TROWEL & ERROR

MINUTES OF MEETINGS 2016/2017

Minutes 2015/2016

26th Sep 2016

24th Oct 2016

28th Nov 2016

27th Feb 2017

27th Mar 2017

24th April 2017

22nd May 2017

Minutes 2017/2018

Meeting at 8.00pm on  22nd May 2017 in The Methodist Hall. Minutes of meeting. Plant Sale – 13th May 2017 ran like clockwork. Proposed 2017 Trips. • Forde Abbey on Saturday 24th June. £20 for members and £24 for non-members to include coach and entry. Leave The Plain at 0830. Comfort break at Burnham Garden Centre. House tour at 11.45. • Summer evening visit to The Priory in Bath – Mon 10th July. 1700 – 1900. £20pp incl bites. Members plus 1 friend. • Visits to members gardens on evening of 24th July. Sites TBD. A.O.B. The GFGS AGM will be held at Highnam Court near Gloucester on Saturday 27th May. T & GT, Joan Henty and Julie Dicken. Our speaker for the evening was William Scott who gave a very interesting talk entitled ‘Walled Garden at Worcester’. William and his wife took over an abandoned walled garden in Worcester and are slowly restoring it to its former glory. He told us the history of the concept of a garden. The word ‘garden’ derives from ‘garde’ which means ‘fence’ intended to enclose an ‘open space for cultivation.’ His work growing fruit trees has demonstrated that fan-training involved far too much effort and really does not work at all for very long. He uses companion planting (something you do with friends?) quite a lot but is sceptical about its efficacy. His results show little improvement than if he had not bothered. It was good to meet someone who is ready to admit that the ‘experts’ rarely expert.

Meeting at 8.00pm on  24th April 2017 in The Methodist Hall. Minutes of meeting. Plant Sale – 13th May 2017 in the Parish Hall – get sowing and planting. Proposed 2017 Trips. • Forde Abbey on Saturday 24th June. £20 for members and £24 for non-members to include coach and entry. Leave The Plain at 0830. Comfort break at Burnham Garden Centre. House tour at 11.45. • Summer evening visit to The Priory in Bath – Mon 10th July. 1700 – 1900. £20pp incl. bites. Members plus 1 friend. • Renishaws/Swinhay will not be doing private visits this year. Tips & Wrinkles. • Spent hops are good for mulch and they deter dogs. • It has been reported that some Levingtons grow bags contain weed killer residue. A.O.B. The GFGS AGM will be held at Highnam Court near Gloucester on Saturday 27th May. If anyone is interested in going please let TT know. Our speaker for the evening was Adam Alexander who gave a very interesting talk entitled ‘Veg Growing in Syria and Burma’. Adam works for the Heritage Seed Library and styles himself a ‘Plant Detective’. He travels the world, mostly in the third world, visiting markets and villages where traditional plants are still grown and sold. Here he discovers plants that are endangered due to the changes in what we eat. Many traditional food plants are no longer grown because they do not conform to the diktats of major supermarket buyers. The Heritage Seed Library aims to collect and preserve these ‘old’ plants in order to keep their strong, unaltered DNA intact for future generations.

Meeting at 8.00pm on  27th March 2017 in The Methodist Hall. Minutes of meeting. Plant Sale – 13th May 2017 in the Parish Hall – get sowing and planting. Proposed 2017 Trips. • Forde Abbey on Saturday 24th June. £20 for members and £24 for non-members to include coach and entry.    Leave The Plain at 0830. Comfort break at Burnham Garden Centre. House tour at 11.45. • Summer evening visit to The Priory in Bath – Mon 10th July. 1700 – 1900. £20pp incl bites. Members plus 1 friend. • Renishaws/Swinhay will not be doing private visits this year. Tips & Wrinkles. If you are having problems with moles there is now deterrent that doesn’t kill them. It is called Sork Anti-Mole Bulbs and they have been sold for over twenty years on the Swedish market. The bulb secretes a smell that humans cannot detect. Apparently this smell keeps moles and field mice away or forces them to move. Made with natural ingredients, gathered in the Swedish countryside, Anti-Mole Bulbs are currently the only product with the capacity of making moles move away without the use of pesticide or poison. Whatever! They look like garlic bulbs to me. A.O.B. • Hawkesbury School is making a sensory garden and would be pleased to receive plants. The GFGS AGM will be held at Highnam Court near Gloucester on Saturday 27th May. If anyone is interested in going please let TT know. • Diane Musty’s subs - £15 - given to St Mary’s church. Our speakers for the evening were Sue Dodds and Sue Smith who gave a very interesting talk entitled ‘Butterflies of Gloucestershire’. These ladies are a bit like the 2 Ronnies, happily taking turns to speak and coming up with well rehearsed quips when required. I think we were all rather surprised to discover that there are a host of butterflies in this county that very few of us have ever seen.

Meeting at 8.00pm on  27th February 2017 in The Methodist Hall. Minutes of meeting. Our speaker was Roger Umpleby who talked about A Plant Lovers View of Fiji and Samoa.

Meeting at 8.00pm on  28th November 2016 in The Methodist Hall. Minutes of meeting. Our speaker was Jane Moore, the head gardener at The Priory in Bath since 2003, who gave a very interesting talk entitled ‘Colours in the Garden’. The walled gardens at The Priory cover nearly 4 acres and Jane manages it all with just one helper - her friend Anna. The gardens have been described as ‘four acres of horticultural paradise’ and they were recently selected as the best out of 518 other Relais & Châteaux properties spread across 60 countries. Two of the special sights of the gardens are the magnificent Wisterias on the terrace and a 150 year old Lebanon cedar tree. And you can see them all when they open for the NGS in April and August.

Meeting at 8.00pm on  24th October 2016 in The Methodist Hall. Minutes of meeting. Christmas Social - 19th December in The Beaufort Arms. Plant Sale – 13th May 2017 in the Parish Hall. Proposed 2017 Trips. 1. Swinhay, Renishaws home - possible. 2. Birmingham Botanical Gardens - possible. GFGS AGM 2017 – Saturday 27 May 2017 at Highnam Court. Gill Truebody will be the new contact for Sutton’s Seeds. There has been a bit of a furore recently about a sighting of an Asian Hornet in Tetbury. TT innocently enquired how one could identify the creature – do they wear turbans? No help was forthcoming. Our speaker for the evening was Arthur Ball who gave a very interesting talk entitled Birds, Tigers and the Taj during which he described his journey through northern India on a bird watching trip.

Meeting at 8.00pm on  26th September 2016 in The Methodist Hall. Minutes of meeting. AGM. The committee was re-elected en-masse for another year. Main duties will be:- • Chair - Liz Howard • Secretary – Terry Truebody • Treasurer – Lucy Kantaris. • Speakers – Lucy Kantaris and Linda Robinson • Trips – Lucy Kantaris. • Raffles and teas - Diana Deacon. • PR – Liz Howard and Terry Truebody. • General duties – Pat Sherry. It was decided that we will book a speaker for the AGM in 2017. Nothing else of note to report. General Business. The winner of the club class – A Vase of Mixed Herbs - at this years Hawkesbury Show was Gill Truebody. The date for the Christmas social is Monday 19th December at The Beaufort Arms. The date for 2017 Plant Sale is 13th May which will avoid the Badminton Horse Trials. To conclude the evening we had wine and nibbles and some fun quizzes.

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