The Society was originally known as the Manchester Orchid Society It was to become The North of England Orchid Society around 1973.
Initially meetings would be held fortnightly in The Coal Exchange Manchester. when enthusiastic members from many parts of England would bring their orchids to be admired and judged.

On December 18th 1913 over 1000 orchid plants were displayed at such an event. Apart from the odd brief interlude during both World Wars, the Society has been meeting regularly since its inception.

Nowadays, meetings continue on a monthly basis, each one still a judged orchid show in its own right, with members competing on a friendly basis for annual challenge trophies covering some 20 or so classes, and sharing information and advice on orchids and culture.

Membership of the society costs £14.00 double, £12.00 single, or £6.00 junior.  we accept credit cards cheques or paypal to apply click here

It was the practice of the society to have painted any orchids upon which our own awards were bestowed, and we still have some 700 or so paintings which date from around the turn of the century up to the second world war, we presently show on this website around 30 examples of them.  

Full sets are available on A CD Rom at a cost of £12.00 inc postage.

The CD also contains a complete history of the Society. 

For more information on the CD itself and how to buy one click here

Today, the society still awards First Class Certificates, Awards of Merit, and Cultural Commendations to orchid plants presented at our monthly shows for judging. To see more of the paintings please visit our ART GALLERY .

Where can you find the Orchid Society?

We have monthly orchid shows around Lancashire, Cheshire and Merseyside, and in addition we display at the prestigious RHS Flower Show at Tatton Park, where we took Gold during the 2006 and 2007 shows for our orchid displays.

We also displayed at the Southport Flower Show in August 2007 and we took  a Gold Medal and Chairman's Trophy for Best Bureau Display at the Southport Flower Show August 2007.

As well as supporting other orchid society events, we do hold Monthly Shows, details of our own upcoming shows can be found at the foot of this page