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In 1901 at the start of the century the long standing Cottage Garden Society was wound-up (1) but the Budleigh Salterton Chrysanthemum Society (2), which had been founded in 1891, was still very active with a well attended November Show. There was obviously a strong demand in the town for other Shows during the year so in March 1907 the Exeter & Plymouth Gazette reported that “it has been decided to form a Gardeners and Cottagers Horticultural Society for the town and district”, and this became officially known as The Budleigh Salterton & District Horticultural Society.

Budleigh Salterton & District Horticultural Society

This held its first annual summer show in the Public Rooms in August 1907. The Show was divided into two sections. The First Division was open to All Members and the Second was for Cottagers. It is not clear who qualified as a Cottager, one assumes most of the exhibitors in the First Division employed a gardener, but the winners mentioned for the Cottagers classes were all tradesmen of one sort or another so it may have been a case of class distinction! There was, in addition, a Wild Flowers class for children from 9 to 13. There were 260 entries of flowers, fruit and vegetables and the judges were, Mr Mayne, gardener to Lord Clinton, and Mr Cook of Ford Abbey. Mr G Curtis, Mr E Mustow, and Miss Davies sent exhibits for show not to be included in the competition. The organisation was undertaken by Mr H Clark (the Hon. Sec.) and Mr J C Palmer was the Treasurer. In later shows Mr C Simmons was described as the Superintendant and he had the job of making all the arrangements for the shows until 1910. In 1907 he had arranged for “vocal contributions” (presumably songs). The second show in 1908 attracted 400 exhibits and the Society was in a better financial position.

The Society used to have monthly meetings for its members in the Long Room at the Feathers Hotel where they could exhibit examples of their flowers, vegetables and fruit, and they also had occasional lectures on various subjects, examples being, “Perennials” in November 1908, “Planting and growing early vegetables” in 1909 from Mr Mayne, and in1913 “The potato, its cultivation to avoid disease” from Col. Walker’s gardener at Leeford.

Around 1909 the Society became affiliated to the Royal Horticultural Society and in 1910 it held its first Spring Show under RHS Rules. Mr A H Passmore was by then the Honorary Secretary. Admission to the Show cost, a shilling between 2 and 5pm, and sixpence after 6pm; after 6.30 there was also music. The Society was now holding two shows a year (in Spring & Summer).

In 1912 the Spring Show moved to the Masonic Hall and there was a slight fall off in the number of entries. Mr Mayne from Bicton was the judge and the organising committee consisted of Messrs., Mustow, White, Cox, Vickery, Yeats and J C Palmer (Chairman). There were still two Divisions. At the AGM in the Long Room at The Feathers in April Mr Vickery had agreed to become Hon. Secretary pro tem as Mr Passmore was unwell. It was decided that after the coming Summer Show in August at the Public Rooms there would be dancing and other amusements from 6pm in a field adjoining the Rooms offered by Mr Marks, and the town band was to supply the music; this had been a common practice in the previous century when races were also organised (1). A series of special prizes were awarded for the best entry in the following classes, Basket of Flowers, Table Decorations (for the servants of members),12 varieties of Sweet Peas, best collection of Wild Flowers (for children under 16), a pound of honey in a jar, and several prizes for the best collections of vegetables.

The Shows were staged till August 1914. During WW1 the Society was still functioning with Mr Vickery as Honorary Secretary. It appears that their activities may have been slightly curtailed as at the AGM in January 1915 they voted to hold a Show in July so the Spring Show must have been dropped. The Society had earlier been asked by Admiral Charles Beresford, President of the Vegetable Products Committee to form a local branch of his Committee in Budleigh to supply fresh produce for the Fleet, and this had been done in December 1914. At a meeting of the Society in January 1916 it was recorded that the town had been sending on average 3 hundredweight of vegetables to one of the naval bases every week for 13 months. In January 1916 the Society was offered the use of a piece of land for an annual rent of one shilling by Mr G H Norman of Park Lodge, Little Knowle to grow vegetables which they gratefully accepted.

Budleigh Salterton Women’s Institute (WI)

After the war there was no mention in the newspapers of flower shows in Budleigh Salterton until August 1923 when there was a show at a fete on the football field in Moor Lane organised by local branch of the British Legion. The British Legion Band played and there were side-shows and athletics events. The horticultural show was held in the drill hall and was organised by the local WI with Miss Vigars acting as Hon. Secretary. There were 43 classes of flowers, fruit and vegetables with a total of 249 entries. There were special exhibitions of ferns and succulents.

The WI flower show in 1924 was again in the drill hall as part of a fete organised by the British Legion. The ladies committee was chaired by Mrs Ragg (President of the WI).

