It is time once again for 'Bramley's Ramblings'.   How quickly time passes when you are kept busy, and there was certainly plenty happening during August & September.
Firstly we had the Mini Show and it was good to see so many plants brought in to be judged. Congratulations to the winners.    The judge, Mrs. Sheila Brislin from Louth, said she was nervous, but it was not long before confidence began to show through and at the close of the meeting said she had thoroughly enjoyed the evening.   By the way, for the members who did not attend the meeting the name of the mystery plant was John Pulford, and I don't think any members knew of this cultivar.
This brings me to the Millennium Show and what a show it turned out to be with the hall full to overflowing with fuchsia plants - 296 in all the most we have had in recent years.   It was a credit to all the exhibitors. One of the strengths of our show is the variety of cultivars we get every year.  We could have done with more members of the public visiting us, on Saturday it was not as busy as usual but on Sunday they really came and gave us some support and were impressed as revealed by their comments.  Five visitors to the show decided to join us and we all extend them a warm welcome and hope they will enjoy our meetings.   Many thanks to all the volunteers who helped to make the show a success, they all helped to make it run smoothly.
The next event was the Millennium Fuchsia Festival held in the grounds of Lincoln Castle with displays by Societies of the North Eastern Counties
Fuchsia Group.   As you approached the marquee the eye was drawn to the large fuchsia plants on display and inside the marquee were the displays by the Societies and it was a sight worth seeing.   The centre piece of our display was a wheel filled with fuchsias and it created a lot of comments - all of them complimentary.   Many thanks to all who helped with the growing on of the plants, the setting up and at the end the dismantling of the display.
It was disappointing that Mr Derrick James from Vernon Geranium Nursery was unable to come in September due to the fuel crisis.   Knowing a speaker would need to be local I asked David Edmond if he would give a talk on preparing plants for over wintering and I think we all learned some tips from him. Thank you David for standing in at the last minute.
Once again it is time to prepare your plants for winter and hope they all survive, with extra plants from your cuttings to give you a good start so you can decide which classes to enter in the Show.   If you do not exhibit, plenty of plants for your own show in your garden.   It may have been a wet summer but the hardy plants in the garden are still in full flower and if we do not have too much frost may survive until Christmas.
Mrs Sarah Hopps from Sowerby, Thirsk was the speaker for our October Meeting.   Sarah is a member of the panel of Radio York's 'Down to Earth' and will be known by many of you.   Her talk on her collection of plants was very interesting.
Our next event on the 17^th November, will be the Social Evening at the Park Manor Hotel, when we hope to once again make it an enjoyable evening.