SRGC AGM 2010 - Awards and Honours

[Maggi Young]

At the Annual General Meeting of the SRGC held on Saturday 13th November 2010  the following honours and awards were announced.

Maggi Young – Honorary Vice President for her work with the forum.
See this thread: http://www.srgc.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=6251.0

Jim Sutherland – honorary member for his many years of work with the Inverness Group – now the Highland Rock Garden Club

Joyce Fingerut – honorary member for her liason work with the Seed Exchange in the States

John Lawson – honorary member for his work at Jack Drake's Inshriach Nursery.
Tragically, on this very day John passed away in hospital at Kingussie. See this page: http://www.srgc.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=6256.0

The following Merit Medals to Show Exhibitors were awarded:

Silver:

Brian Burrow

Jim & Wilma Wright

 

Gold:

Watt Russell         1st Gold Medal                
Stan da Prato         2nd  Medal Bar      
Roma Fiddis          2nd  Medal Bar      
David Millward            2nd Medal Bar        
Stella & David Rankin  5th  Medal Bar      
Cyril Lafong               10th Medal Bar        


AGS Salver for the Plantsman of the Year with the highest aggregate of First Prize Points in Section 1:

 Dr Stanley da Prato



Rutland Salver for the highest aggregate of first prizes in Section II :

 
   Mr & Mrs Mike Hicks

 

Golden Jubilee Salver for outstanding service to the Club        

 Dr Ian Bainbridge

 
Peg Crosland Award for the best article in "The Rock Garden" -

Ger van den Bauken for Viola auricolor article in July 2010 journal

 
David Lane Award for the best photograph in "The Rock Garden" -

 

Gordon Rae for his photograph of Cremanthodium on cover of the July issue

The AGS Award for outstanding service to a local Group (painting given by Late AGS President Frank Tindall):

Gill Lee

[Maggi Young]

Some photos will follow.....

[Brian Ellis]

Many congratulations to all those worthy recipients.

[Maggi Young]

Righty-ho, here  are those photos....
 Well , we'll start with a "cheat" because the picture of Watt Russell receiving his certificate was blurry so I've pinched a better one from the Royal Caledonian Horticultural Society site of Watt  ( on the right in the photo) being given a "Caley" award ( as this august body is affectionately known) from Sir Peter Hutchison in 2006...... you can find other pictures of Watt and Stan and some other folk you may recognise on the site , too

Caley Site : www.rchs.co.uk

[Maggi Young]

Stan Da Prato was given a merit bar for his gold medal and also won the Plantsman of the Year trophy....

Stan's presence at all the shows with a carload of fine plants has brought joy to all the Show Secretaries in 2010.... keep it up Stan, it is much appreciated!

 Carol Shaw, SRGC Secretary, is shown in the background.... list in hand...

[Maggi Young]

President Liz Mills made the awards ..... here she is with David Millward ( known in these pages as Dr Rock!)

[Maggi Young]

Som folks were not able to attend the AGM  (I have your Certificate, Roma!) so there is not a full complement of photos.....
 Here is Cyril,Lafong, AKA the Glenrothes Greenfinger, receiving his tenth gol merit medal certificate.

[Maggi Young]

Ian Bainbridge could not be with us, but Carole was there and received the Golden Jubilee Salver on his behalf......

[Maggi Young]

Gill Lee from the North Northumerland Group was awarded the AGS award given by the late AGS President Frank Tindall to the SRGC, in celebration of the SRGC 75th Anniversary...... sad to remember Frank's loss but it was a happy occasion, look at those two lovely smiles.....

[Maggi Young]

Part of the AGM  Day consists usually of an illustrated talk .... this year we had a slight variation, when we had presentations from two of the students who have benefitted from Grants from the SRGC Diana Aitchison Fund.
See here for info about the fund: http://www.srgc.org.uk/fund/fund.html ... we suggest you let any one studying horticulture know about it!!

The first presentation was in the form odf a DVD, featuring Droni, one of the Tibetan medical students who have received grant aid fro the SRGC DA Fund.
The DVD was made with support by ROKPA ( http://www.rokpauk.org/ )



Here's a photo of Droni  (right) and a colleague, Tselha working in the Explorers Garden, Pitlochry whilst on her placement 2008

[Maggi Young]

The second presentation was from Alan Elliott  another recipient of Diana Aitchison grants.

Alan told us  in very interesting terms of the journey he has made from attending SRGC group meetings to work placements and college and RBGE studies. He had a spell at the Nezahat Gökyigit Memorial Park, Istanbul, Turkey, the botanic garden that Adil Güner talked to us about at the Late Bulb Day. He was lucky enough to travel to Bhutan with SRGC Grant aid and with help from the Merlin Trust in company with Margaret and David Thorne as they took the lead on an AGS trip.
Alan has won dissertation awards along the way and is now studying for a PHD. He is working on some interesting projects at the RBGEdinburgh and is a fine example of what can  come about from a young man with an interest and some outside a encouragement and help. Alan said how much he felt the support of the SRGC, in so many ways, had been of assistance to him in his career.
This picture is of Droni, in her stunning national costume and Alan Elliott.

[Lesley Cox]

Many congratulations to all those who won awards and honours. Well deserved. I really like to see the people on pages such as this. Makes the Club seem a little closer to home for those of us who can't be THERE and it's good to put faces to names.

With all those gold bars, and taking into account the present price of gold, Cyril must be a VERY rich man.