Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum
SRGC Shows and Events => Events => Topic started by: J.B.Wyllie on April 23, 2010, 10:50:15 AM
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I hear that Dan Hinkley is giving a talk at the Botanic Gardens Duneden next Wednesday and delegates will be going from near and far. (N Z only) Please let us know how it goes. Have fun
Jean
Dunedin Rhododendron Society, NZ
4/28/10 7 PM - 4/28/10 8 PM
Plants for Gardens: Dan Hinkley's Friends and Foes Location: The Burns Lecture Theatre, Arts Building, Albany Street (opp. Grange St.), Dunedin, NZ
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That's good news, Jean. When I posted about his visits to Australia and New Zealand here... ....
http://www.srgc.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=5185.msg142652#msg142652 the only NZ date was for yesterday.....
University of Otago, NZ
4/22/10 7 PM - 4/22/10 8 PM
"From Sichuan and Vietnam to Seattle - Plant Exploring Location": University of Otago House Auckland, New Zealand (north island).
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Yesterday's talk was in Auckland at the Univ of Otago campus up there (why does a Dunedin uni have a campus in Auckland? Who knows?)
Wednesday's (28th) talk is at the Burns Theatre at the Univ of Otago (Dunedin campus). He is also talking (or did talk) in Gisborne, a not very large town on the east coast of the North Island. Christchurch people are expected in Dunedin, wildly envious because he is not speaking there too. ( ;D ;D ;D)
We don't mind if Australians would like to pop over for the occasion. :D
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My friends in Christchurch are quite happy to go down to Duneden for the lecture and to combine it with visits to friends and family. Will any of them be visiting you to see the new areas you are developing?
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I've not heard from anyone Jean. I'll not be home much over the next week as my son was involved in a serious motorbike accident yesterday and is in hospital, unconcious so far and with a lot of other damage. I hate motorbikes.
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Dear Lesley,
Our thoughts and prayers are with you and your family at this time. May God bless you all and bring him to a full and speedy recovery.
All our love
Sherba & Alan
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Thanks Alan and Sherba for your kind thoughts. I'm just off in a few minutes up to Timaru again, (150 miles north). Doctor phoned a short while ago. John is conscious but has a fractured skull.
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I've not heard from anyone Jean. I'll not be home much over the next week as my son was involved in a serious motorbike accident yesterday and is in hospital, unconcious so far and with a lot of other damage. I hate motorbikes.
Thinking of you Lesley and your son.
Angie
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Lesley - Terrible news. Thoughts here are with you and hope for the best.
johnw
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Lesley - so sorry to hear about your son, we'll all be thinking of you and wishing him well.
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Sorry to hear about your son Hope he improves quickly. Motor bikes are not good news,
Pity you will miss the lecture. Hope to hear about it from other delegates.
Jean
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Lesley, I hope your son is improving rapidly. All the very best. Anthony.
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Lesley,
I just read your post. I'm sorry to hear it. I hope your son will recover soon.
Best wishes for you and your family.
Wim
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Lesley,all the best wishes to you and your family at this time. Glad to hear that your son is conscious and hope he will soon be on the road to a full recovery.I share your opinion about Motorbikes, because my son has one, but thankfully it is out of order at the moment.
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I have placed a notice in the Member's Section to let everyone know of the accident to Lesley's Son,with a link here in case not everyone has seen this thread. I have asked that messages to Lesley be posted here.
We can only hope that the news from Timaru is encouraging and that Lesley's Son is soon restored to full health.
Certainly the best wishes of Ian and I are with the Family at this frightening time.
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I hope your son makes a full recovery Lesley,my thoughts are with you both.
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Lesley,
Sorry to hear about your son, best wishes for a full recovery.
Mick & Mandy
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Dear Lesley, just read this frightening news here. Wish you and your Family all the best and hopefully your son will recover soon!
Luit
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Our love and very best wishes to you both dear Lesley.
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Sorry to hear about your son, Lesley. Hope he is on the way to a full recovery.
Roma
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Lesley, I wish your son a very quick recovery,
with my warm regards,
Fred
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Lesley, Terrible to hear of this accident. I hope you son makes a speedy and complete recovery.
Paddy
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Dear Lesley, I hope by the time you see this message that your son is on the mend.
It is such a terrible time when our children suffer. I hope he won't want to get back on a bike when he's better.
My best for his swift recovery.
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Lesley, I do hope that your son has a very speedy recovery,
best regards
Ian
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I'm back home again and I'm pleased to say the news is, while not wonderful, much better than I thought was possible.
I want to thank everyone for your wonderful support and kind wishes. You've no idea how all these messages and many other personal emails as well have helped to make me feel better. I'll be passing along them all to John, when I see him again tomorrow.
