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BOURN GARDEN CLUB (BGC)
CHAIR’S REPORT FEBRUARY 2021
This is a report of Bourn Garden Club’s activities since the AGM on 5th December 2019
We started the 2020 programme with two of our planned meetings before we were obliged to cancel our Village Hall meetings and outings owing to the Covid 19 pandemic.
February - Louisa Gilhooly, Supernature Garden and Landscape Design
Louisa gave a very inspiring talk on Garden Design from Concept to Completion. Great concepts supported with illustrations.
March – Geoff Hodge, Grass Maintenance
Geoff provided an informative talk covering lawn care for perfect lawns. It was a useful and entertaining talk with a lot of audience participation.
Despite the pandemic lockdowns we have managed to hold the following outdoor and virtual events:
May
Annual Roadside Plant Sale
The annual plant sale was held in Bourn. We received generous donations of plants/seedlings and arranged four sites on Committee members’ driveways. It was a dry day and ensuring we maintained social distancing, the plant sale was very well attended and proved a great success, raising £477.10 for BGC funds.
June
The Virtual Flower and Produce Show
The Show was a little different this year! As we were unable to meet in the Village Hall, we wanted to give people an opportunity to share their growing and creative achievements and so we organised a virtual Flower and Produce Show. We asked people to submit photographs of their horticultural rose triumphs, fruit and vegetable monsters, miniature gardens and artwork representing fruit, flowers or vegetables. There were fewer classes than usual but they appealed to all ages. All entries were submitted as digital photographs and were judged anonymously by the Committee. As is customary there were no prizes, merely the glory of winning! We reproduced the winning photos on the BGC website a few days after the show and in the July edition of the Bourn Church & Parish Magazine. In the circumstances, it was well supported and enjoyed by members.
December
The Christmas Quiz
The Committee continued the tradition of providing a Christmas Quiz for members.
This year we each submitted questions which were collated by Sue and Geraldine and published on the website and in Bourn Church and Parish Magazine. It provided quite a challenge for members over the Festive Season.
The ‘Festive Flowers on the Doors’ weekend
On the 12th & 13th December we invited everyone to join in the ‘Festive Flowers’ weekend. Doors, porches, gates and windows around the villages were decorated with festive flowers and greenery. Despite the very inclement weather, there were some wonderful colourful and attractive displays on show. It provided festive cheer for a different Christmas this year. Digital photographs were uploaded to the website photo gallery and were printed in the January edition of the village magazine.
Membership
The Club membership remained stable at 51 during 2020. Members continue to receive benefit of discount from a number of local Garden Centres and Madingley Mulch as well as access to events. Subscription fee of £8 is usually collected in February each year. We will not be asking for membership subs this year.
The Committee Members
The Committee members continued to co-chair events and from March, Committee meetings were held virtually by Zoom. The team worked hard at rearranging the programme and changing focus to provide virtual events during the pandemic. Grateful thanks to all the team for the role they played in maintaining the Club’s activities and providing a successful year despite the unfortunate circumstances.
It was agreed that the committee members will remain in post for another year.
Robert Ansell (Village Hall), Sheelagh Canney (Advertising /Village Hall/Raffle), Catriona Campbell (Bourn Church & Parish Magazine), Jenni Connell (Secretary), Annie Davenport (email communications), David Muncey (Treasurer), Geraldine Heath (RHS Officer) Sue Taylor (Webmaster)
Accounts
Our Treasurer, David Muncey produced the Club’s accounts for the year and these have been accepted by the Committee on behalf of the Club. Income was generated by the annual roadside plant sale, membership fees and two raffles.
The Club’s finances are in good order.
Communication
We would like to thank Ann Gildersleve for her support providing posters and publishing BGC news in Bourn Church and Parish Magazine and Sue for all her hard work developing the BGC website. It has been an invaluable source of information over this past year. We continue to use email to inform & remind members of forthcoming events ensuring compliance with GDPR.
Bourn Garden Club details are published in the following:
Bourn Church and Parish Magazine & Caxton Parish Newsletter
2021
As we begin this new gardening year, we are currently in the third national lockdown. The vaccine programme has commenced but it is still likely to be some while before we will be able to safely meet again in the Village Hall for meetings.
There will be no meetings in February, March or April and no outings planned this year. The Committee will continue to review the situation throughout the year and keep members informed.
Finally, a big thank you to all our members for contributing to and supporting Bourn Garden Club throughout 2020. We look forward to a healthier and less challenging year and being able to meet up again soon and welcome new members.
It is a fact that gardens and gardening make us feel better. Enjoy the Spring and keep safe and well.
Annie Davenport February 2021
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| BOURN GARDEN CLUB | |||||||
| Statement of accounts from 1 December 2019 to 30 November 2020 | |||||||
| INCOME | EXPENDITURE | ||||||
| Subscriptions | £360.00 | Speakers | £191.00 | ||||
| Raffles | £98.80 | Printing | £28.87 | ||||
| Plant sales | £477.10 | Rent of village hall | £125.00 | ||||
| Visitors | £19.00 | Administration | £90.00 | ||||
| Sale of Joy Knight book | £40.00 | AGM refreshments | £60.00 | ||||
| Deposit A/C Interest | £3.66 | Token for flower of month | £10.00 | ||||
| RHS affiliation fee | £125.00 | ||||||
| TOTAL | £998.56 | £629.87 | |||||
| *3 subscriptions (£24.00) where paid as cheques and not cashed so do not appear in the total | |||||||
| Cash in hand | £687.95 | ||||||
| Current A/C | £2,289.14 | ||||||
| Deposit A/C | £605.07 | ||||||
| Total | £3,582.16 | ||||||
| Comments: of the years income the largest were plant sales 47.8%, subscriptions 36.1% and raffle 9.8%. | |||||||
| The biggest outgoings were the speakers 30.3%, Village Hall rent 19.8% and RHS Subscription 19.8%. | |||||||