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We are very sorry to report the deaths of Mrs V Cavey and of Mrs D Higson. We send our deepest sympathy to their families.

Our meeting this month will be our Spring Show. The Committee hope that everyone who comes to the meting will bring something to enter in a class. There is quite a variety to choose from. Dr. John Hughes will once again be our Judge and will give his comments on the exhibits and his reasons for choosing the winners.

Dora Lemon has kindly agreed to give a demonstration of Floral Art. This is aimed at helping us to prepare for the table shows and the Summer Show.

Membership that ended in 2003 should have been renewed by now. If you have not done so would you please send your subs to Doreen Taylor as soon as possible. You should have had a reminder on the top of your Bulletin if you now owe. The committee have decided that it is only fair to everyone that we should only take subs to cover up to 4 years in advance, and no further money will be accepted until the last lot of subs has been exhausted. You may of course pay your 50p each year if you wish. It would be helpful if you could produce your membership card when paying so that Doreen can sign it.

This month was our AGM and there were over a hundred members present. Mr Burch opened the meeting with a few notices about holidays and then read the Minutes of the 2003 AGM, which was agreed as a true record. Under Matters arising, Mr Burch reminded members that the April meeting had been designated as the Bert Powell Lecture.

The Treasurer presented the accounts, which had been finalised but have not yet been audited. The show made a small profit and the balance at the bank is healthy although as from January Barclays Bank does not give interest on the account. Mr Rider queried this and suggested that we should move the account to an interest bearing account with another bank. Mr Nunn offered his congratulations to the Treasurer for the work done over the year. The accounts were passed subject to audit. A copy of the Treasurer’s Report is attached.

Election of Officers. Mr Burch was re-elected as Chairman and all remaining committee members were voted in en block. Two new members were required; Mrs M Cornell and Mrs D Carr put their names forward. The floor was in favour by a show of hands.

Any Other Business. Mr Rainsbury brought up the subject of the Society’s charity for the year and was advised that it was Prickles Hedgehog Haven run by Mrs Mavis Righini.

Mrs Taylor offered a vote of thanks to Mrs Newton and Miss Rochester for taking over the running of the holidays after Mr Powell’s death despite knowing nothing about the travel business at the time. She praised the smooth and efficient running and all the hours of organisation that went into each trip beforehand.

Mr Neale mentioned that the copier was now on its last legs and we were looking out for a newer second hand model. He also asked if any members could help deliver bulletins to members in their area to help save postage.

There being no further business the AGM closed at 9.02pm. After tea Janet gave a slide show of some of the Society’s holidays in 2003.

Martin Double has been tinkering with the web site address and has managed to give us an address that does not have to go through his engineering pages. The new address is: -http://home.btconnect.com/cadoss/bexrose there is quite a bit of information on the site now and also some pictures.

The committee decided that after so many years of supporting the Hospice we should do something for the small charities. We decided to choose a different one each year and this year we will be supporting "Prickles Hedgehog Haven" run by Mrs Mavis Righini who came to speak to us two years ago with one of her little inmates. She was most thrilled and grateful when told the news.

Don Wooldridge rang and asked us to include a mention in our bulletin for a Royal Horticultural Society Lecture that will be held on Monday May 17, hosted by Charlton and Blackheath Horticultural Society. The lecture will be held in The Old Library, Charlton House, Charlton SE7 starting at 7.30pm. The subject, "The work and history of Kew Gardens "and the speaker will be Matthew Biggs. Admission is by ticket only, priced £4 or £3 for RHS members, available from: -

Ron Roffey

This is the first time an RHS lecture has been held in the NW Kent, SE London area and Charlton and Blackheath are to be congratulated on their willingness and enthusiasm to participate in this venture.

Rose Growers Calendar for March by kind permission of Don Charlton

1. Complete any pruning, tidying up and ground firming.
2. Apply the first application of rose fertiliser, hoe in and if the ground is dry water in.
3. Apply a good thickness of mulch to the rose beds.
4. Buy and plant potted roses preferably for the last time this season.

This month you should finish off the pruning of your roses. Cutting back by a third to a half and to an outward facing bud is usually recommended. First though, remove all the dead and weak growth and then prune to a shape of your liking remembering to keep the centre of the bush open. Clean up any old debris and leaves around the bushes and if you were plagued by blackspot last year give them a good drench with Armillatox or Jeyes Fluid, taking careful note of the manufacturer’s instructions for dilution. Give the ground around your bushes a good wash over as well as this is where the spores are lurking. In the middle of the month give your roses their first feed with a good rose fertiliser of fish, blood and bone.

