The President’s welcome

I take over the Presidency in May 2020 with great sadness in the loss of our new President Ian Tait in April this year. Ian had been a stalwart member of our Society for over 25 years and has been President on 3 separate occasions. He was full of good cheer when he agreed to take office at our AGM in January and hosted our February talk with his usual panache. He will be sorely missed and our thoughts are with Betty and the family.

March came along and we were all locked down with the Covid 19 pandemic and I write this after 100 days of lock-down. The garden has never been so well tended and whilst the produce (flowers and vegetables) are looking good it is likely we will not have a Show to exhibit in. Growers of Dahlias, for example, are protecting their tubers by potting them up rather than growing on to keep them healthy for 2021. They know it is unlikely there will be any Horticultural Shows this year. We will make a decision July/August and will post on Website, but are really at the mercy of Local & National Government to keep people safe.

Show Schedules and Membership renewals will be coming out late July as we must honour our commitment to our advertisers and get the Membership back on track. Hopefully September 17th will be our first talk of the new Session, again – watch this space.

Finally, my thanks to our hard working Committee and to our members, whose enthusiasm keeps our Society going. Hope to see you soon.

Fergus Cumming

President, Busby & Clarkston Horticultural Society