HANNEY GARDENING CLUB
Chairman's report for the Annual General Meeting,
5 September 2011
The programme
The programme this year was organised by Penny Iles and contained a wide variety of talks ranging from the practical, 'Pruning' by Steve Ralton though to the imaginary with 'The Chinese Gooseberry Man' as portrayed by Geoffrey Hales. There were also more conventional topics such as Eva Rogers 'Livening up your garden with Autumn Colours', I hope her suggestions are now flowering in your particular gardens, and 'Lilies and Summer flowering bulbs' by Donald Everitt who again provided lots of tips and also bulbs and tubers for sale which I could not resist and have enjoyed my beautiful pot of white fragrant lilies for several weeks and now enjoying the dahlias flowering in the garden. I would like to thank Penny for organising the programme for last year and I am sure we are all very much looking forward to the programme for this year.
Garden visits
This year two garden visits were planned, however the
trip organised for June to two gardens near Bedford,
had to be cancelled as we did not have enough members
booked by the closing date. The committee were very
disappointed that we did not get a better take up for
this event as the location was suggested by members
and the date changed by members request to a Saturday;
perhaps we could have feedback on what members want
from such a trip and plan to organise a short
questionnaire to get you views.
A successful visit was made to the delightful gardens
at Radcot House near Clanfield in May. The gardens
surround an ancient house dating back to before the
Civil War. The current owners have made a garden with
lots of different themed areas. The visit was enjoyed
by over 20 members, perhaps the introductory talk
accompanied by a glass of wine was the draw?
The plant sale
Thanks again go to Rosi Rollings for organising this
event. This year we again made a healthy profit of
over £930 which is vital to fund the events and in-part
the speakers. The variable weather conditions leading
up to the event made the production of plants a challenge
but again members produced plants of excellent quality
and even though numbers attending were down on last year
we were able to maintain the moneys earned from this
event. Our thanks to all members who contributed to
the event either by producing plants or giving their
time to help with the event. My personal thanks to
all those that produced cosmos plants, I even managed
to get a few myself this year!
The Travelling Garden Party
I was so pleased that the weather was kind to us on the
22 July, especially as we had to bring the date forward.
We had a few moments of concern when the weather was so
poor the week before the event but again storm clouds
were threatening but the evening turned out to be dry,
for the most part, I am sure helped by the members who
brought along their brollies. The event was a sell out
and went off well with much input from the Committee
their partners and the hosts. The selection of food
provided was fantastic and the BBQ fare cooked to
perfection. I hope the members that attended enjoyed
the evening, I had some very nice comments from people
who did, so thanks again to you all.
Your Committee
The small committee, Jeff, Dot, Penny, Gwyn, Marcia
and myself have had to call on several ex-committee
members and others to help with the events and
meetings. I would like to thank all of the Committee
and those members that have helped during the year,
the Club could not have continued without you.
The constitution of the Club requires us to change
the main Officers every three years, giving the
opportunity for other member's views and ideas to
shape the club. This year will be my final year
as Chairman and due to increased work commitments
I intend to leave the Committee at the end of that
period. Also Jeff will come to the end of his tenure
as Secretary at the end of this year. I am also aware
that Penny would like to hand on the role as Speaker
programme organiser. So again we are looking for
replacements for some of the key roles. To make
the club successful we need new members to take on
these roles, you have the new ideas that help to keep
the club moving forward, so please volunteer; the jobs
are not onerous and can even be quite enjoyable!
Jane Bradley
Chair