On Thursday, March 12, Orbost Garden Club held a meeting at the Senior Citizen’s Clubrooms, the same venue used 50 years ago when its inaugural meeting was held.

Four dedicated ladies who attended that inaugural meeting have continued to give service to the club for 50 years.

Ella White organised the countless trips to visit gardens across Victoria and some in-terstate. She still looks forward to being picked up to attend meetings each month.

Ivy Trewin has judged the show bench at meetings for many years. She has also been a constant contributor to the trading table at meetings.

Margie Kleinitz, the author of Margie’s Note’s in the Snowy River Mail, has much knowledge of the plant world, the seasons and all things connected to gardening. Margie had some very good entries on the show bench at the recent Orbost Agricultur-al Show.

Jill Shanahan is the person to talk to about the history of the club, especially funny sto-ries about early trips away. Jill has been secretary of the club and can be relied upon to lend a hand with whatever needs to be done.

All four of these ladies continue to be val-ued members of the club.

Last Thursday’s afternoon tea was a mini party with birthday cake to celebrate the occasion.

Members who worked in the pavillion at the Orbost Show were still feeling a little weary but very pleased that the show com-mittee was rewarded for all its hard work throughout the year. So much goes on be-hind the scenes with just a handful of dedi-cated people. The garden club volunteers apologise for any little mistakes made on the cards on the day.

A big thank you goes to all the wonderful entries and congratulations to the winners, especially the new faces that contributed and gave new life to the competition.

IMAGE: Jenny Bartlett and Rae Wilkinson browsed the show bench at Orbost Garden Club’s 50th birthday last week. S106-1207