Alan Bloom was one of the founders of HPS and here in Norfolk & Suffolk we are incredibly lucky to have an excellent relationship with Bressingham Gardens and their curator, Jaime Blake.  We were loaned a number of Bressingham-bred plants for our display including ‘Grandad’s Favourite, which was the rhubarb that Alan Bloom ate every morning for breakfast.  This became a talking point throughout the day – including one student wanting to know how to grow rhubarb year-round.

A conservation board displayed the range of plants for which our group is responsible, as part of the HPS National Conservation Programme.  
The HPS National Office provided an excellent range of publicity material which we laminated so that it would be weather-resistant and last beyond the current event.  We displayed posters about the HPS, laid out membership and bursary forms (the latter were of particular interest to the students) and brought along a range of HPS local and national magazines as well as copies of Cornucopia.
As for the day itself, we got there in plenty of time to set up our tables and display material.  The weather was glorious and students arrived early to visit all the stands – we were interested to note that we were the only gardening society to take part (Plant Heritage was just about to have its semi-annual plant sale, so had turned down the invitation).  We spoke to lots of students from the horticulture and floristry courses.  It seems that a major problem for the trainee florists is getting hold of suitable material to work with.  The cutting garden at Easton has been moved and is being rejuvenated.  In the meantime, the horticulture students don’t want the florists cutting material from their growing areas.  The florist students found their tutors and brought them to our stand as we suggested that there must be a way we can work with them – each of us must be cutting down material that the students would love to work with.  We are now in discussion with Easton on how the Society and its members can help.  The organiser also asked if members of the Society would be prepared to come and talk to the students on an occasional basis – we, of course, said ‘Yes!’

Easton College looked after us very well during the day and provided an excellent, much-appreciated, snack lunch for the exhibitors.  We were blessed with the weather and determined that we would take part again if the College repeated the event.

What did we learn from the day?  That it takes a number of ‘hands’ to make this work – Linda and Pamela were joined on the stand by Chairman Chris and new committee member Cynthia in the afternoon.  We relied on the Secretary, Pauline, to get the publicity material and on Newsletter Editor, Andrew, to provide a gazebo (fortunately not needed) and folding chairs and supply back copies of magazines.   We have prepared an ‘Events Checklist’ so that future events can be set up quickly without having to guess too much what we might need on the day.  For example, the HPS banner looked better threaded through bamboo canes, hammered into the College-provided straw bales than just hanging from the front of the table.  So our list includes 2 x long bamboo canes and a mallet - perhaps not the most obvious event kit.
It was a good networking opportunity for the Society – as well as the College contacts we made we also talked to the nurseries there and have open invitations for visits, which Linda is working on for future programming ideas.  There was less contact with the trade stands, but at least no one tried to sell us ride-on mowers or tractors!