We’ve made it out of Level 4 lockdown! Hopefully we will move quickly down to Level 1 so that we can get back to holding regular meetings and running our Spring Shows. I hope you have all kept well and have found plenty to do around the home during this time. I hear that there has been a lot of gardening going on, lots of worn out garden gloves, a tongue-in-cheek glove repair suggestion and some sore bodies. Don’t overdo it! We need you fit and healthy for the Spring Show season.
Orchid Societies around the country have been doing some great stuff during lockdown to keep members connected. Some of the things I’ve seen are:
- Phil’s Lockdown (love it). Philip Norton from the Marlborough Orchid Society has been sending out daily emails to club members with photos of his flowering orchids and information about those plants.
- Lots of activity on Facebook, both orchids and funny/clever stuff.
- A lot of Orchid Societies have been producing pictorial newsletters so that other members can see who has what in flower.
- Wilma shared the article about the Bay of Plenty Orchid Society 50th Anniversary. That was good thinking Wilma, I had a number of people email me saying how much they enjoyed reading that article.
Keep up the good work!
Yearbook – Orchids 2020
Orchids 2020 is with the printer and will be the third cab off the rank so we are not expecting any major delays in getting books out to clubs. Unfortunately the knock on effect of Covid-19 is that we cannot get funding from Pub Charity this year. Over the last two years we have been successful in obtaining funding which has helped pay part of the printing and binding cost. I had just submitted an application in mid-March but two weeks later we were in lockdown which meant the pubs were out of action and there were no funds to distribute. We will try again next year.
Vale Ron Reeves
We were sad to hear that Ron Reeves had passed away on April 2. Although not a judge, Ron was well known in the Auckland scene and I can recall seeing him at some of the shows outside Auckland. Ron was keen on growing species and although he wasn’t in the best of health he entered some interesting orchids in the Waitakere Orchid Club Ribbon Show which was held in February. For anyone who was on John Scott’s tour in 2005 to visit the World Orchid Conference in Dijon you may remember Ron being on that trip. OCNZ sends its condolences to Ron’s family.