First, on behalf of the Committee, may I wish you a Happy and Prosperous 2002, plus of course a successful year of fuchsia growing.
How are your plants coping with this frosty weather? Holding their own I hope and before too long starting to provide some cuttings. If not we will be keeping the Fuchsia Nurseries in business, which is a good thing as we not only buy plants, but can be given valuable information on problems we experience.
In October we had Jim and Kathleen Muncaster visit us with a talk about hardy fuchsias, there are more fuchsias than we realised which can survive the cold winter weather.
In November we have the Social Evening. This year it was held at the Falcon Hotel, Cloughton which I realise was a bit far out for some members, but we had an enjoyable evening. You will find a questionnaire about the Social Evenings asking you to give your opinion on the type of evening you would like. Please fill it in and return it to me at the meeting or through the post then the Committee will study your replies. By doing this we hope to get more members attending the event.
I announced at the October meeting that we had our 100^th member join us, but then sadly one of our original members, Mrs. Lilian Storry had passed away. Many of you would not have know her as although still a member she was unable to attend the meetings due to failing health but always kept her interest in the Society.
The committee has been looking into a new venue for the Annual Show as it had been felt that the lighting at the Scalby Parish Hall is not adequate. Requests have been made to the Council to improve it and we really do need some more room to be able to display your plants to their best advantage and also to give more room for the public. The new venue is to be the Lower Hall, Queen Street Central Hall. Members who attend the meetings will be familiar with the room and the refreshment facilities and we feel this will be an improvements all round. Can we have another successful show this year? With your help and plants to exhibit I feel sure we will, but it is up to us all to make it so.
The first meeting in 2002 will be a talk on 'Compost, Fertilisers and Nutrients' by Peter Crowther of Eastfield Garden Centre, Bridlington, and I hope, weather permitting, to see you for an interesting meeting.
Hope you all have another successful season growing and exhibiting fuchsias.