CHERITON Fitzpaine Garden Club held its AGM which was a very relaxed and festive affair with candlelit tables, a bar and a vast selection of food provided by the members.

This was Paula Mossman’s last meeting as Chairman and she was warmly thanked by incoming Chairman, Andrew Dean.

During Paula’s enthusiastic tenure, the membership has risen to 60 and she has masterminded the 50/50 Auction, the 90th Birthday bash, and many other initiatives.

We also now have a bench in the Parish Hall Garden in memory of past members, and a plaque on the Church Cross Garden which is maintained by the Club.

Paula was presented with a huge bouquet of flowers by Andrew as a small gesture of thanks.

Other members retiring from office, but not necessarily from the committee are: David Nunn, Treasurer and Ann Nixon, Show Co-ordinator. Replacing them will be Dee Marshall and Tessa Powell.

Sarah Fox is now Programme Secretary. Supporting them will be a Committee of long-standing and newer members.

After the formal proceedings, Terry Meakin showed us slides of his visit to the Harrogate Show. Terry was in awe of the massive vegetables shown there, but doesn’t expect any of us to produce similar specimens any time soon!

The Longest Leek Competition was won jointly by Chris Carr and Charles Mossman with Kevin Frost second, Paula Mossman third and Simon Ramsey fourth.

We look forward to an interesting programme of talks, demonstrations, garden visits, a scarecrow competition, two shows and, don’t forget, the Bi-annual Carnival.

Our first meeting of 2018 will be on Thursday, February 15 in the Parish Hall.

David Nunn is compiling another fiendish quiz and members are invited to take a wicked pudding along to share. There will also be an “at cost” bar.

We have had to raise our subscriptions to £15 this year, due to the rising cost of speakers, but this is still very reasonable.

Mary Nunn