HERNE BAY & DISTRICT BRANCH NEWS

January 2007 - Annual General Meeting

The club's Annual Meeting was held at the Secretary's home on 17th January, during which the committee members were

returned unopposed, and the officers were elected: Chairman: Linda Jones, Hon. Sec. Linda Farrington, Treasurer: Philip

Andrews.

The club is pleased to have retained a steady membership in the face of diminishing memberships of similar clubs, and the officers thanked members for their valued help and support throughout the year.

March 2007 -

At the March meeting members heard popular speaker Dr Peter Brandham on The Horn of Africa, in which he described with slides a 3-month botanical expedition he made with colleagues from Kew to Somalia in the early 1980s, while the area was relatively peaceful. Even so, armed guards were provided near the borders with neighbouring countries. Somalia's arid landscape is home to many rare species of Euphorbia and Aloe, and the team was searching for plants seen in the past but feared to be extinct, so that specimens could be preserved at Kew. In doing so they abseiled down sheer cliff faces, laboured under heat of 40 to 50 degC made bearable by zero humidity, and discovered several completely new species, such as Aloe grisea, named after the member of the team who first spotted it.

April 2007 -

This month members heard Ian Woolnough from Exeter on Pot Pourri, a medley of digital pictures from his cacti discovery trips in North and South America. It was surprising to see cacti on mountainsides in California and Arizona with a dusting of snow, but this is usually soon dispelled by the sun. The cacti of Chile have had to adapt to very different conditions of almost no rain but moisture from heavy sea mists caused by the cold Humbolt current meeting warm air off the land.

There will be no indoor Wednesday meeting in May. Members will instead be visiting Beth Chatto's gardens in Essex. On June 20th the club will holds its annual show, to be judged this year by Eddy Harris, and exhibitors are asked to stage their plants before 7.15pm so that judging can begin at 7.30pm. One of the highlights of the club's year, it is always an entertaining evening and non-members are welcome to come in and enjoy refreshments while admiring the exhibits.

The club meets at the Red Cross Rooms in East Street, Herne Bay, usually on the third Wednesday of each month at 7.30pm, and visitors are always welcome. For a programme or further details ring 01227 36146 or 792497, or visit www.cactusplant.co.uk.