A WARM welcome was extended to new and old members of Mickleton Gardening Club at the first meeting of 2017. New membership cards were given out as were Spring Show schedules, these will be available again at the March meeting. The chairman, Jonathan Collins, highlighted some of the topics to be covered in 2017, these include topics very relevant in an age of climate change and smaller gardens e.g. gardening in small spaces and coping with our ever changing weather. The new programme also includes some fascinating titles e.g. Pin me to a wall and do what you want with me’! However it was pointed out that this may be about climbing plants - just in case the club was about to get a dubious reputation! Leaflets about great venues for outings were available for perusal and the club will again be holding its very popular ‘Open Gardens Evening’ in June as well as the two well supported shows in April and August. There was a reminder that anyone can join the club whether or not they are Mickleton residents – several members live in the surrounding villages.

The speaker for the evening, Roger Turner, showed slides of some front gardens from a village near to his home with some good examples of planting. He had also included some of the less attractive uses of front gardens these days with gardens full of cars or rubbish, sadly becoming an all too common sight. Roger had previously produced a garden for Chelsea which won an award and has also written several gardening books.

The next meeting is on March 15 at the King George’s Hall, 7pm for refreshments, 7.30 for a talk on ‘Defensive Gardening in a Time of Climate Change’.

SANDRA REED