Minutes of the Meeting of the Bradford Flower Club held on Monday 13^th December 2010 at Haworth Road Methodist Church:

Members and Guests were given a very warm welcome. Due to snow and ice it was hoped everyone had managed to keep warm.

Unfortunately due to this bad weather the Christmas Flower Festival at Shibden Hall had to be cancelled. Hopefully there will be a spring festival for us to look forward to. Although the coach for our club outing to the festival had been paid for we have been able to negotiate a credit which can be used for a visit to the Spring Festival.

Our Chairman thanked all those who had entered into the Christmas spirit by wearing something ‘Christmassy’. The room looked colourful. Thanks were also given to everyone who had brought something to enjoy at the ‘Fuddle’ after the meeting with our tea and coffee.

It was announced that we had 35 guests at our very successful November Guest Evening. Norma Dobney had appreciated being made an Honorary Member and a letter had been received from Louise Nettleton who was unable to attend due to illness.

There were lots of letters on the notice board from those attending our Workshops at Bankfoot and Bolton Villas. The minutes of our November Meeting were also displayed.

Those attending the North East Area A.G.M. in November were treated to a super day. Representative’s reviews of the year were very informative and interesting. In the afternoon Eileen Barraclough and Susan Fairhurst gave a wonderful demonstration, producing a stunning stage. Congratulations were also extended to Eileen on passing her Judges Test.

Entries for our photographic competition were on display and the winners were announced at the end of the meeting.

Our Chairman was pleased to announce we were using our new PA system which we were able to obtain from our Awards for All England funding. The new system allows for both the demonstrator and the floor to have a microphone which hopefully will allow everyone to hear more clearly.

It was also announced that the Bradford Flower Club now has an official website again thanks to Lottery Funding. The website is now ‘live’ and many pages are interactive allowing readers to post comments. Any contributions will be monitored for suitability before going live. Access can be made by typing in www.bradfordflowerclub.ork.uk  or by typing Bradford Flower Club into Google. Yvonne had made some entries onto the web but would welcome much more. The history of the club had been taken from Sheila Boyes’ summary for our 50^th year celebrations. Details of our meeting venues had also been entered but any other details about the Club would be appreciated, especially stories of exhibitions, demonstrations etc. This would make interesting reading and hopefully encourage new members.

Our Demonstrator for the evening, Jan Faulkner, was then introduced with her title ‘Christmas Sparkle’.

The vote of thanks was given by Anita Day.

The winner of the ‘Best Christmas Dressed’ as chosen by Jan Falkner was once again Jean Winder.

Winners of the Photographic competition were announced by Yvonne and these were:

Single Flower                     First : Betty Denton                         Second: Pat Rhodes

Seasons                                               First: Pauline Lowes                        Second: Pat Rhodes

Everyone was thanked for attending our Christmas Meeting and behalf of our Chairman and Committee were wished a Happy Christmas and the best wishes for the New Year. Our next meeting would be on the 17^th January 2011 when our Speaker would be Nigel Harrison with his title ‘Secrets of Chelsea’.

The meeting closed at 9.10