Garden club started in 1985

The Killcare Heights Garden Club has been a great success story over the last 25 years, according to Bouddi Peninsula CD project coordinator Mr David Dufty.

Mr Dufty said there was still a waiting list to join the group.

Killcare Garden Club was founded in May 1985 and was the 18th garden club to be opened on the Central Coast.

Its principle was to give "knowledge and enjoyment of nature and our surroundings" with special reference to gardens.

The inaugural meeting attracted 26 people with zone coordinator Doris Killian presiding.

A committee was formed with the founder of the group Mrs Val Woods elected president.

The first outing was a visit to the Bouddi Nursery for a talk by Chris Wilmot.

Regular monthly meetings have been held since that time on the second Monday of each month.

The first general meeting was held in February 1986 when the decision to ask for a subscription of $5 per household was made.

Regular raffles and "bring and buy" times were held to augment the kitty.

At that stage there was only 49 cents in the kitty.

In 1988, members of the club won first prize for a floral display at a flower show.

President at the time Ms Kathleen Pile said: "We were absolutely delighted when our club came in first at the Umina Bicentennial Flower Show."

"It was our first attempt at staging a display.

"We chose the poem Bellbirds by Henry Kendall as our theme.

"As a few of us have some natural native gardens, it was not difficult to make a model of our lovely bush with a fine looking waterfall to set it off.

"The verses of the poem were also displayed.

"In this way, we added a little to one Bicentennial event.

"Have you noticed the abundance of native flowers this spring?

"It's as though nature has put on a very special display of her own for 1988," she said.

Rules and regulations within the garden clubs started in 1993 so Jim Shires began proceedings for incorporation which was completed and formally adopted in July that year.

One of the early projects was looking after the surroundings at the Marie Byles Lookout on the Scenic Road which was upgraded and opened in 1993.

In January 1994, Joan Graham, Anne Shires and Barbara Boot formed a subcommittee to garden regularly, maintaining the area as well as planting more local, easy-care plants.

This work continued until 2003, when it was discontinued due to insufficient help and lack of support from the Council.

However, the native plants still flourished in the area.

The group became publishers in 2000, when a small booklet of Handy Hints was put together by Anne and Jim Shires and Margaret Finney, which sold quite successfully among all garden clubs.

The year 2000 was also the year of Bouddi 2000 and the Garden Club was highly visible at the grand parade, which went from Turo Park to Wagstaffe.

The group had impressive hats and the mayor at the time Cr Chris Holstein was raked in to raise the profile.

As the group had no official meeting place, they met at nurseries, member's gardens, or on trips.

A Christmas party was organised for the December meeting of the club each year.

In 2007, a trip to Japan took advantage of Gosford City's sister city link with Edogawa and included home stays.

In 2010, the club was still limited to 60 members and still had a waiting list.

CD-ROM, 2010 David Dufty, The Bouddi Peninsula