The Society reformed in 1975 and one of the founding members was a very well-known local grower called Jim Tebay. He was very active in all our activities and laid firm foundations for what the Society now is. He was held in such high esteem by the Society that when he died it was agreed that we should establish a memorial garden in the grounds of the local parish church, St. Anne’s at Chapeltown. This was approved by the Parochial Church Council (PCC) and Committee members completed the task in Spring 1986. Since then Committee members have undertaken a rota to keep the garden tidy.

Recently the garden was beginning to look rather tired, so we commissioned one of our past speakers Andy Walker to redesign and revamp the area. Andy, who is a regular exhibitor at Tatton Show, retained as many of the existing plants as possible and added to these to revitalise the garden. The garden was refurbished in 2009.

At the same time the PCC approved our request that the garden, whilst retaining the same title, could now be a garden in memory of former members of the Society. A standard rose ‘Arthur Bell’ was planted in 2009 in memory of another former stalwart of the Society and who was a very keen rose grower.

A commemorative plaque was placed in the garden in Spring 2010.

Previously the garden has been maintained by members of the committe on a rota basis, but now all members are invited to help out by adding their names to the rota.


Gallery - Tebay Memorial Garden

Committee member Barry Scanlon installing the new plaque in the refurbished Jim Tebay Memorial Garden in 2010