Vega Baja Garden Club 

Dear All

We are now nearing our final meeting of 2012 on 3rd December, usual time and place. As is our tradition, the December meeting will be more social, in the run up to the Christmas season: The Club will provide a fixed number of bottles of wine and water (other drinks can be bought from the bar) and we ask you as members to bring along a few nibbles, cakes, mince pies, sausage rolls, crisps or similar, to pool and share. The club will provide paper or plastic plates and serviettes.

There will be our normal raffle of plants, but in addition, there will also be a second raffle, to be paid for separately, to raffle any goods/books/gifts/cakes/bottles, which any members might like to bring and donate on the day. Please see if you have anything which might be suitable. Thank you. Pride of place in that raffle will be the beautiful painting of flowers which Eileen Wallace our November speaker, painted for us at that meeting. She has had the painting framed, and it looks lovely.

There will also be a Gardening Quiz (not as long as last year!!). Whilst most of the questions will have a gardening bias, there will also be a few pot luck or general knowledge questions. Some of the questions are likely to offer you a choice of three possible answers, to make things a little easier, but it won't be too difficult anyway, as I am preparing it!! Members will be encouraged to take part as teams of not more than six people and there will be prizes for the winning team.

Next I want to tell you about the Club Lunch we are organising for February next year. Five of us tried out the restaurant attached to the Almoradi Tennis Club, which is situated on the east side of the road between the original Algorfa village, and the new Golf La Finca urbanisation, (where some years ago we used to hold our meetings in a now disused Garden Centre). we were very pleased with our meal and have booked the venue for the lunch for Tuesday 19th February, 1.30pm for a 2pm start. I attach a menu for your consideration. The price is 10€ which does not include coffee. If you wish to attend, please consider the menu and choose your first and second courses. It is not necessary to choose these courses or pay for the meal at the meeting on 3rd December, but Jacqueline Thomas will be taking names of members interested at that meeting, and choices, if you want to give them to her then. However, we will want both your choices and also your full payment for the meal, in advance, and not later than our next Club meeting, which will be on 4th February. To remind you, we do not meet in January, with so many away over the New Year.

Lastly, I have received an email from Greengrass who spoke to us at our September meeting. He has "a very effective insecticide solution for the Red Palm Beetle/Weevil". Also, its the time of year when the Oxalis is popping up everywhere. Chris asks "Are your members suffering from this nasty little weed?" If any of you are interested in following Chris up on either of these problems, then please contact him direct - telephone 676 863 778 or email lawnsinspain@yahoo.com
I understand from one of our members that Chris is likely to be coming down to our area at the beginning of December, and may even possibly look in on our meeting, in case any of you need anything delivering to this area from the Benissa area which is the centre of his operations. Obviously then, if you do need anything from him, send your orders to him as soon as possible, if you want it delivered sooner rather than later.

To those who will not be able to attend the meeting on 3rd December, I hope you have a happy Christmas and a peaceful New Year. To those who will be attending, I look forward to seeing you all.

with best wishes

Andrew