Denis Holmes opened the meeting by presenting a Special Trophy to our frail but indomitable veteran member Irene Darwood. This astonishing Lady has cheerfully hung on to this particular dahlia cup for the past 15 years ...... Such an enthusiast.

An extremely knowledgeable and engaging speaker Mr Alan Buller, took us through the complexities of organic gardening, concentrating upon the correct PH of the soil for individual species of plants and how to adjust it, with the addition of lime, or rarely, flowers of sulphur. The condition of the soil being paramount, opened with a slide of a stonking great pile of horse manure ( in his own driveway) about which he eulogised, calling it 'pure manure'.

From such heights he then descended to the importance of well mixed compost, and valuable components, He showed us a varied range of compost containers and also of cold frames. His later slides were of allotments, good and bad, of which he is a frequent judge. He finished with some colourful shots of flower borders and then we were able to purchase samples of his delicate spring flowering bulbs.

Our next talk, on the 12th of March 2007, will be on 'The National Gardens Scheme in Surrey' by Mrs G Leader so we will look forward to that.