Eleanor Dartnall
eleanor@dartnalladvisers.com.au
Chair:
Eleanor Dartnall
Vice-Chair:
Laurel Cheetham
Benoit Trudeau (alternate)
Treasurer:
Jane Clifford
Correspondence Secretary:
Sue Trudeau
Minute Secretary:
Catherine Burke
Editor, Web Site and Inflorescence:
Benoit Trudeau
Committee:
Helen Gates
Meg Hemming
Marika Schmidhofer
Maureen Shying
In October last year, the Committee of the Southern Highlands Branch held an all-day meeting to plan its intended activities for 2010, discuss the future of its major projects and deal with various operational and organisational matters.
We draw your attention to the changes made to the composition of the Committee and the duties of its members, as set out in the list above. Catherine Burke, formerly Deputy Chair, has accepted the role of Minute Secretary, replacing Diane Bargon who stepped down as Committee Member in the latter part of 2009. Laurel Cheetham and Benoit Trudeau (alternate) have taken on the responsibilities of Deputy Chair in Catherine’s stead. All other office holders will continue with their established duties. The Committee also welcomed the return of Maureen Shying to its ranks, where she intends to assist with the organisation of events in particular.
To facilitate and better spread the management of the on-going workload of Committee members, four Sub-Committees have been established to take care of financial matters (Jane Clifford, Co-Ordinator), the organisation of garden visits and events (Eleanor Dartnall, Co-Ordinator), special projects (Laurel Cheetham) and speakers (Catherine Burke).
The more formally structured of these Sub-Comittees (by virtue of its fiduciary responsibilities) is the Finance Committee. Co-ordinated by Jane Clifford, its members are Eleanor Dartnall and Benoit Trudeau. The Finance Committee meets quarterly in January, April, July and October to attend to financial matters including the prudent management of Branch funds in accordance with the resolutions passed at the 2009 Annual General Meeting.
In addition to the establishment of Sub-Committees, the role of event co-ordinator has also been formalised. Under this arrangement, an event coordinator drawn from the ranks of Committee members takes charge of the organisation of individual events, for which she (or he) becomes the single-point of contact for arrangements concerning a given outing or visit. The Event Co-Ordinator can now make use of a structured checklist developed by the Committee to aid event planning.
The Southern Highlands Branch Committee will hold eleven monthly meetings over the year (from January to November inclusive), typically on the third Friday of every month, from 1500 to 1700. Supplementay meetings are held as circumstances dictate.
The 2010 calendar of member activies was released earlier this year, with events taking place during the first half of 2010 publicised in the AGHS Journal. The programme is a full one, as shown in below.
August 22 (Sunday)
Annual General Meeting, Second Winter Talk and Garden Visit
Transport: self-drive.
Co-Ord.: E. Dartnall & C. Burke
September 10 (Friday)
Weekday Visit to Camden Park and Stratford House
Transport: self-drive.
Co-Ord.: L. Cheetham & M. Hemming
October (Dates TBA)
Photographic Exhibition: Gardens and Landscapes Works by Benoit Trudeau.
Co-Ord.: B. Trudeau & E. Dartnall
October 17 (Sunday)
Mount Keira Scout Camp and visit to Alne Bank
Transport: self-drive.
Co-Ord.: S. Trudeau
November (5-7)
Annual National Conference, Tasmania
November (late) (Sunday)
Gardens in the Kangaloon-Wildes Meadow Area
Transport: self-drive.
Co-Ord.: E. Dartnall & R. Frolich
December 10 (Friday)
Annual Members and Guests’ Christmas Function
Co-Ord.: M. Shying
Four major projects will occupy the energy of Committee members (and ‘co-opted’ Branch members). They are:
The Construction of a Retaining Wall on the Front Boundary of Rowe’s Hill Cemetery (Co-Ordinator: Sue Trudeau) – Underway for some time now and stymied by various factors in prior years, the Committee now foresees substantial progress being made this year in respect of this particular undertaking. The services of a local stonemason have been retained, arrangements made for the delivery of the stone to the site and commercial matters dealt with alongside regulatory ones. The Committee will report formally on project status at the August Annual General Meeting – or earlier if circumstances warrant.
The Claude and Isobel Crowe Papers (Co-Ordinator: Benoit Trudeau) – As with the Rowe’s Hill project, the initiative concerned with the preservation, cataloguing and access to the papers of Claude and Isobel Crowe has regained its momentum. Numerous visits have been made to the Historic Houses Trust’s Caroline Simpson Library and Research Centre where the collection is now housed to determine its precise nature and condition, as well as the way ahead in regard to its public use for research purposes. The next issue of The Inflorescence will contain an extensive update on the subject.
The Compilation of the Register of Significant Trees and of the Social History of Gardens (Co-Ordinator: Laurel Cheetham) – Under Laurel’s attentive and diligent care, these two initiatives continue to make headway. The first project is receiving the support of Council and its Heritage Sub-Committee, while the second is also making headway with the support of Committee and Branch members. Progress reports will be made available to members later this year.
The AGHS-Southern Highlands Cookbook with a Difference (Co-Ordinator: Helen Gates) is also well underway. The Committee has approached some fifty members and asked them to contribute a particularly loved recipe for a dish – entrée, main course or dessert. In each instance, a photograph of the contributor’s garden will be featured, along with some personal notes. Acceptances are many and swift, so we look forward to a deligthful outcome in the latter part of the year…
The Spring/Summer 2009 edition of The Inflorescence was released on the day of the Members and Guests’ Christmas function at Allways, the garden and home of John and Eleanor Dartnall, the event’s generous hosts.
At 28 pages, it was the most substantial edition of the newsletter to date. Much of it was dedicated to the 2009 Mount Wilson tour, with a double-spread (text and photographs) on each of the ten gardens visited. The issue also featured a substantial article on Dumbarton Oaks, the famed garden of the American couple, Mildred and Robert Bliss, which began taking shape post-1920 under the guiding hand of Beatrix Farrand; and the next instalment in our Garden Story series, this time from the pen of Eleanor Dartnall (‘Allways with love: John and Eleanor Dartnall’s Excellent Botanical Advanture’).
Many members have expressed their appreciation for the work that goes into the newsletter. Their encouraging comments have been generous and most encouraging. Two members went further still and gave their encouragement a tangible form. Their generous donation towards publication costs was gratefully received and most appreciated. We can only trust that the donors saw the effect of their gift come through in the finished product.
Owing to its size, the 28-page issue has not been uploaded to the site. However, some copies can be made available to interested parties by contacting the Editor, Benoit Trudeau, by email addressed to btrudeau@trudeau.com.au.
Earlier editions of The Inflorescence
Two earlier editions of The Inflorescence remain available via this Web site. They are as follows:
