2014/15 Report from the Chair

Post date: Mar 15, 2015 2:35:1 PM

Abernethy Horticultural Society

Chairman’s Report 2014-15

Since our last AGM we have had a bumper crop of excellent speaker meetings and our audiences have grown accordingly. Sincere thanks are due to Rachel Battilana our Secretary for finding such lively and interesting speakers and putting together a really varied programme which has also highlighted the horticultural expertise we have living in our own village.

We enjoyed the social side of our meetings too. We repeated the successful Christmas Quiz and Gardeners Question Time format in our December slot and ventured to Teasses near Ceres in Fife for our 2014 Annual Garden Visit in June. We also held a summer evening gathering in the museum garden appropriately following our talk on historic monastic gardens. Our special and continuing thanks to Les McIntosh for devising increasingly testing Christmas quizzes!

Our funds are in good health thanks in large part to money raised at our Plant Stall on Gala Day in June and our Garden Day in September. It was the first time we had run the plant stall in recent times and thanks are due to all our members who grew a wide array of plants and vegetables for us to sell and those who helped on the day. There were fantastic bargains to be had to make your garden grow as there were also later in the season at Garden Day. We had more stalls than ever in 2014 and we introduced the Anagram Trail - an innovation based on geocaching. Thanks to new member Jan Barrance for her idea. We hope to have some new attractions for 2015.

We have tried to publicise our events more widely this year – not only using the village noticeboard and facebook but also, thanks to Maureen Corbishley, we have had regular coverage in the Courier and Perthshire Advertiser with the Courier sending a photographer to Garden Day and making a feature of some of our speaker meetings. Thanks to Chris Farmer we are also using our website to record events and let the world know what we are doing on our various projects around the village www.abernethyhorticultural.co.uk

We continue to establish the Fruit Tree Trail and maintain Nurse Peattie’s Garden. Bill Christie and Ian Lamond in particular deserve special thanks for all the work they have been doing in the Garden over this Autumn and Winter. However, the Committee recognised that what we are able to achieve is limited by the time and funds members have to devote to our projects. The Committee therefore decided to see whether there would be any support in the village for creating an In Bloom Group which would attract help from a wider group of people than our current membership and be able to access Council and other benefits and discounts to boost our resources. Abernethy in Bloom was set up in January 2015. There is some crossover of membership between the AHS and In Bloom but twenty or so new faces have so far offered their support on the practical side of “greening” Abernethy and making it an even better place to live, work and visit. We shall work together at Nurse Peattie’s and on the Fruit Tree Trail.

As I have taken on responsibility for setting up Abernethy in Bloom I have decided to stand down from the Chair of the Horticultural Society but I hope to continue on the Committee to provide continuity between the two groups. I have greatly enjoyed this year and working with such a helpful Committee who have all supported every event with enthusiasm and commitment.

Finally, I would like to mention Margaret Donaldson our Treasurer. She has successfully kept our accounts and sorted out our membership records for several years. More than this, she has also with Jane Sanderson and Maureen Corbishley ensured we always had refreshments and time to chat after our meetings. Whatever the weather she was first there to open up the hall and last to leave and lock up after each event. In effect she has done those things that ensure we keep going. She has decided to step down this year and we offer her our thanks and very best wishes. The fact that we continue to have people like Margaret who are willing to offer their support and time to community societies like the Horty and In Bloom is a mark of a great place to live.

Caroline Boyle

11th March 2015