COMMITTEE MEMBERS

Debbie Steel

Chair

​Debbie has now been in post since Jan 2017 having been elected to the position of Chair, to replace Eric Watson, who stood down after 18 years service. She has been a member of the Group since Oct 2013. During that time she was our Treasurer, Membership Secretary, and on the Events Committee, organising our Day Trips and Holidays. She continues on the Events Committee whilst serving as Chair.
Having recently been made redundant, she has more time for gardening, with her long suffering husband Dave. She is also involved with the Blandford Town Museum where she is the Treasurer.

Penny Cleaver

SECRETARY

​Penny was voted on to the committee as Secretary in January 2019. She was born and bred in Poole but has lived in Cheshire for a number of years more recently. She was an active member with their Hardy Plant Society Group and now works as a gardener so has an amazing amount of knowledge and experience in both gardening and the running of HPS Groups.

Richard Cooke

TREASURER

​Richard had been a member for a few years before volunteering to be Treasurer, keeping his wife, Jan, company at some meetings, the holidays and Day Trips. He is an avid rugby follower so don't expect to see him on a Saturday when there is an important match on! Luckily for us he is also a "semi" retired accountant and is happy to join us on the committee.

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Rowena Jecock

COMMITTEE MEMBER MEMBERSHIP

​Rowena has just taken over from Janet Riggs, as Membership Secretary.
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Although Rowena only joined HPS just over a year ago, she was keen to get more involved and so was happy to be 'persuaded' to take over as Membership Secretary.  She is an enthusiastic gardener with a keen interest in natural history, and is also a trustee of the Knoll Gardens Foundation.     

Helen McIllmurray

COMMITTEE MEMBER
VOLUNTEER CO-ORDINATOR

Picture and personal write up to follow.
Helen has recently joined the Group and has taken on the responsibility for coordinating all our volunteers to ensure the meetings run smoothly. 

Judy Spratley

COMMITTEE and events committee member

Liz Underwood

committee member

​Judy has been a member of the group for a number of years. She volunteers at Knoll Gardens on a Friday and is involved with the Highcliffe Horticultural Society as well.
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In 2018 she joined the Events Committee and has been heavily involved in planning the 2019 Holiday and Day Trips. She will be representing the Events Team as the demand for our "events" increases so that there is some cross over between the 2 committees.

Liz is one of the new members on our committee, joining in 2020. She moved to Dorset at the end of 2013 and has been an HPS member for about 4 years. Previously she had lived in Somerset where she had studied for several horticultural qualifications at East Lambrook. She has worked as a physio, and as a gardener. She now volunteers at nearby Knoll Gardens and has done so for the past 5 years, and also as a gardener at Wimborne Hospital for the past 3 years.

James & Sheila Westgate

NON COMMITTEE MEMBERS REFRESHMENTS and sound

James and Sheila have lived in Dorset for almost 50 years, apart from a stint in Essex where they discovered HPS!  Returning to Dorset they found our group just half a mile up the road and have been members for 8 years.
Sheila was our Secretary for 3 years, and having had a break for one year is now back looking after refreshments.  James was Speaker Secretary over the same time as well as looking after our Sound and greeting you at the door.  He has never given up this role and continues to support the group this way.

Andrew Haynes

PRESIDENT

We do have a President, and whilst he is not a member of the Committee, Andrew has an important role to play within the Group.
He is a professional gardener, working as Head Gardener at Edmondsham House for a number of years. You will always find him behind our Plant Table, and he too is another of our members who has a huge amount of horticultural knowledge which they are happy to share with you, so please feel free to test him some time.

Eric Watson

FACEBOOK ADMINISTRATOR

​Eric too is not on the current committee, but headed it up for 18 years. He has taken over our Facebook page and is still heavily involved with the Group.