2008 Annual General Meeting
The 59th. Annual General Meeting
Saturday 12^th. April   2pm
The Renewal Christian Centre, Lode Lane, Solihull

The National Show
Held in Conjunction with
The Gardener's Weekend,  Kings Heath Park,  Birmingham
Saturday 30^th. &  Sunday 31^st. August
Judges: Alan Bryce, Derek Telford, R Frazer Wood (SBS).
SCHEDULE
Schedules from: Jeff Rhodes 7 Tew Street, Wakefield. WF2 8DR
Tel 01924 217579     email rhodesjeff@care4free.net
PICTURES OF 2007 SHOW

The 56th. National Show.
Held in conjunction with The Gardeners Weekend.
Kings Heath Park,  Birmingham    Saturday 1st. & Sunday 2nd. September  2007

The 55th. National Show.
Held in conjunction with The Gardeners Weekend.
Kings Heath Park,  Birmingham    Saturday 2nd. & Sunday 3rd. September  2006

The 54th. National Show.
Held in conjunction with The Gardeners Weekend.
Kings Heath Park,  Birmingham    Saturday 3rd. & Sunday 4th. September  2005
  The Show  was one of the best for many years. Entries were up on last year in most classes and the quality was very good, especially in the cut bloom classes, where Ken Gallagher again won the National 12 bloom championship.   Barry Walker was champion of the pot plants in the 7 pot championship and Lakin Earl was once more the master of the restricted pots.
   Best Pot was won by Paul Lakin with Whispers, whilst I was successful with Ruby Young as best bloom.  We still need more entries next year, but this was a big improvement and a credit to the society.

The highlight on Saturday was the presentation of Society Silver Medals by Chairman Len Gill (right) to Dave Coates (left) and John Taylor (centre) for service to the society over many years.

56^th. ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

   The AGM of the society was held in the Christian Renewal Centre Solihull on Saturday 9th April with a very poor attendance of just 21 people.  Obviously members are happy with the way things are run!!  The only resolution was a change to the rule regarding the Floral Committee where it was agreed to change the wording such that it always comprises the current judges.  This simplifies matters and removes the need to continually update the list.
   Following the meeting John Taylor showed a very interesting series of slides taken during his recent visit to New Zealand.

The 54th. National Show.
Held in conjunction with The Gardeners Weekend.
Kings Heath Park,  Birmingham    Saturday 4th. & Sunday 5th. September  2004
Unfortunately due to the weather conditions in the month before the show, entries were very low and the quality was not the best we have seen. The main prize winners were John Taylor with his entry of 7 pots and Ken Gallagher with his 12 Cut Blooms. The high point of the show was the very good entry, and quality of the non tuberous and species classes. These were the best for many years. The other high point was Ian and Christine Yeardley's entry in the display class. We must all try harder next year to get the show back to former glories.                                                                   Alan Harris

The 2004 AGM
   The 55th Annual General Meeting was held in Solihull on Saturday 13th March 2004 with the President, Maurice Webb in the chair and 29 members attended.
Picture 1 shows Maurice in the centre, with George Rushforth, Treasurer on his right and the Secretary Alan Harris.
  Andrew MacDougal was welcomed to the meeting as the new representative for the Central Area. The Secretary's and Treasurer's reports were accepted and the following officers were re-appointed. Maurice Webb, President. Len Gill, Chairman. Alan Harris, Secretary.
   The following committee members resigned in rotation and offered themselves for re-election; Dave Staines, John Taylor and Dave Hall. They were all re-elected together with Andrew MacDougal, the new Central Area Representative who now joins the committee.
Picture 2 shows that the meeting is also a social occasion and shows members enjoying a cup of tea and a chat after the meeting.

The 53rd National Show
Kings Heath Park, Birmingham on 30th &  31st Aug.  2003
    Entries were well up to previous years in total, which was amazing considering the tropical conditions in August. It was particularly pleasing to see 3 entries in each of the main pot plant classes and the standard was exceptional with Peter Read and Lakin Earl the winners.  The cut blooms entries were down with 5 entries in the 12 board class.  The standard was not as high as recent years, but still a lot better than expected.  Blooms seem to be more affected by the heat than plants.  It was nice to see Ken Gallagher back to winning ways.   We still need more entries in the non tuberous, novice and intermediate classes but all in all it was a very good show expertly managed by the stand-in Show Secretary Jeff Rhodes.          Results         Pictures

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The Scottish Begonia Society honoured one of our own members when they awarded their Silver Medal to Derrick Foster for his services to their society. The photograph shows Derrick being presented with his medal by Andrew Todd, President of The Scottish Begonia Society at The Ayr Show.

The 2003 AGM of the society was held on 26th July and it was Len Gill's pleasure to present Derek Telford with the Silver Medal for many years of service to the society.  The picture shows the presentation being made at the meeting.

Left Len Gill, Chairman.  Right Derek Telford, bulletin editor.

Tarsonamid mite
There appears to be a major outbreak of  on begonias up and down the country.
Report in THE SECRETARY'S GREENHOUSE

Obituary. Vic Spurr

  After coping with the after effects of two strokes for a number of years, Vic passed away in hospital on June 1^st 2003.
   Vic was one of our longest serving members of the National Begonia Society, and was a great ambassador for the society. He and his wife Beryl regularly travelled the length and breadth of the country promoting the society. He willingly gave his time to give talks to the members, and was well respected as a judge. He gave invaluable service on the committee, and was society chairman for a number of years. Vic was awarded both the Silver medal and the Gold medal for his services to the society.
   On a personal note he gave me tremendous support in setting up the Yorkshire & Humberside area, and was a regular attendee at our meetings and shows. He always became involved and thoroughly enjoyed the friendly argument and banter. After such an active life, Vic found it most difficult to come to terms with his situation. He thoroughly enjoyed his visits to the society AGM and the National show at Kings Heath, where he could meet up with all his begonia guys and gals. We all will sadly miss him. Our sincere condolences go to his wife Beryl, (who, due to her own immobility has now had to move into a residential care home,) and his son Nigel and family.

April 2003
CHANGE IN THE "RESTRICTED POT" CLASSES AT SOME SHOWS. 
The rule that restricts the number of flowering side shoots to three has been relaxed at some Shows.
There is still a requirement for only one main stem and on pot size.   Please check the schedule before entering.