Potpourri

Interview with John Arnott., member since 1958

The inaugural meeting of the the Nobleton and District Horticultural Society was held in February 1958 at the Nobleton Community Hall. Mr. John Neate was the 1st President, he owned a greenhouse on the west side of Nobleton and the secretary was Mrs. Robert[Mildred] Wensley, who worked at the Township offices. Other members of note that 1st year were Mrs. John[Irene] Sheardown, mill owners ,Irene Jessop, Forrest and Muriel MacTaggart, Fergus and Pearl MacTaggart, Ken and Marian MacTaggart, all local farmers..It was Mrs. Ken MacTaggart who wrote “ the Nobleton Highlights” for the Bolton Enterprise each week. One thing of note was that there were a lot of male members in the early years.

One hundred and eighty five members were registered that 1st year and seventy five of them regularly attended the meetings which were held in the upstairs room at the hall and the flower shows on a Saturday afternoon in the downstairs room. At that time the washroom was attached to the building and was a hole in the ground.

Meetings were not arranged by one specific person, everyone took their turn in getting the guest speaker.

There was a youth group, the children of many of the adult members, They grew a small garden which was judged in late summer, and they also displayed their flowers and vegetables at the summer show . The winner of the junior cup that first year was Gail Dalziel , the daughter of Forrest and Muriel MacTaggart.

The winner of the Women’s’ Institute Cup in 1958 was Mrs. Ken [Marian] MacTaggart.

The Society had a good few years , however in 1965 a near disaster struck when, under the presidency of Theodore Elie, the funds went missing and the Society nearly collapsed . However, with many faithful members, the Society overcame this glitch and when we look at the 1970 showbook we can see that general meetings and flower shows were scheduled in the months of February, March, April and October. In May, June August and September flower shows were held in conjunction with an afternoon tea and bake sale hosted by one of the local churches of the Society members. The youth group was active until the early 1980s, however work has been done more recently with the local senior public school naturalizing their play- ground area .

Other changes have evolved over the years, the cancellation of the February meeting ,the change in the week of each month we hold our meetings and we now become the Nobleton and King City Horticultural Society

All our meetings are held in the evening and we raise funds to help beautify the community gardens around the two villages through plant sales in the spring held in conjunction with the Victoria Day Parade in Nobleton and in the fall at Kettleby Fair. A garden tour in June or July showing some of the beautiful and diverse gardens of King Township has been a great pleasure to all who have attended .

Irrespective of the many changes over the years the goal of the Society has been to education the members in the different aspects of horticulture and to beautify the area of the township of King around Nobleton and King City.

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