Other plants and pruning at this time of year – Clematis, (those which flower after the end of June such as Jackmanii and the Viticellas) cut back each stem to a pair of fat buds starting about 1 ft above the ground, make each stem a different length and then you will have blooms rising up your plant giving a much better show. Buddleias and Lavateras cut each stem to an outward facing bud within 3" of the old wood. Autumn fruiting raspberries should be cut down to ground level. Later this month if you want to spread your Snowdrops or Winter Aconites around your garden, lift and divide when flowering has finished but leaves are still growing strongly and replant to the same depth. If you want to increase them, buying them now whilst they are "still in the green" will give you much better results and produce flowers for next year. Now is also a good time to divide clumps of herbaceous perennials and grasses. Remove the dead flowers on winter flowering heathers but do not cut into the old wood. Spread fish, blood and bone or Growmore on your flowerbeds and hoe in.

Day Trip to Bletchley Park – 3^rd April 2004

Cost £17. We will leave Townley Road, Central Library, Bexleyheath at 8.30am. hoping to return around 6.30pm. Ring Janet to book your seat. If you gave me your name at the Cheese and Wine Party could you now please let Janet have your money.

This year’s pot grown rose for members to grow on and exhibit at the Summer Show is now ready. The rose is named Drummer Boy, a very robust patio type, colour, bright red. The cost will be £3. A few pots will be brought up to the meetings but if members want one they can also contact Janet or Vanessa who will arrange collection and payment. Please note that if you have one of these roses and it has finished its first flush of flowers before the show you should still exhibit it as the judges take into consideration the whole plant, its shape and leaf quality and of course they can tell roughly how many blooms it has produced.

If you want to move a Lenten Rose, do so while it is still flowering, as you will not be disturbing any new root growth. Keep it well watered until it is established in its new position. Cut off the old leaves of Hellebore Orientalis in winter otherwise they will get ragged and hide the flowers. They also encourage the spread of Botyrtis to the stems, which although unlikely to be fatal, will destroy the display. The largest and perhaps best form of Hellebore Niger is "Potter’s Wheel" whose flowers are up to 5" across

David Nicolle, a local botanist could scupper the Council’s bid to bulldoze the allotments at Love Lane where he has his plots, as does our member, Mike Andrews.

Bexley Council’s new draft strategy for allotment modernisation in the borough calls for sites to be bulldozed in order to put in new roadways and paths. Understandably plot holders are up in arms at such drastic measures. Mr Nicolle claims that the Council will be breaking the law if they touch any of his plots. Why, you may ask? Well, Mr Nicolle has a secret weapon under wraps or under foot to be more precise. The Stinking Goosefoot! Never heard of it! Then you have obviously not read Schedule 8 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 which names the plant in its formal Latin as a protected plant. Anyone intentionally picking, destroying or uprooting a plant named in the schedule is liable to a fine of up to £2500. That will rattle the Council!!

Mr Nicolle, a member of Love Lane Allotments for 27 years discovered the plant in 1993 when he trod on it and got a whiff of rotting fish, most unpleasant. He now has about 100 plants growing, they are a dull greyish green with a small flower of the same colour, not earth shatteringly attractive but a bit of a bugger if you want to plant your carrots. Needless to say Mr Nicolle has not had a response to his two letters to the Council warning them of the situation and there may well be other plots nurturing the plants. A Council spokesman said they were on the case and taking up the matter with the relevant authorities.

What next? Could we all be taken over by this piece of fishy flora, like John Wyndham’s Triffids!

Watch this space, we will give you all the news, as it happens, in the great allotment saga.

We have also been looking at a new venue for our Christmas break and would like to know if you are interested in visiting Valkenburg, Holland for their Christmas Markets which from the information seen appears to be quite magical. We have made a provisional booking for November 29^th – 2^nd December 2004 (4 days 3 nights) with the Park Hotel Rooding but wish to know of your interest before confirmation. The cost will be £185 for two people sharing a room and £225 for a single. Please let Janet or Vanessa know as soon as possible if you are interested.

