The members held their monthly meeting at Stourbridge Institute on September 21, which was chaired by Adam Greathead.

He opened the meeting by welcoming both existing, new members and visitors, and then welcomed the speaker for the evening Gill Hazel who came to give a talk on classical, rare and unusual bulbs.

President Eric Southall addressed the meeting and said he had some sad news, one of our past members Alan Butcher has recently passed away.

Eric also said that the Annual Show on September 5 was once again a great success and thanked all who had helped with the setting up.

Annual Show Secretary Tom Thompson spoke and reported there were 314 general entries and 30 in the children’s section, this was comparable with last years show and he also thanked members who had helped to make the event once again a success.

Guild Secretary Liz Hathway thanked all the ladies who had provided the cakes and helped with the refreshments.

Gill Hazel from Bristol came along and gave a most informative talk accompanied with slides about rare and unusual bulbs from various parts of the world that most people would probably not be growing and encouraged members to try them for themselves.

Adam thanked her for the interesting presentation, and the members responded in the usual way.

The first prize winners in the monthly show where as follows: 7 runner beans J Knight; 2 sweetcorn E Southall; 5 standard tomatoes J Knight; 5 cherry tomatoes D Castle; 3 dressed onions B James; 3 asters M Hodgin; 3 chrysanthemums B James; 1 sunflower head D Castle; 1 jar beetroot D Castle; 1 jam swiss roll U Langley; 3 pieces bread pudding A Robinson.

Adam Greathead closed the meeting, wished everyone a safe journey home, and hoped everyone had enjoyed the evening.

The next meeting will be held on October 19.

The speaker will be John Robinson who will be telling us all about the Wyre Forest.

The group meets on the third Monday of each month at The Stourbridge Institute at 7 for 7.30pm.

All visitors are welcome to any of the meetings..

For further details phone 01384 828654.