EATON BISHOP GARDENING CLUB
Minutes of the Annual General Meeting held on Wednesday 18th October 2023
at Eaton Bishop Village Hall
The meeting commenced at 7.30pm with 44 Members present.
1. WELCOME
David Darts, Club Chairman welcomed everyone to the 39th Annual General Meeting, making this the 41st Anniversary of the Club.
2. APOLOGIES
The Chairman noted that he had received apologies from, Val Dawkes, Wendy Knight, Val Taylor, Clive Longbottom, Vic and Dan Seymour, Maggie Matthews and Janice Goy.
3. MINUTES OF THE 2022 AGM
The Minutes of the 2022 Meeting were read out by Linda Harding and were put to the Meeting as a true record of events and agreed before being signed by the Chairman. This was proposed by Charlotte Marshall and seconded by Christina Bromage.
4. MATTERS ARISING
There were no Matters Arising.
5. CHAIRMAN’S REPORT
David Darts presented his Annual Report to the Meeting,
A copy of Chairman’s Report is attached. This was proposed by Adrian Goodyear and seconded by Tony Walsh.
6. TREASURERS REPORT
Liz Goodyear presented her report of the Club Accounts for the financial year to 31st August 2023. Liz advised that money in the Bank at year end was £1032.84. Money in Petty Cash was £92.57.
Liz was pleased to announce that Subscriptions for Members would remain at £10 per person.
The balance in the Holiday No2 Account was £692.68
David Darts thanked Liz for her excellent work as Treasurer of the Club, which was obviously a very important role
ELECTION OF OFFICERS/COMMITTEE
The Chairman advised that no nominations had been received for a new Chairman. Accordingly, he agreed to remain in the post for a further 12 months.
In the absence of any other nominations, the Committee had agreed to continue and were elected “En Bloc”.
The Chairman thanked all Members of the Committee for their valuable contribution to the running of the Club. This was proposed by George Walker and seconded by Adrian Goodyear.
ANY OTHER BUSINESS AND NOTICES
The programme for next year 2024, had almost been completed and was available on the Gardening Club link to the Village Hall Web Site.
The Christmas Social had been arranged for Friday 8th December, with a slight reduction in ticket price to £7.50.
The Gardening Club Holiday to visit gardens in the Northumberland area has been boked for 17th to 21st June and the Itinerary will be issued in the next week or so.
The Chairman thanked Michelle Tydeman for her work in organising the tea and coffee at Club Meetings over the past five or six years and she was now stepping down from her role.
The Club were therefore looking for someone to carry on this role for the future.
The tea rota for the coming year was passed around to Members for completion.
He also thanked Janice Goy and Carol Ealey for running our monthly raffle at Meetings which provided a useful source of income the Club.
Again, they were both looking to relinquish their duties so a replacement or replacements will be needed for this position.
The Chairman also thanked all Members, who had given additional assistance during the past year, to assist with the smooth running of the Club.
There being no further business the Meeting closed at 8.00 p-m, and was followed by the Wine and Cheese Social.
Michele Byrne 19th October 2023
- Cutting back foliage of Hellebores will ensure that emerging flowers are not obscured by old leaves and will help to control Hellebore leaf spot disease. Flowers of Hellebores provide forage to some early pollinators, including bees.
- Start tender Fuchsias into growth, by plunging the pots in water for a few minutes and pruning them back quite hard, cutting out spindly lifeless shoots completely and shortening all other shoots and side shoots to about 2.5-5cm long.
- Hardy shrubs that flower on new wood in summer can be pruned this month.
- This is an ideal time for repairing damage to lawns by reseeding or with turf.
- Lift, divide and replant flowering Snowdrops, as their foliage starts to yellow.
- Continue to prune Roses, although Rambler Roses are normally cut back after flowering. Prune back all growth from the previous season by 30-50 percent, aiming to create a rounded open shape bush.
- Feed with well-rotted horse manure or blood fish and bone fertiliser.
- As soon as winter flowering heathers are past their best, clip them lightly to ensure they remain compact and sturdy.
Kitchen Garden
- Early carrots and parsnips can be sown towards the end of this month, unless the ground remains water logged.
- Plant out seedling onions, also plant out onion sets.
- Sprout or “chit” seed potatoes indoors before planting. This leads to earlier and higher yields.
- Planting of fruit trees and bushes should be completed before the end of this month.
- Sow brussels sprouts and plant out hardened cauliflowers.
Under Glass.
- This is an excellent time to take cuttings of many greenhouse and tender bedding plants.
- Start sowing hardy and half-hardy annuals.
- Pot corms of tuberous begonias.
- Pot up Lily Bulbs for glorious summer colour, keeping an eye out for the red coloured Lily Beetle as the shoots emerge, which can soon devastate your plants if not destroyed quickly.
- French and Runner beans can be sown in pots.
Gardening for Wildlife.
- This month is the start of the main breeding season for garden birds. Putting out nesting material, such as hair and wool, will help to encourage birds to nest in your garden.
- Put up nesting boxes for birds
- Continue providing food for birds. They greatly benefit from additional provisions, when the conditions are freezing. At this time avoid whole nuts and large chunky pieces of bird food that can choke fledglings.
- This is the best time to add new plants to your pond, so they have the whole growing season to establish, as the temperature rises
There will be many jobs that will need to be done in the garden in the weeks ahead, as we come into Spring, but this is just a few that you might like to consider.
