OUR HISTORY

The club first started in 1968 by Eileen Saunders and her husband Ted who, at that time, owned 'Wagtails Fuchsia Nursery', at Henfield, West Sussex.
By June 1968 the Club had over 100 members. Meetings were held at the nursery in one of the

greenhouses, where you had to sit on wooden boxes or forms. Later a clubhouse was erected - a Bracknell shed.
The first annual show was a 2 day affair held at the nursery on 24/25 August 1968. Judges were Mr Stan Wilson (now our President), and Mrs Molly Cuer. Thirty Members showed 130 exhibits & 11 Non-Members showed 11. The 'Best-in-Show' went to Mr R. West.
The second annual show was again held on the nursery on July 26th 1969. Entries were slightly down on the previous year, but never-the-less it was a very good show.

December 1969 was the time when our Club really came into being and it was then renamed
The Sussex Wagtails Fuchsia Club.

Our first President was	Mrs E. Saunders
Vice-President	Mr. E. Saunders
Chairman	Mr. P. Sawyer
Treasurer	Mr. F. Holloway
Secretary	Mrs G. Hardy
Show Secretary	Mr. R. West

Subscriptions were: Single Person...10/- (50p): Married couple...15/- (75p): Juniors...5/- (25p)
All single Members received 3 free cuttings and Married couples 4 free cuttings.

For the annual show on July 25th 1970, held at the Henfield Assembly Rooms, all Novices were given a free cutting of 'Joy Patmore' to be grown in time for the show.
The Clubs opening event was a talk by Mr Stan Wilson on Sunday, 5th April 1970 at 3pm. His talk was a great success with 90 members turning up. The Club held four meetings a year and produced three newsletters.
The Members of the Club began entering the 'Club Exhibit' in the London Show and Ted & Eileen would take these plants up for the Club along with their own exhibits.

July 31st 1971 saw the next annual show, where a stunning basket of 'Lakeside', grown by Mr Perry, stood in the doorway and was admired by all as they entered the show. The allocated cuttings that year were 'Snowcap' and 'The Aristocrat'. The show was judged by a Mr Turner and Mr Greenhill. Mr Stan Wilson won 'Best-in-Show with a fine specimen of 'Genii'. During the year a visit was made to the renowned Stanmer Park Nurseries. The Club also had during the year a film show and talk on 'Peat' by the Irish Peat Development Authority, where the speaker Mr W.E. Oakley said that peat would last 50 years before exhausting supplies.

Mrs Eileen Saunders is the author of the wonderful 'Wagtails' Fuchsia Books (definitely collectors items). Volume one came out in 1971, and there are now five volumes.
Bad news in 1972. Ted & Eileen decided to sell up the nursery and move. They wanted a country 'pub' with a large garden where Eileen could continue to produce her Fuchsia Books.

Mr & Mrs Saywell, the new owners, promised to carry on as before and although this continued for a time it became obvious that we were not really wanted, so a new venue was needed.
Eventually a new meeting place was found - the Memorial Hall, Patcham. This was however short lived, and by October 1974, we were again on the move. Luckily we were able to book the Community Centre at Patcham and we still meet there to this day.

The Club was now settled, and financially solid. The annual show progressed from Henfield to St. Peters Church Hall, Brighton. Fuchsia's were so popular that on show day there would be queues of people waiting to get into the show and to buy plants. From there we transferred our show to its present home, The Meridian Centre, Peacehaven.

My thanks goes to the late Mr Norman Woodhams, a staunch member of the Club since its very first beginnings, for his help compiling this brief history of The Sussex Wagtails Fuchsia Club.