History of Long Bennington VPA

Where Did It All Start ?

Village Produce Associations – VPAs originated in the Second World War. They were introduced to boost food production as part of the Dig for Victory Campaign. Associations were set up countrywide and were cooperatives for gardening and livestock keeping, enabling members to take advantage of bulk buying through the Association. In 1941, to further these endeavours, every village was encouraged to set up its own VPA to assist with the war effort. The inaugural meeting of Long Bennington VPA took place in 1943.This ditty from the period sums up the spirit of VPAs :

Dig! Dig! Dig!

And your muscles will grow big

Keep on pushing the spade

Don’t mind the worms

Just ignore their squirms

And when your back aches laugh with glee

And keep on diggin’

Till we give our foes a Wiggin

’Dig! Dig! Dig! To Victory !

There were 1,600 VPAs by 1948, with 100,000 members. In 1952 the National Federation was formed, lasting until 1985 despite moves to encourage them to merge with the National Allotments and Garden Society (NAGS).

Many VPAs still exist today – as does ours, which has evolved to encompass all aspects of gardening – Long Bennington Garden Club – VPA.

Long Bennington VPA held its first meeting in 1943 & here are some pictures celebrating, that long & rich history.

“Presented By Popular Gardening – 1955”

In Dec 2021 we posted a “call out” on Face book for any information & memories on the history of Long Bennington VPA. There was a fantastic response which included the unearthing of National Federation of VPAs Newsletters, Regional VPA correspondence & Long Bennington VPA Show & Fete leaflets going back to the 60s.

There was also the discovery, by a past Club secretary – Katherine Sheen of a cup. This cup is engraved “Presented By popular Gardening – 1955”. Popular Gardening was a publication, edited for over 40 yrs by H.H. Thomas, who in his day was a very well known horticulturist – he became the first regular gardening columnist on The Daily Telegraph, was awarded the RHS Medal of Honour & elected President of The Kew Guild. We contacted his grandson to try & find more about the publication Popular Gardening. His grandson suggested we contact David Marsh, a journalist, who has written articles on H.H Thomas. David provided us with the following information – “Popular Gardening” started out as “Gardener” and ran until 1920 when it changed names and became “Popular Gardening” until 1985 when it was taken over and absorbed into “Amateur Gardening”. VPAs originated in the second World War and were introduced to boost food production as part of the “Dig for Victory” campaign. Associations were set up countrywide and were co-operatives, enabling members to take advantage of bulk buying through the associations. This can be see in the picture below, which is a statement of accounts of the Long Bennington VPA, year ending 31-1-66. The fourth entry on the right shows “seed potatoes – £32 0s 0d.

Because of the VPAs potential for bulk buying, many seed companies, nurseries and gardening magazines sponsored prizes to promote sales and increase readership. So the cup was given to Long Bennington VPA to try and increase readership of “Popular Gardening”. The Club intends to repurpose the cup, as one of the category awards, for upcoming Summer Show in 2022.