Annual General Meeting Thursday 23rd February

Do please come along to this evening event and support your club. As many of you will know, the formal business of the evening doesn’t take long so there’ll be plenty of time for chatting over refreshments. Then, following the very successful gardening quiz introduced last year, we’ll be having the same again this year.

But please note that the questions will be different J, so there’s no advantage to those who attended the last AGM (sorry folks, but we have to be fair...).

We’ll form impromptu teams of 5 or 6 people, with a committee member on each team, and there’ll be a £2.50 society shop voucher for each person in the winning team. There’ll also be a raffle.

Regarding the official business of the evening, nominations are invited to join the committee - these can be accepted on the night – please just have a word with anyone on the committee before the AGM starts. In particular, the secretary post will be vacant, so please think about putting yourself forward for that. There’s a nomination form at the end of this newsletter. If you would like to raise any issues, have them discussed and voted on at the AGM, these need to be notified to the committee by 10th February. Please contact Dave on 983 3188.

Members’ entry is free, non-members £2. Subscriptions, which are unchanged from last year, are now due for 2012 – please pay on the night or at the shop, which is open again from 5th February.

Plant Paradise by Derek Leary

At our members’ meeting on 17th November, we were entertained with an evening of a photographer’s view of flowers and other plants, presented by Derek Leary.

The pictures of plants, many from his own garden, were all taken by Derek and were of superb quality. He had interesting things to say about the pictures and subject matter, which made for a most enjoyable hour or so.

He illustrated many innovative approaches to capturing plant images and making otherwise mundane subjects quite striking.

The Evening with Rosemary and Peter

Around 15 members attended the society’s Christmas social evening at Rosemary and Peter’s home. Linda organised the raffle and ensured everyone won a prize!! All too soon a very enjoyable couple of hours came to an end and our treasurer Jen presented Rosemary with some lovely flowers from Wellers who did us proud as ever.

Our sincere thanks to Rosemary and Peter once again for their hospitality and the drinks.
 

Produce Show 2012 ?

As noted in other newsletters this year, we’d like to re-instate the Annual Produce Show. However, we do need enough people to organise and run it and at the moment, this is not so and therefore, unless more people come forward by or at the AGM, it won’t happen; at least not this year. It’s a shame, but without your support we just can’t do it. If you are interested in helping, please you let us know now.

Please contact either Janice at janice.dallison@bdhs.co.uk or Kate at kate.tudor@bdhs.co.uk or talk to any of the committee at the AGM.

Many, many thanks to those who have volunteered.

Membership Notes

If we don’t already have your email address and you would like to receive the newsletter and the occasional other communication from the society, please email Janice at janice.dallison@bdhs.co.uk

Please be assured that we will only use your email for society communications – mainly the newsletter, which will save on paper and delivery.

But please also be assured that if you would prefer a paper copy, this is fine – we have no plans to stop producing and delivering them.

Please note that next year’s membership cards will be available from 1st January. We thank Janice for the smart personalised versions which she introduced this year.

Some of the things to do in your garden in February

Of course, what needs doing in the garden depends on what you grow and on the weather but here are some prompts that you might find useful:

• Clear up any leaves and other debris that might be harbouring pests and diseases

• Prune roses

• Start sowing vegetables under cover for later planting out.

• Dead flowers on winter flowering plants such as heathers should be trimmed to keep the plants compact and prolong their useful lives.

• Any straggly deciduous hedges can be hard-pruned to encourage denser growth.

• The application of a general fertiliser such as fish, blood and bone can be really beneficial to fruit trees and bushes at this time of the year.

• If the ground should dry out a little for a few hours, dig over any compacted areas so that the frost can get at it

• One job for the garden, if not in it, is planning for the forthcoming year – it’s often worth having a bit if a think about what’s to go where, bearing in mind things like crop rotation, how long flowers and veg. will occupy the ground and when to buy and plant new trees, shrubs and hedges or carry out some hard landscaping work. Do write down your decisions – it’s just too easy to forget and then find you’ve missed the boat, as it were, later on.

  
  

The Shop

We are now even more in need of additional people to help out at the shop. As things stand now, we may have to open on only two or three Sundays in the month. Of course, this would be a really retrograde step, but there may be no choice. A couple of hours a month is all that is needed - of convivial chat and a 10% discount into the bargain.

Please e-mail Kate at kate.tudor@bdhs.co.uk . Many thanks.

Diary Dates

2012

• Thursday 23rd February 2012 : AGM and Quiz; Burghfield Village Hall, 7:45 for 8 p.m.

• Thursday 19th April 2012 : Spring Open Meeting Burghfield Village Hall, 7:45 for 8 p.m.

• Thursday 21st June 2012 : Social Evening at the President's House, from 6:30pm - (Provisional Date).

• Thursday 20th September 2012 : Autumn Open Meeting, Burghfield Village Hall, 7:45 for 8 pm.

• Thursday 15th November 2012: Winter Open Meting; Burghfield Village Hall, 7:45 for 8 p.m.

Information Needed

We are trying to assemble a record of the society from its early days.

If you have any historical information or pictures that might help to piece together the history of the society, such as who founded the society, where the first meetings took place and what the society did in those early days, please e-mail Susan at susan.cracknell@bdhs.co.uk

Many thanks to those who have already responded, but any further information will also be most welcome..

Gardens in Need of Help

There is a national initiative to encourage land sharing (i.e. someone with more land than they can use lets someone with too little cultivate it). Our scheme would include this option, but we would also like to just help people to maintain their own gardens so that they can continue to enjoy them when they are less able to do all the heavy work themselves.

The first step here is to find out if there would be a demand for such a scheme both from people who need a helping hand and from people who would be prepared to do some gardening work. Assuming that there is the demand we would then decide how best to organise it. Please do give it some thought and let us have some feedback on the idea.

If you would like to be involved, or know people who could help or indeed need help, please let us know: either talk to any of the committee at any of the meetings or email the editor at editor@bdhs.co.uk

Gardening for the Mind

Volunteers are still needed to give a couple of hours on a Friday morning to assist with a gardening project for sufferers of Alzheimer's.

The project has been running for several years and provides a therapeutic social and gardening morning.

If you would like to help, please contact Mick Hall on 0118 983 3653

Discounts

Discounts are available for you at the following places (just show your 2012 membership card)

• Wyevale - Free to join their Gardening Club : 5 points given every £1.00 spent.
                    Double points for 0ver 60’s on Tuesdays

• Dobbies offer 10% to members of their Garden Club (£10 per year).

• Henry Street, Arborfield offer various benefits for members of their (free) loyalty scheme.

Newsletter Contributions

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