Useful Information
The group meets every second Wednesday of the month at East Court in the Cranston Suite/ Main Hall
East Grinstead
RH19 3LT
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The meetings start at 7pm for a 7.30pm start and end at approximately 9.30pm.
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Payment of £5 per meeting for visitors or an annual membership fee of £45 which is pro -rated when you join.
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Any questions please email: eastgrinsteadgardeningclub1@outlook.com
EGGC Year book
EGGC elected committee:
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Chair: Helen Gabrielides
Treasurer: Helen Gray
Speaker secretary: Helen Gray
Publicity Officer: Sheila Moore
Committee Secretary: vacancy
Membership: Sue Robinson
Raffle and Fundraising: Marjorie Paterson
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Chair’s annual report for 2025
2025 has proved to be a successful and enjoyable year for EGGC.
This year the members voted to change our name to East Grinstead Gardening Club. Our membership has increased, welcoming nine new members this year and we have had more visitors than in recent years who have also returned in subsequent months. We are hopeful that this is a positive sign for future membership numbers.
Our garden visits this year were wonderful. We visited two members' garden, Sue and John, who very kindly opened their fabulous East Grinstead garden in July. We were inspired and even learnt how to make our own mini alpine trough - amazing. In addition, we visited Withypitt dahlias, in Turners Hill where we saw how dahlias are grown on a large scale and sent to Covent Garden. Both visits were well attended and we were also fortunate to have lovely sunny and dry weather on both occasions. The garden visits are amazing, the owners are generous with their time, hospitality and the information that they share. Thank you.
At last year’s AGM we had our first lasagne bulb planting session. Everyone that attended left with a pot filled with spring bulbs. It was such a pleasure to see photos of our respective growing journeys on our members WhatsApp group. The difference between the flowering times of the same bulbs when located in different positions was at times remarkable. We all enjoyed it so much that we are planting bulbs again at this evening’s AGM!
We are now very much established at East Court but are beginning to consider hiring a larger room as our numbers increase.
I am pleased to report that East Grinstead Museum has kindly agreed to care for our archive which dates back to around 1945. This means that it will be available for anyone to access. Furthermore, it looks like there will be some events organised by the museum in the summer of 2026, which will celebrate crafts and activities in East Grinstead. I hope that we can play a part in this in some way.
I must of course thank the fabulous work of the committee who generously give their time for the smooth running of the club.
We look forward to 2026 when we hope to continue to grow from strength to strength.
Thank you to you, our loyal, supportive and friendly members. It is always a pleasure to spend time with you and hear about your gardening updates.
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Chair EGGC
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Speakers
Alison Marsden
Drought tolerant planting and how to deal with extremes of weather
Barry Newman
Growing vegetables in containers
Peter Chan
Herons Bonsai
https://www.herons.co.uk/
All things bonsai related
Paul Grimmer
Plants n Gardens
http://www.plants-n-gardens.co.uk
Propagation
Graham Blunt
Plantbase
www.plantbase.co.uk
Hardy exotics
General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
East Grinstead Horticultural Society
Data Protection Policy
General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
PRIVACY NOTICE
The UK Data Protection Act 2018 gives you the right to know what personal data an organisation holds about you, how your data is processed, stored and how data is kept confidential. It also gives you the right to have a copy of the data held, have incorrect data corrected and to have data deleted (‘the right to be forgotten’).
Who are we? East Grinstead Horticultural Society (EGHS) is a not-for-profit social group for people with a shared interest in gardens and gardening. The Committee of East Grinstead Horticultural Society acts as the organisation’s data controller for the purposes of the GDPR. Individual officers of the Committee may act as data processors, in particular the Chair, Secretary and Treasurer.
Why we keep personal data and our legal basis for doing so: EGHS keeps and uses personal data to run the society efficiently and to provide our members with the services they have paid for. To do this the Officers and others involved in the organisation of the society need to know who our members are and to be able to communicate with them. EGHS is therefore adopting the legal basis of ‘Legitimate Interest’ to justify holding and using your personal data. The Committee is satisfied that it is in the legitimate interests of EGHS to maintain this data, that it is necessary and proportionate to do so and that the purposes for which the data is used cannot be achieved in any other, less intrusive, way.
What we keep and what we do with it: EGHS stores and uses contact details as provided by you. Those details are your name, address, telephone number/s and email address. We also have a record of your method of payment. We do not keep any bank details. We do keep a record of those attending meetings.
We use the information to keep you informed about EGHS’s activities and other things that may be of interest to you. The information is held electronically on personal computers and in paper form as required. Every effort is made to ensure that your data is secure. The data of all members of the Group is held by the Chair, Secretary and Treasurer. Individual members’ details are made available to and held by other Committee members and other members involved in organising activities as and when required.
Who we share it with: We do not, and will not, share your information with anyone outside of EGHS.
How long we keep it for: We keep your information for the duration of your membership with EGHS and for 16 weeks after your last payment becomes due, unless you tell us that you do not wish to rejoin. If you inform us that you are cancelling your membership all your data will be deleted from the electronic record as soon as possible.
Your rights under the GDPR: You have the right to:
Be informed about the collection and use of your personal data
Access the data held (a copy of your data will be provided on request)
Have any inaccuracies in your data corrected
Request your details be deleted from our records
Request that the use of your personal data is restricted
You have the right to object to the use of your personal data at any time.
If you wish to exercise any of the rights outlined above please contact the EGHS Chairperson.
eghorticulturalsociety@outlook.com
December 2024
Please sign and return this page to the chair of East Grinstead Horticultural Society.
Explicit permission to Hold and Process Personal Data
I give my explicit permission to the East Grinstead Horticultural Society to hold and process my personal data as described in the East Grinstead Horticultural Society, Data Protection Policy.
Name (please print) Date
Signature
FAQs
Can anyone attend EGHS meetings? Yes, just turn up for the start of the meeting at 7.15ish.
Do you have to be an expert gardener? No, not at all. You just need to be curious about gardening.