to £900 and, through sales of produce from our stands at the Harrogate Flower Shows and the continued national sponsorship by Nat West Bank we have sufficient money in the bank to be able maintain the level of prizes at heats and regional finals. Heat prizes will be £50, £25 and £20. Regional Final will be £100, £60 and £40, with all regional final winners receiving a new prize from Bulldog Tools of a Spade and Fork set. National Final is still £1500 travel bursary for the overall winner. If you are able to source extra sponsorship from within your organisation or other organisations, please do so. If you are unable to run a heat this year but would like to send your students to one of the other heats please let me know so that I can link you up with an appropriate centre.

Dates for your diaries so far are:

1. IOH Northern Regional Final - Saturday March 31st at the Stockbridge Technology Centre near Selby - this will be an all day event and includes a tour around the centre to see the work with other IOH members.

2. IOH National Final - Saturday April 28th at the Glasnevin Botanical Gardens near Dublin.

The Powerpoint Presentation CDROM Heat Competition will be available by early December and so your heats will need to between December 2006 and March 2007.

I look forward to you all being involved in the 2007 competition and hope that I can get to see some if not all of the heats.

Kindest regards

Graham Porter F.I.Hort.

(IOH Northern Branch Chairperson and YHOTY Organiser)

PS - If you are not already an IOH member you may wish to consider joining - you can get further information on the benefits of membership from the 'About Us' section of the website, and download an application form here.