The responses from Grenfell and district were overwhelming, with many local residents cheerfully volunteering to participate in the widespread range of activities:

Flanders Poppy seeds were planted in public areas and many private gardens in Grenfell and the villages.

Plantings were also carried out at the local schools at Grenfell, Caragabal, Greenethorpe and Quandialla.

Memorial displays were prepared for the Main Street roundabouts and Rygate Square.

Window displays were prepared for Grenfell businesses and shopfronts.

4,000 hand-made poppies were cut out, sewn or crocheted for display purposes.

An Exhibition of art, memorabilia and WW1 photos was held in the Grenfell Art Gallery from 16th October until 25th November.

The Exhibition also included an Art Competition featuring the Flanders Poppy and offering attractive prizes.

The Exhibition was officially opened by ABC Radio's Ian McNamara, known nation-wide as Macca from his weekend programme "Australia All Over" and saw a record crowd in attendance. We received a lot of publicity Nationwide through this.

We invited residents of the MPS to view the exhibition and supplied morning tea for them, which was very much appreciated. This project was fully funded by our Club. Thank you again to all members who helped in any way.

Our last AGM was held at the Bowling Club in September and Hugh Moffitt, our Auditor, chaired the election of Office Bearers We are forever grateful to Hugh for Auditing our books, which he has been doing for many years. Denise Yates was our Guest Speaker and spoke about photographing plants and flowers as well as displaying some of her own works and entertaining us with a Power Point Presentation

October was an extremely busy month, with both the Poppy Project and Open Gardens happening. We had six lovely gardens, with some entered for the first time. We invited the Temora Garden Club to join us, (20 members) and provided morning tea for them. Red Cross catered for the weekend and retained the money they raised.

The October meeting was held at the home of Noel and Sharon Cartwright, who gave us a guided tour of their wonderful native garden, followed by afternoon tea at Spice N Aroma

The Melbourne Cup Luncheon is an annual event, and our Club has once again supported it by holding our November meeting at the Country Club in the morning, followed by lunch. At this meeting we discussed and resolved we commission Kathleen McCue to sculpt an eagle in a nest, which would be erected on a pole and installed in a prominent position. This was to be funded by money made from Open Gardens. Plans were in motion and Council contacted for permission to erect it in a suitable public area, and were also asked to meet the installation cost, which they agreed on. Site meetings were held with the engineers and discussions held with Kathleen, and so it began. The eagle is almost complete and should be installed sometime in August.

December meeting was our annual Xmas Party, held at the Country Club and enjoyed by all.

The Garden Club was in recess till March when we held the meeting at the Hub, where our Librarian, Erica Mearns, was introduced and shared with us all types of gardening books and videos that are available to the public from the library. Our Club presented Erica with two potted plants for the Library

We continue to seek out different venues for our meetings and April saw us going to Tierney's Miniature Railway and Garden in Young. We were joined by partners and friends, which made it even more enjoyable. Thanks must go to Ron Huckel for organising it.

We were invited by Temora Garden Club to Temora for a Friendship Day in April, so we organised a bus and had a wonderful day viewing a number of gardens and enjoying morning tea and lunch as their guests.

May meeting was held at Patina Gallery, after a watercolour painting workshop for members, with Kathleen as our teacher. We all completed a painting of daisies, which we were proud of! The sculptured eagle, in its first stage, was on display for members to view. In May we also hosted a morning tea for Forbes Garden Club at the home of Cherie and Graham Pattrick, and I must thank them again for being such gracious hosts. Thanks also to all who helped on the day.

'Ode To Winter' was the theme for the Henry Lawson Festival in June, and our Club entered a float once again. We didn't win this time, but I must say the float looked pretty good. The meeting for June was held at the Native Nursery, and we enjoyed an informative talk by their President, Jan Diprose.

Julie & Richard Armstrong hosted the July meeting and members enjoyed their day in the country soaking up the sun on their verandah and walking around the garden.

While we have had a wonderful year as the Garden Club, there was also a sad time when we lost one of our beautiful and loved members, Stella Copeman, who will always be in our hearts.

In conclusion, I would like to thank my Executive and members for their continued support. Chris Lobb, President