The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

January 18, 2004 Address to W.L. Thanks to Irene â€" much better qualified then I am to speak about the Garden Club â€" member for many years and also a president. First of all a few words about our name. The words Horticultural Society sound rather formidable â€" Garden Club is so much more friendly â€" but there is a reason for it. The club§ ar.e.legally incorporated within the Ontario Horticultural Association for the purpose of liability and fiscal responsibility. This is absolutely essential as from time to time various societies are sued for what seems to be the most bizarre reasons. We receive some financial support from OMAFRA. The provincial government gives a yearly grant to those societies who provide volunteers to enhance the appearance of our villages by planning, planting and maintaining a number of flower beds and I have here our official certification, which declared the Colborne H.S. a Society as defined under The Horticultural Societies Act. It is dated July 4, 1966. It says "This certificate is presented in recognition and appreciation of the efforts of public spirited citizens of the community, whose object is the encouragement of interest and improvement in horticulture. However, although 1966 is a very important date in our history, it is not the beginning of it all. It was first organized in 1925, but then petered out and was started up again in 1965, when it had 57 members. The Society concentrated on a ‘Beautify Ontario‘ campaign and masses of tylips were planted at the War Memorial. A number of trees were planted and the new parkette was given attention. In the Centennial Year, membership had grown to 72 and trees were planted in the park and at schools. There seems to have been general cleanup, paintâ€"up and plant up campaigns. It is worth noting that at this time Juniors played an active role and special competitions for them were promoted. We do not have any junior members at the present time, but youngsters are involved in the annual planting at Castleton P.S. when John Sellers gets small groups from Grade 3 to come out in turn and plant the annuals. I have a photograph here of their efforts. Colborne &. District H.S. celebrated their 25"" anniversary in 1991. At that time the Past President was Amy Gresham, a very enthusiastic and knowledgeable lady, the President was Marjorie $ Vaughan, Vi Morrison and Ted Pedlar were 1" and 2"" Vice Presidents, the Secretary was Jean Filteau and the Treasurer Peg Tozek. You may know some of these people. They were highly dedicated and put in many years of service. In addition to these officers, our Board consists of a number of directors, incidentally Mary Jackson is listed among them in 1991 and she is now our Treasurer. We are supposed to have ten directors, but we are short of members and don‘t quite make it. Last year we numbered around 60. So please forgive our formidable title and understand that we are group of enthusiastic amateurs who do their best to provide a little colour both at the entrances to Castleton, Colborne and Salem and to decorate the entrances of some of our buildings. I do stress that we are amateurs, and like most amateurs, our plans do not always work out! However, we do what we can. Incidentally the OHA (the umbrella organization) is celebrating its centenary in 2006 so thought is already being given to this important occasion. § Sill Seflers firafifame Jâ€"~"*"‘ by cl (0)