2003 proved to be a difficult year for the Committee as we expected it would, but I hope that we dealt with it well enough for the general membership not to have noticed any difference. We all pitched in, taking on our new responsibilities and hopefully not making too many mistakes along the way. The priority was to sort out the trading shed and also to clear the end of Pat’s garden of all items belonging to the Society. This was done in two stages and John Powell was able to demolish one of the old greenhouses and make a small vegetable garden for Pat, which produced the tomatoes she as sold for the Hospice funds at the monthly meetings. All the potted roses have now been re-potted and several members are looking after these until they can be sold at the Summer Show. Quite a few have been sold to friends and neighbours helping to reduce the stock. My thanks to all who helped in this project especially Dora’s friend Ray, who is not a member, but worked very hard and made several trips to the tip saving the Society the cost of a skip. I am keeping the trading boxes and bringing them to the monthly meetings. As you see we are having a sale and all items must eventually go. We have written off the remaining half of the stock and any proceeds from trading will now go into the general account. Some items had to be disposed of, as they were illegal from 1^st January this year. We do not propose to run a trading stall in future as no one has large enough premises to store the stock. My thanks to Pat for still allowing us to keep some stock in the trading shed and also for allowing us to hold our Committee meetings at her house and also for producing the bulletin.

It was felt later on in the year that we could do with another Committee member. We co-opted Ray Jones as he was helping out with the plants and he had expressed an interest in joining the Committee at the AGM.

Hopefully our lectures met with member’s approval, I try to get a wide variety of interest but it is not easy finding lecturers who will do an evening, as they are all getting older. Youngsters don’t seem to come into this business although it can be quite lucrative. Steve Didsbury came from Bexley Council to tell us about Recycling and Yalding Organic Garden sent head gardener Nick Robinson along to give an interesting talk on Vegetables and the work of the Henry Doubleday Foundation and Seed Collection. Robert Wiseman spoke to us on Miniature Roses and we had a fun evening with Mr March and his pint of milk. Robin Walton told us all about Hop Farming in Kent and the Museum of Kent Life, of which he is a founder member. I don’t know what it is with Dahlias and us but each time I have booked this lecture the speaker has called in sick at the last minute. Many thanks to Alec Nunn and Dave Reynolds who produced a quiz evening instead and thanks to them for also taking over the running of the Cheese and Wine Evening. Our old friend George Puddefoot gave us an entertaining evening potting up winter containers and baskets, which he kindly gave as raffle prizes and Mr Leeds, gave us a very interesting talk on the more unusual varieties of Clematis. The last lecture of the year was Peter Morley’s brother Beric who told us the history of our ancient woodland and the use to which the large trees were put. Dr John Hughes was not able to judge our Spring Show last year due to having an operation on his foot but very kindly put us in touch with Mr K Scott who did an excellent job. John is now up and running and will be back this year.

The Summer Show had fewer entries than ever last year and it was only thanks to Mick Andrews that we had a decent showing in the open classes from his friends Ray Martin and Fred Shuttleworth. It was nice to see Bill Bowpitt who brought along some good roses from just a few bushes. If every member who comes regularly to meeting put in just one entry we would have a glorious show. We are endeavouring to add one or two simple classes to the schedule so that the most inept of us can have a chance of willing something. Please don’t say to yourself "my roses aren’t good enough" or "I’m not capable of doing that", you do not know until you try. And if you don’t enter it is a red-hot racing certainty that you are not going to win. If you do enter you at least give yourself a chance. Floral Art is another area where we see the same people enter every year and these are diminishing each year. Dora said she would like some competition. I know there are several members who do Floral Art, so why aren’t you entering in our Table Shows and the Summer Show. If I, who have never had a lesson in my life, can win prizes, I know some of you can. We are raising the prize money across the board this year so there are quite substantial sums to be won. There seems to be so much going on in the Broadway on Saturday afternoons in the summer that we have very stiff competition enticing members of the public to come and view our show and spend some money. The refreshments were down somewhat last year which points to not so many bodies through the doors. It has been proposed that we put the entry fee up to 50p but the advanced entry will stay the same. This is still a small amount when you consider that entry fees to gardens and other exhibitions run into several pounds each. We are also going to advertise the show better, with hopefully posters in shop windows, libraries and other club notice boards and newsletters. Also gardening magazines, papers and radio gardening programmes.

