NEWTON St Cyres Gardening Club members enjoyed a fascinating talk and PowerPoint presentation by Miranda Allhusen who edits the National Gardens’ Scheme "Yellow Book".

Miranda took us through the history of the NGS and then showed pictures of some beautiful gardens in Devon that we can visit.

The NGS history is an amazing one.

William Rathbone was a successful businessman in the north west of England in the late 1800s who hired a nurse to look after his ailing wife.

When his wife died soon after he felt it would be good use of the nurse’s time if she went out into the slums of Liverpool to help with health, nutrition and hygiene issues.

The nurse reported back to him that there was a great need for more nurses so he hired and trained a team of nurses to go out into the community.

This was the start of the District Nurses as we know them.

Money was needed to start funding the training and the uniforms and a socialite took up the cause and persuaded Queen Victoria to open her garden at Sandringham to raise funds.

The idea caught on and people with large houses which they wished to show off opened their gardens to raise money. With the formation of the National Health Service the National Gardens’ Scheme was born and they now raise thousands of pounds every year for charities such as Macmillan Cancer Support, Marie Curie, Hospice UK, Queens Nursing Institute, Parkinsons UK, MS Society etc.

One new charity is Horatio’s Garden founded by the parents of a young man killed by a polar bear when on his travels.

Horatio used to volunteer at a spinal unit in Salisbury and had felt that a garden would be an ideal place for patients to relax in their chairs or beds. More gardens are planned for other spinal units as a result.

Miranda then showed pictures of some beautiful gardens in Devon ranging from wild flower gardens, coastal gardens, formal gardens, vegetable gardens, allotments and small urban gardens.

All of them open on selected dates throughout the year and all the money raised from the entrance fees goes to the charities.

The 2017 Yellow Book was available at the meeting and everyone took away a copy (or three or four!).

A quantity of copies have been put into Quicke’s Farm Shop and into the Cake-a-Doodle-Do Café next door where they can be obtained. Copies are also available at Bernaville Nurseries. The website for further details is: www.ngs.org.uk .

Jill Baker