CHAIRMAN’S REPORT 2007
1. In the Beginning: Since this meeting marks the end of my term as Chairman, I thought it might be of interest to look back over the development of the Society from its inception, rather than just to report on the past year alone. It all began 14 years ago on the 26th of June, 1993, when the Hardy Orchid Society was inaugurated with a meeting and plant show at the Newbury Horticultural Show.
2. Meetings: Meetings have been held at regular intervals and in various places ever since, initially twice a year, and sometimes in collaboration with Kew. In 2003 an additional meeting, the so-called Northern Meeting at Harlow Carr, was added. Attendance at the early meetings was ~ 50, but now we regularly get over 100. Programmes have contained mixtures of lectures, demonstrations and “Ask the Experts” sessions, with the recent introduction of the popular “5 Slides in 5 Minutes” presentations. And alongside the talks we include plant sales and displays, and have recently introduced a raffle.
3. Plant Shows: From the very first meeting, an annual Plant Show has been held, usually at the Spring Meeting, with members competing for the “Best in Show” trophy. Recently an RHS Banksian Medal has been awarded to the most successful exhibitor. Although we always get an attractive and fascinating bench of plants, we really would like to inspire more members to bring exhibits.
4. Photo Shows: The first Photo Show was held during the Autumn Meeting in 1997, and its popularity has mushroomed ever since. Last autumn Maren Talbot presented the Society with a magnificent trophy for the best photograph, which I fear will encourage even more people to compete next year. We will have a major problem fitting everything in!
5. Field Trips: The first Field Trip was held on the Dorset Downs in 1995, and for the next 10 years the annual number of outings varied from none to three. Last season was different - thanks to your Vice-chairman and his keen supporters, no less than 6 trips were organised, and the current year will be better still. We are far from saturating the market, so David will be pleased to hear from members prepared to escort a party to their local orchid sites. 1997 and 1998 were rather notable, when the Chairman, Paul Harcourt Davis, organised trips to Southern Cyprus.
6. Membership: By the end of February 1994, with the Society still less than 9 months old, over 100 members had already been attracted. Growth has continued ever since, although in some years there has been a significant turn-over of members. By 1998 the membership had topped 300, in 2002 we numbered over 400, and only 2 years later the 500 barrier was breached. Our Membership Secretary will shortly reveal the present situation. One particularly pleasing aspect is that some 10% of members are from overseas, so our message is heard around the globe.
7. Journal: For the first 3 years, our members’ “hardy orchid” articles were published in Peter Bradbury’s annual “National Pleione Report”, which was re-named the “National Pleione Report incorporating Hardy Orchids”. However, it was soon realised that the HOS would be better served by a quarterly publication so, in July 1996, Issue 1 of the Hardy Orchid Society Newsletter appeared. This consisted of 16 duplicated A4 pages, with articles on many of the activities of the society and its members - a recipe that has continued ever since. A couple of years later the format was changed to an A5 booklet with a pretty card cover, and then in January 2001 Issue 19 included a full-colour centre-fold. In October 2003 we started to exploit the advances in digital colour printing, launching a full-colour publication, and changing its name to “Journal of the Hardy Orchid Society”. The first issue of the Journal was restricted on cost grounds to only 28 pages, but the subsequent advances in print technology has enabled us to improve the appearance and increase the page count, with 36 pages now being the norm.
8. Accounts: Sound finance is one of the foundations of a successful organisation, and the HOS has always been very well served by its Treasurers. The accounts for 1993 show income of £859 with subscriptions set at £5 (£8 Family), but expenditure was a mere £413. Nowadays all the figures are some ten times greater, as our Treasurer will shortly tell you. I shan’t bore you with lots of figures, but a few comments may be of interest. A few years ago the AGM recommended that we should aim to maintain reserves roughly equal to one year’s expenditure, to avoid cash-flow problems during the year, and to provide a cushion for financial emergencies. While no figures are set in stone, this is a prudent aim, which we are now achieving. In addition, the Committee has recognised that, while all members receive the Journal, many are not able to participate in many other Society activities. Consequently, the majority of subscription income is spent on the Journal, while most other activities are more-or-less self-financing. Each major improvement to the Newsletter and Journal has been accompanied by increased annual subscriptions, though compared with many other organisations our members receive excellent value for money. A couple of years ago a dedicated “Equipment Fund” was set up, which has already accumulated an adequate sum for us to consider buying some of our own equipment.
9. Conservation: A principal concern of the Hardy Orchid Society has always been the conservation of hardy orchids, though we have no plans to own or maintain our own nature reserves. However, by increasing the availability of orchid plants through controlled propagation, the risk of illegal exploitation of wild populations should be reduced. Although as a society we were not part of the Sainsbury Orchid Rescue project, several of our members were critically involved. Recently we have set up our own projects to develop propagation techniques for three endangered species - the Young’s Helleborine, the Military Orchid and the Canary Island Giant Orchid. Plant rescues are annual events, where members have transplanted several thousands of plants from sites threatened by development, and we have also been involved in the re-introduction of orchids to various locations. And our Conservation Officer is frequently consulted, both by individuals and by various wildlife trusts.
10. Publicity: One of our most successful publicity activities has been our website, which has attracted over 73,000 hits since its launch in 1999. Not only does it provide a wealth of information, but it is showcase for the work and achievements of our members, and is our major means of recruiting new members. Displays at orchid shows around the country have also proved most effective at making our society known to the public at large.
11. The Future: Thanks to the hard work of the Officers and Committee over the last 14 years, we have a successful, thriving society, which in many ways may seem quite mature. But we mustn’t forget that we are still very young, and the opportunities are only limited by our lack of imagination. In the near term we can expect continual improvements to the Journal and the website, and an ever-expanding programme of field trips. The committee will shortly be issuing each member with a copy of “The Hardy Orchid Society Handbook”, describing all the aspects of the Society’s activities that change only occasionally. We hope that it will keep members better informed, and avoid the need for annual repetition of information in the Journal. Looking further ahead, there must be plenty of good ideas around for expanding our activities, and we should always be aware of the initiatives of other specialist societies. The over-riding consideration must be to find a good balance between what seems best for our members, and what seems best for our most precious asset - our wild orchids. In conclusion, our society has an excellent foundation - the future looks rosy!