News about CABAHS activities. More detailed reports about talks, shows, volunteering and visits can be found in the appropriate section.
We had another brilliant and successful day in the Charlton House Peace Garden on Sunday. We were so happy, after all these weeks of tending our plant babies, to see them go off to loving new homes!
Thank you to everyone who grew the plants, helped to sell them (all 43 of you!), bought them, or just came along to enjoy the day.
Most of our members will now have heard the sad news that Jillian Smith, Chair of CABAHS for many years, has died after a long illness. Many of us will be familiar with her beautiful garden in Winn Road which she opened for charity several times and which became something of an occasion, with tea and cake taken to the many seating areas dotted around the garden.
In addition to chairing the Society, Jillian also organised the annual outings and judged the Shows: no small task. Her horticultural knowledge and expertise were second to none and always delivered with grace and humour. We were lucky enough to welcome her back to judge our Autumn Show in 2025, the year of our anniversary. To honour the immense contribution Jillian made to CABAHS she was made one of our Vice Presidents on her retirement.
People live on in many different ways. Many of us now have plants in our gardens which were from Jillian – she was always generous with her donations and until recently was still contributing plants to our annual plant sales. Walking around our gardens there will often be a plant that we describe as “Jillian’s”. It is a terrific legacy to have left to us.
CABAHS Shows Secretary 1974-83
CABAHS Chair 1984-93
CABAHS Vice-Chair 1997-2006
CABAHS Chair 2006-2016
Vija V
Bunnies again, doesn’t it come around quickly! Although Bunnies is now a Royal Greenwich Heritage Trust annual event, CABAHS is still very involved, with 27 of our members and garden volunteers turning out to help on the last Sunday in March. This year the Bunnies went to Wonderland, and we had enormous fun with the Lewis Carroll characters and quotes. “Every adventure requires a first step…”
We had 178 small Bunny Hunters and it felt like a lot more with all their families and canine friends! We also had visitors just coming along to enjoy the day, it was great to be able to display some new plantings, especially the tulips – Tulip praestans ‘Shogun’ is a showstopper in the Old Pond Garden. Lots of places for the Bunnies to hide this year.
Continue reading Bunnies in the Beds 2026In addition to gathering members’ personal gardening resolutions for 2026, our January meeting also launched the Committee’s proposal for a CABAHS-wide resolution for the year, inspired by Plant Heritage’s search for ‘missing collectors’.
The best way to save plants is to cultivate and propagate them, then share them with others.
– Roy Lancaster
Thank you to everyone who supported our October plant sale at Charlton House Horn Fair! Whether you helped on a stall, donated plants or bought plants – or all three in many cases – it was a fabulous effort. In addition to the serious and successful business of fund raising, everyone seemed to have fun, meet new people (maybe new members or volunteers..!) and of course, talk about plants.
What a day was had at yesterday’s plant sale in the Peace Garden! We had more plants for sale than ever before, longer queues than ever before, and made more money than ever before. The CABAHS members and Charlton House garden volunteers worked harder than ever before too – but it was absolutely worth it. Between us we raised well over £4000 to be divided between the Greenwich & Bexley Community Hospice and the gardens maintenance fund.
That’s this Sunday!
11-3pm in the Peace Garden at Charlton House
We are gathering plants, plants and more plants…
Continue reading Plant Sale! 18 May 2025
Thank you to everyone who came to the annual Easter Trail “Bunnies in the Beds” at Charlton House walled gardens on Sunday April 6th. What a fabulous day we all had! We are so grateful to all the helpers, garden volunteers, CABAHS members and RGHT staff who made the event happen.
The Bunnies were hiding in their favourite plants this year, so the children learned a bit of Botany whilst spotting them! We admit to importing a few pots of flowers specially for the event ( I can’t see Jason wanting Marigolds or Periwinkle in the Old Pond Garden on a permanent basis..). After finding and naming the flowers, children had to find the Bees in the Bushes in order to pollinate the flowers – thanks to Carolyn for all those cute knitted bees!
Sixty-three members attended our Annual General Meeting on Monday 17th February in the Old Library at Charlton House. There were opportunities to renew membership, check the data CABAHS holds on members for GDPR purposes and book the next CABAHS outing to RHS Wisley on 6th May, as well as the Raffle.
The AGM included a review of achievements over the past year and the election of the Committee and Officers of the Society for 2025.
Reports from the AGM
CABAHS AGM 2025 – Chair’s Report
CABAHS AGM 2025 – Treasurer’s Report
CABAHS AGM Minutes 2025
CABAHS AGM Revised Constitution
Three Committee Members have stepped down
Stella B stepped down as Chair of CABAHS and Anna L and Lynda F stepped down as Committee Members. Each was presented with a bouquet and a book in thanks for their contribution to the work of the CABAHS Committee.
New Committee for 2025
With departures from the Committee, new Committee members are required and Vija V was elected as Chair. She responded that “It was good to see so many of our members at the AGM. I am delighted to be returning as Chair of CABAHS and look forward to working with you all again.”
It wasn’t all that “fair” this year, in fact it was fairly wet, but we had such a great day! So many volunteers and visitors turned out to support this traditional event, thank you so much everyone. As well as a huge number of plants for sale, we also had fun with the Gargoyle Trail in the Gardens, which were specially dressed up and Haunted for the day!
Inside Charlton House there were lots of craft and artisan stalls, Frilly’s was open and there were food stalls on the back lawn. The Heritage Hub featured the Ottoman stone and some interesting watercolours of Charlton House over the years. Local community groups had stalls in the Grand Salon and St Luke’s was open for tower tours. Spotlight Dance group and the Morris Dancers were on show as well.
The gardens looked beautifully Autumnal and we had over 85 children and their families charging about looking for bats, gargoyles, pumpkins and spiders!
Highlight of the day was the Splat the Slug game, all ages had a go!
Continue reading Horn Fair 2024
Charlton and Blackheath Amateur Horticultural Society 