My dear gardeners,

It is always a pleasure spending time with you. Today is a special honour for me. I accept with heartfelt humility the position of president of this wonderful club.

I would like to thank Lorraine for her years of leadership, and I know I will have great difficulty filling her shoes. Lorraine you’re a star. And just so you know, you’re not going anywhere. I need your help!

I would like to thank the rest of the committee for their steadfast commitment and hard work through the last few very difficult years with all those zoom meetings and sharing of beautiful and encouraging garden photographs. Together we got through it! Congratulations to all of you.

My friends, I would mostly like to thank you all for sticking with the club through the horrors of the pandemic. I sincerely feel that our bond is even stronger for going through that together.

The pandemic gave us time to reflect and time to garden and develop a deeper love for nature. Thankfully the pandemic is over.

We can now reinvigorate the club with exciting projects, associations, maybe with other clubs, National and International, and encourage new members to join us and the, let’s say, more established members to continue adding to the club with their wealth of knowledge and experience.

I would like to urge each and every one of you not to be bashful and to step up with suggestions and to offer assistance with projects too. The more members willing to put their shoulder to the wheel the more the club will achieve. Let’s grow the brand together.

A word to new members and those timid longer-toothed members too. There is no such thing as a stupid question. We are all learning every day. Don’t sit there quietly. Shout it out! Take your example from Cheryl Lee Loy. Thank you Cheryl.

My friends, let’s go forward together, face the challenges together and help our country, our people and our club grow!
Thank you so very much.

Gerard Farfan

President