The Flower Shows soon became the sole province of the WI. They were transferred to the newly built Public Hall in 1926. In July 1927 we find that they had adopted the old format of the division of the shows into classes for Cottagers and Open Classes, and they held shows in the summer and autumn. The new autumn show was effectively a resurrection of the show previously staged each year by the Budleigh Salterton Chrysanthemum Society which had not restarted after the war. A correspondent for The Exeter & Plymouth Gazette of 11 November 1927 put it rather succinctly when he wrote that “autumn chrysanthemum and fruit shows, once a popular feature of almost every town, have shown a sad decline as a result of the war. The members of the old organisations have died or dropped out of harness, and it has been difficult to find others with sufficient interest (to) devote the necessary time and labour to the task of arranging these interesting exhibitions.” He later wrote “the Budleigh Salterton WI have successfully revived the summer show and run it for 3 years and have now turned their attention to the autumn show...The Budleigh Salterton autumn show was the great event of the year in horticultural circles before the war, and, judging by the success attending the revival, it bids fair to regain that position.” There were 271 entries.

The summer show in 1928 attracted 400 entries from Salterton, Knowle, Ting Tong and Kersbrook. Mrs Hawkes-Cornock was Hon. Secretary assisted by Miss Vigars (Treasurer). By1929, the number of entries for the summer show had risen to 475. A silver cup given by Mrs Hawkes-Cornock for the best collection of 12 dessert apples of more than 4 varieties was won by Mr F Smith of Kersbrook ahead of Mr R C Please who had won it for the previous two years. This cup was much later awarded to the person with the most points in the fruit classes in the summer & autumn shows combined.

In 1930 the WI instituted a third show in the spring. Mrs Ragg was still President, Miss Vigars was Honorary Treasurer, and Mrs Gaskell was Hon. Secretary. There were about 150 entries “artistically arranged by the Committee”.  A class devoted to bowls of garden flowers was judged by the general public attending the show, and this practice was extended the same year to the table decorations classes at the November show which in the past had always been professionally judged. This practice seems to have continued for a number of years.

Number of entries at the spring show had increased to 290 by 1931. In the summer of 1931 we get the mention of a Cottagers Cup won by Mr W Cummings; this is now probably called the Ragg Cup as Mr Cummings’ name was engraved on that cup in 1931, 1932 & 1933. This cup was awarded to the person with the most points in the narcissus classes. There was a record entry of 491 exhibits at the summer show in 1932 and Mr F Smith won the Hawkes-Cornock Cup and Miss Miles won a cup donated by Mrs Gordon Johnson for the highest number of points in rose classes. There were about 320 exhibits at the autumn show and this had increased to 420 in the autumn of 1933. The minutes of the WI for 1934, 1935, & 1936 (3) recorded that there were yearly total for the three shows each year of 1096, 984, and 1123 exhibits (which is more than present day entry numbers). In 1934 the Palmer Cup was donated for the best in the Delphinium class, and was won by Mrs G Johnson for two years.

From 1936, to lessen the burden on the organisers, Miss J Wilson acted as assistant secretary to Mrs Gaskell and Miss Lipscombe as assistant treasurer to Miss Vigars, and this doubling-up continued until the shows were suspended for the duration of WW2. The shows were still extremely popular and the autumn show in 1937 attracted 520 exhibits with “another superb display of blooms and a marvellous exhibition of fruit, both apples and pears being shown of a quality hard to beat”. That year, as it was supposed to be coronation year, there was an emphasis on red, white and blue flowers at the summer show. The summer show in 1938, despite a drought that year, had 127 more entries than the show the previous year and a “display of flowers…the most attractive ever put up, and soft fruits were of particularly fine quality”.

At the 1939 spring show the bottling of fruit was encouraged by Miss Beddy who exhibited examples of her own efforts including a bottle of fruit from 1929 which she said was still as good as the day it was laid down. This was excellent advice considering war broke out in September. All further shows were cancelled for the duration of the war.

Post WW2 Flower Shows

The WI revived the shows in the summer of 1946 and Mrs Ragg was again President and Mrs Gaskell Honorary Secretary, the new Treasurer was Miss P Lowe. There were again 3 sections for exhibits – Class A (presumably from entrants with a full-time gardener), Class B for people with a part-time gardener, and Class C for people with no gardener.

The WI finally decided not to continue organising the shows themselves and their minutes of November 1951 mentions a joint meeting held with the Officers of the Flower Show Committee “at which new and satisfactory arrangements were entered into re the future relationship of the two organisations”(3). This new Flower Show Committee was described as Flower Shows (Budleigh Salterton) in Kelly’s Directory of 1956/7 with Miss Bourne as Honorary Secretary. There was a Bourne Cup donated in 1952 (presumably by Miss Bourne). The same year a Warreleigh Cup was also donated. The WI was involved in some peripheral way up until about 1964 as the Show Schedules noted that the Shows were “Under the patronage of Budleigh Salterton’s Women’s Institute”.

The 1961 show opened to the public at 2.30 and closed at 7pm. The principal officers were Lady Dulcie Scott (4) as Chairman, Mrs Fergusson (Hon. Sec) and Miss Afflck (Hon. Treasurer). The stand-alone Society in 1965 had the same three principal officers but a post of President (Mrs Folker) had been instituted, and she donated a silver cup that was first awarded in 1966.