The Society once again had a stall at the Hospice Plant Day on Bostall Heath. I think we took about £800, which was down on the previous year. Unfortunately the weather was not so kind to us and Charlton were playing at home. We will not be participating this year, as we do not have the facilities to look after the large stock of plants needed to run a successful stall.

The Society now holds no stock of TLC. We have taken up the Breeders Rights and Burston Nursery Plc of St Albans, Herts, will now handle the agency. I believe several nurseries hold stocks of the rose and Ben Rainsbury can give members any information they require in respect of purchasing a bush.

The Rose Table Show and Floral Art Table Show at monthly meetings have looked very sad this year. Once again if members who attended the meetings brought along one rose or an arrangement we would have a grand show and remember this is practice; ground for the big match in June. We are considering going back to two classes for the Rose Table Show, Experienced and Novice. A points total will be kept throughout the season and a cup awarded to each winner in their class at the end of the year. Do please have a go. We are supposed to be rose lovers after all.

Thanks to Ron and Val Pulling for running our raffles for us. Thanks also to the ladies in the kitchen for providing that welcome cup of tea. Thanks to those who helped and provided food at the Cheese and Wine Evening and our thanks to all those who help put out chairs and tables at each meeting. Vanessa has one worry, which she has spoken to me about. Much as she appreciates people helping in the kitchen there seems to have been a veritable army over the past year all trying to help in what is a quite small room. With electric extension leads lying about and hot water being ferried across the room and then urns boiling away she is frightened there is going to be an accident. Please ask if she needs your help before entering the kitchen. I hope members will not take offence at this but we have to be mindful of your safety.

We spent a very pleasant day at Groombridge Garden and Enchanted Forest where they were holding a Plant Fair. I saw several big kids having a go on the swings in the wood and also walking round the labyrinth. The Birds of Prey Exhibition was interesting as was the guided walk around the gardens. Needless to say we all came away with plants.

Holidays last year were to South Wales, Shrewsbury and the Harrogate Flower Show. The weather wasn’t particularly kind to us in Wales, we enjoyed the Botanical Gardens despite the rain and the Museum of Wales with all its old buildings and local crafts was fascinating Only 30 members came on the trip to Shrewsbury but "Oh Boy" the rest of you missed one of the best gardens we have ever seen in the Dorethy Clive Garden. We spent a whole day at Ironbridge wandering around the Bliss Hill Museum site where we had lunch in a pub and joined in a singsong. Unfortunately the Tile Museum was closed for renovation but there was plenty more to see and Gerry was able to drive us from one site to another ending up at the Pottery where we had a guided tour ending up in one of the kilns. It was a scorching day and we were all glad to go back to the hotel for a shower and a drink. We also had good weather at Harrogate and spent all day going from one exhibition tent to another, what a wonderful show and such a wide variety of exhibits, my favourites were the big blousy Chrysanthemums and Dahlias, there were rows and rows of them. We spent a pleasant day at Whitby and also visited Harlow Carr, the RHS Garden of the north. Our Christmas weekend to Bath got off to a bad start when the motorway was closed because of an accident and we missed our visit to the American Museum outside Bath. However the Christmas Fair was very good and everyone enjoyed their Saturday there. Gerry gave us a guided tour of Bristol on the Sunday morning finishing up at Filton where we saw Concorde on the runway. We indulged in our usual mince pies and sherry on the way home and agreed on the whole we had had a good weekend despite the ineptitude of the hotel and their catering arrangements.

We have had several letters of thanks this year from members referring to the Bulletin, which keeps everyone up to date with the Society’s events and also features articles which we hope will be of interest to members. We could still do with more members sending in articles about their own activities or items of interest that they have heard about. Our thanks must go to Martin Double who has set up our web site on the back of his business site and has done a lot of work already. Members can log onto the site, which contains information about the Society, the monthly bulletin and information, and articles we think will benefit members and the gardening public generally. If you do not have your own computer, all the Borough Libraries have an Internet Café and I am sure staff will help you if you don’t know how.

As we advised members in the Bulletin we had two substantial donations from members last year. The Committee have decided to use some of Joan Farrell’s donation each year by making a £15 award to the Junior Champion at the Summer Show. This is for members growing less than 75 bushes and 35 miniatures. We hope this will encourage those members who don’t seem to think their roses are good enough to show. Joan was a lovely lady who enjoyed our meetings and holidays and I am sure she would be happy for us to remember her in a practical way.

