At our November meeting we welcomed Gerald Ingram the founder of Planters Garden Centres who explained how he originally started running his business in his spare time and it blossomed from there over the years to become a family-run group of five garden centres. He had brought a wide selection of possible presents for anybody from enthusiastic experienced gardeners to complete beginners and kindly neighbours – tools, kits, pots and wildlife treats as well as some plants. He gave a very amusing talk with various useful gifting suggestions, including treats for ourselves, and donated his fee for the evening to Perennial, The Charity for Gardeners and the Horticulture community. 

After his presentation Gerald drew our raffle and judged the competition, won this month by Sue, with Sylvia 2nd and Rosalie 3rd. Scores remain close and the Trophy isn’t awarded till our AGM in May; please scroll down to see all the photos. A few more members added their names to our list for our Christmas social evening which is back in the village hall this year. There was a second sign-up sheet too for a visit to Shugbough Forest Garden in May next year! This arises from Lizzie’s talk in September this year.

And very importantly, our full 2026 pocket-sized printed programmes were hot off the press and disappeared quickly. Our website programme page will be updated shortly with all the details. The only damper on the evening was the torrential rain as we left, although it was a ridiculously mild 13 degrees.