Unfortunately there are no early records of the new Committee/Society. At some stage (probably in 1965) it became known as the Budleigh Salterton Flower Shows Society and the current Honorary Secretary Mrs Rosemary Humphries holds an almost complete set of show schedules running from 1970 to the present day, as well as the Minutes of Society meetings and lists of winners of the various flower, fruit and vegetable classes of recent years. The schedules record not only the classes but also the names of Committee members. The names of past winners of all the cups were engraved on the cup pedestals until recently, although winners could get the engraving done themselves if they wished. By 1970 a Show Secretary had been added to the Committee and Mr Yeats had the job for about 8 years but this was discontinued and only restarted in 2008 when Mrs Marshal filled the post for a number of years although the Assistant Secretary Mrs Baxter had help the Hon. Secretary with Show organisation during the late 1990s.

Lady Scott had taken over from Mrs Folker as President in 1969 and remained as such until she left Budleigh in 1993; she had been made Life President in 1977. Mr Papworth took over from her until 2003 when he was replaced by Mrs Peters 2004-6 followed by Mr Shere and then again by Mrs Peters. When Lady Scott died at her new home in the Cotswolds Mr Papworth became Life President (and is now over a hundred years old).

The role of Honorary Secretary has changed hands several times:-Miss Futter 1969-1975, Mrs Gathorne Young 1976-1979, Mrs Staveley 1980-1991, Mrs Ashby 1992-2001, Dr M Lendon 2002-2007, and in recent years it has rotated more, with Mrs Peter taking up the role initially from 2008. The present incumbent from 2015 is Mrs Humphries.

The Honorary Treasurer changed less often; Miss Affleck, served from at least 1961 until 1981, Mr Swann 1982-1986, Mr Papworth 1987-1992, Mr Ashby 1993 – 2001, Mr Lendon 2001-2007, Mr Ferrier 2008 -2017.

A Chairman was added to the Committee in 1970 and the role was initially filled by Mr Trigger OBE, then by, Mrs Coates 1972-75, Mrs Hatton 1976-9, Mr Trigger 1980, Mrs Murphy 1981-86, Mr James 1987-89,Mr Papworth 1990-2003, Mrs Peters 2004-2007, and Mr Shere from 2008-2013.

As well as the silver cups already mentioned others were donated and usually named after the donor or in memory of someone; the name and the year they were first awarded was, Warreleigh 1952 for the greatest number of point over the year, Rosemullion 1959 for best entry in show, Townsend 1968 for greatest number of points in fruit and vegetable classes in the autumn, Leach 1978 for best vegetable entry, Britain in Bloom 1985 for flowering and berried shrubs, Furse 1995 for alpines, Lady Dulcie Scott 1995 for best entry excluding 3 classes, Norrish 1995 for daffodils, and the Papworth Memorial cup 1995 for camellias.

In 1997 the Society constructed a small garden at the Chelsea Flower Show called the “Wave Garden” and it was awarded a bronze medal (5). The Secretary Mrs Ashby and a team from the committee comprising, Mr Papworth, Mr & Mrs Rihll, Mrs Baxter, Mrs Peters, Mr Shere and Mr Ashby built the garden, which had been subjected to a dry run before the event in the Ashby’s garden. The garden cost £2,500 which would not have been possible without generous donations from the Town Council and local charities. The garden was praised by the judges and the Society was invited to enter again the following year, however several factors, not least the cost, made this impossible.

Mrs Ashby was also instrumental in organising the planting of an avenue of hornbeam trees on the approach to the town along the East Budleigh Road as a project for the Millennium. Altogether 13 mainly local clubs and organisations planted the trees and agreed to tend them for two years after which the local authority would take over the responsibility. Later the Budleigh Salterton Lion’s Club planted a host of daffodils along the road verge in front.

In 2006, along with the Budleigh Salterton Garden Club, the Society rejuvenated and replanted the garden on the path beside the library and it won a Britain in Bloom award that year. In a second phase in 2007 a raised bed was constructed in front of the library and 20 mosaic plaques were made for the wall by the children of St. Peter’s School tutored by Mrs Ashby. Mr Ferrier raised the funds for this project. The raised bed was unfortunately subsequently damaged when a young lady crashed into it in her father’s car. Luckily the bed was repairable.

Around the turn of the 21st century the number of flower shows was reduced to two a year with the autumn show temporarily suspended due to the paucity of exhibits in the vegetable classes. The autumn show has since been revived, and the Society continues to successfully provide three excellent shows a year although the number of exhibits has never unfortunately returned to the large numbers recorded for the shows in the early half of the 20th century.

Written and Researched by Roger Lendon, © October 2017

(1)  Budleigh Salterton flower shows: 19th century. OVApedia 2013
(2)  Budleigh Salterton Chrysanthemum Society. OVApedia 2017
(3)  A WI minute book donated to the Society by the late Miss Ruth Roots
(4)  Scott, Major General Sir William & Lady Dulcie. OVApedia 2016
(5)  This event is available to view at Fairlynch Museum in an illustrated file compiled by Mrs S Ashby

Other information came from articles in editions of the Exeter & Plymouth Gazette and the Western Times, also from recent show schedules and AGM minutes of the Society.

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