Community gardening club puts down roots thanks to donation

The Hogweed Gardening Club was presented with a cheque for £240.

Lubrizol, in Hazelwood, has given £240 to the Hogweed Gardening Club, which has 40 members from Hognaston and the surrounding villages of Middleton, Brassington, Hulland and Wirksworth.

The group gets together once a month to listen to garden-themed talks, visits to properties opening as part of the RHS Chelsea and National Garden Scheme and share their mutual love of all things horticultural.

The donation will cover the cost of hiring Hognaston Village Hall for ten months of the year, which then allows the club to use its membership funds to pay for guest speakers.

In 2019 members listened to talks on the local river system, plants and garden science, poisonous plants and economical gardening using teabags, bras and tights.

Chair of the Hogweed Gardening Club, Valerie Palmer, said: “Our members are drawn from several rural villages, which can be quite isolated and remote, so community gatherings of this nature can be a lifeline.

“We have members with gardens originally designed in the 1970s by television gardener Percy Thrower. While some are very small with no lawns or hedges, but lots of pots and imagination.

“The gardening club brings villagers together to listen to talks and enjoy various days outs and visits and, perhaps most importantly, talk to each other before and after each meeting.

“The generous donation from Lubrizol not only helps Hogweed make financial ends meet, but it also benefits the village, contributing towards the running costs of the hall which is a valuable asset to everyone.”

This year the group has pledged to become even more green with talks lined up to help members reduce their use of plastic and improve the environment for insects, worms and other bugs.

Members are also hoping to participate in Royal Horticulture Society research into slugs which aims to try to give them a better image.

It is the second year that Lubrizol has supported the group with a donation and the company makes dozens of generous donations to local good causes every year.