After day of snow, sunshine and hailstorms, at our March meeting a good number of members and guests were enthralled by a beautifully illustrated talk from Ron Rock, an enthusiastic volunteer for the Bumblebee Conservation Trust, on some of the many different species of solitary bees, which number over 200 in total. These very effective pollinators vary in their appearance, nesting habits and methods of pollination which Ron shared with us in a really understandable way, and finished his talk with a quote from a sign at his favourite football club Forest Green Rovers “when nature wins, we all win”. The two photos here, given to us by Ron, are a snippet from this fascinating evening.

After his presentation Ron answered more questions from members, drew our raffle and judged our monthly competition which was won this time by Ivy, with Sue W 2nd and Joan 3rd. Members also took home several different varieties of spare plants kindly donated by Sylvia to grow on ready for our stall at the Village Fete, and for their own gardens too. Our coach bookings for next month’s visit to John’s Garden at Ashwood Nurseries have gone so well that we’ve been able to hire a larger coach and invite other clubs to come along with us.