We are losing one more Committee member this year. Nick Carrier is unable to carry on at present as he is looking after his aged mother and cannot attend meetings. We are this year offering two places on the Committee hopefully bringing the complement to six Officers and seven members. We thank Nick for the many years he has sat on the Committee and all the work he has done for the Society.

As you can imagine last year was quite a difficult year. It seemed Bert did far more work than we realised to keep the Society running smoothly apart from that he stored so much of the Society’s property, which we have had to off load onto members willing to store items. We have on occasions been rather late getting our act together such as ordering summer bedding plants etc, as Bert just got on and did it. Hopefully we have learnt from our mistakes and are now in a position to set up a time -table for administrative events throughout the year that will help us in years to come. We are at present well advanced in our preparation for the Summer Show. As you know the suggestion by Tony Cox to have a permanent memorial to Bert was discussed in Committee and it was decided not to have a new cup inscribed as the Society already hold so many that are not used. We decided to call the April Meeting the Bert Powell Memorial Lecture and I am sure Bert would have approved. It just leaves me to thank all our members for their support. To those who cannot get to meetings, we try to keep you up with events in the Bulletin and to the more active members our thanks for their participation in our events. We are a very friendly society and our large membership bears out the fact that we all give each other a great deal by being members. Many Societies have closed through lack of enthusiasm from their members but we seem to go from strength to strength. I am sure we all hope that this year will be even more successful than the last.

I should bring to your attention that the accounts you have before you tonight have not yet been audited, for which I apologise.

As usual I’ll start with the Show Account. We made a small profit on the show despite an increase in the expenses and a slight reduction on the sale of advance entry tickets. The income from the various stalls at the show was slightly down after expenses.

Now I come to the Trading Account, all of the stock has now been written off. Some of the plants and roses that had been purchased were lost due to the hot weather of last spring and summer. This year however, various Committee members are looking after the remaining roses, which will be available for sale.

The Society’s General Expenses are increased, partly due to the donation to the hospice in memory of Bert Powell, the Society also helped to sponsor the Rose Show at Capel Manor. We no longer receive interest on our bank balance due to changes by our bankers to our account. It should be noted that we received a bequest of £200 and a donation of £50, the specific use of which you have already heard about.

We have a healthy bank account and I know that with our members support this society will continue to survive and flourish.

Many thanks to Doreen for dealing with the subscriptions and to Vanessa and Janet for dealing with the outings and refreshments, Ray Jones for his help on the Trading Stall also to all those who help to man the stalls on Show Day.

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Schedule

1. One Trumpet Daffodil in a vase. (Daffodil Society Division 1, trumpet (corona) to be as long or longer than the petals surrounding)
2. One stem of Narcissi (Daffodil) with more than one flower to the stem in a vase (Daffodil
Society Divisions 5 (Triandrus), 7 Jonnquilla), or 8 (Tazetta), e.g. Varieties Thalia, Geranium Cheerfulness, etc.)
3. One Narcissi (Daffodil) in a vase, any type not eligible for Class 1or 2
4. Three stems any type of Daffodil (Narcissi) in a vase
5. Tulip one stem in a vase
6. Tulips three stems in a vase.


(All the above may be shown with respective foliage)

7. One pot of Daffodils (Narcissi) any variety or varieties, pot not to exceed 7" inside diameter.
8. One pot of bulb(s)any other type, pot not to exceed 7" inside diameter
9. Vase of flowers, one type, not mentioned above
10. Vase of mixed flowers from the garden to be judged on quality and variety
11. One flowering pot plant, pot not to exceed 9" inside diameter
12. One foliage pot plant, pot not to exceed 9" inside diameter
13. One pot grown pansy, pot not to exceed 5.5" inside diameter
14. One pot grown primula (including polyanthus & primroses, pot not to exceed 5.5" inside diameter
15. Basket of Spring flowers to be judged equally on the variety of flowers and the quality of the arrangement. _________________________________________________________________________________________


Entry Form -    Please hand in on Show Evening before staging exhibits

Class 1. ……..         Class 2 ………         Class 3 ………         Class 4 ………..
Class 5 ………         Class 6 ……...         Class 7 …….. .         Class 8 ………..
Class 9 ………         Class10 ……..         Class 11 ……..         Class 12 ………
Class 13 ……..         Class 14 ……..         Class 15 …….


Name …………………………………………………………….


Address …………………………………………………………...