I had to come home again to do the paper work connected with my market job, so after two days with 5 hour drives - home around 2am both times - and the general worry, I'd like to go to bed for a week. It isn't going to happen though.
John is already mending though in a lot of pain. His head has been shaved and is heavily bandaged but the fracture is not as bad as first thought, more a hairline crack than worse. It was also thought he may have a broken neck but the CT scan said he doesn't. There is no full time radiologist in Timaru and the images had to go to Christchurch for analysis so nothing was certain until yesterday afternoon. His upper body is black and blue and a broken arm has been added to the list but on the whole he is incredibly cheerful. Enough, in fact, to tell me to take myself home because my worried and frightened face was making him feel bad!
He is hoping to go home by the end of this week but will have to stay off work for some time. He was supposed to be pregnancy testing 500 cows today!
Many, many thanks to you all. I love every one of you.
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Thanks Lesley, your reply came in while I was typing a small update, having just spoken with you.
I am picking up Dan Hinkley from the airport and he is staying here a couple of days so I am sure, Jean, that I shall be able to give a completely unbiased account of his lecture. We are starved of good plantspeople so we are looking forward immensely to it. A number of people are coming from out of town so hope it is a good crowd.
Susan
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So good to hear the better reports Lesley. May it only be 'up' from now.
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I didn't find out the horrible news until this very morning Lesley and I'm so glad that your latest post brought positive news and has already taken away the worse worries ! :D :D
I hope for a full and speedy recovery for your son ! :D :D
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Lesley, all our good wishes are with you and your son.
Thomas, Tanja, Chris and Celine
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Lesley, thank goodness for this hopeful update. Tell John we are delighted to hear he is merely battered to hell and back and no worse!
Please, Lesley, take care yourself with all this driving to and fro.... you need to be careful of your own tiredness and stress to be in tip top conditon to visit John. ;)
Susan, many thanks, Loyal Friend, for your aid in this.... and please tell Dan Hinkley that there are so many of us watching his progress around his tour! Please give him our best SRGC wishes! :D
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i was very sorry to see this-all the best to your son and family, lesley--hopefully by the time you are back online to read this there will be good news..
cohan
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Had to check how your son was doing before I put my head down for the night and I am glad that I did. Its nice to hear that he is okay and also cheerful, he must take after you Lesley a cheery and happy person.
Do take care like Maggi said and tell your son I am glad to hear that he will be ok and will be able to leave the hospital soon.
Angie :)
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Lesley, we are so sorry to hear of John's terrible accident. Hope all goes well; your latest bulletin is much more hopeful.
Best wishes to you both, David & Carol.
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Hi Lesley,
Thank goodness John's injuries are not as extensive or serious as first thought and I join everyone who has expressed so well their hope for a complete recovery. Do look after yourself Lesley at this stressful time and take time out to charge your batteries. Thinking of you and hoping your plants in the garden give you solace.
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I'm having a whole day at home today so can take some time to thanks you all for the wonderful messages and support you've given me over recent days. I have been so buoyed up by you all when it would have been easy to feel down and despairing.
John himself is getting better quite quickly, to the surprise of the doctors but he always did heal well from young cuts and scratches. Monday will be home day I think, though straight into bed I'm told, and my daughter Susan who lives in Timaru will move in for a few days, her husband looking after their boys in the meantime.
So (selfishly) I'll be able to hear Dan Hinkley's lecture tonight and then will quietly die for most of tomorrow, with any luck, if I can get away with half a day in bed to catch up on sleep.
Kindest, kindest regards to everyone here.
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Wonderful, wonderful news, Lesley. Enjoy the chance to see and listen to Dan - put the tribulations of the past few days behind you and revel in some well-deserved YOU time. All best wishes from East Lancashire, where more and more Ranunculus godleyanus seedlings are appearing every day! Now for the hard part! :D
Love and hugs from the Bookeroos.
FOR LESLEY - HARROGATE SHOW 2010
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Thanks Cliff. I'm pleased you have more seedlings coming. Mine that germinated in the spring gradually died off in the summer so I'm without it again, the mother also having succumbed to drought. I doubt Louise will let me have another. But maybe some more seedlings will come through in the spring as they have for you. I wish you well with them.
Dan's lecture was excellent - it seemed not to last very long but in fact was a full hour - with superb photography including video and some digital manipulation to good effect, to show the effects of removing bold-leaved or tall plants, for instance. It was a very funny talk too, in a quiet, gentle sort of way, like when he realized he need not have hired the digital man to remove the spouting fountain from an image. He could have just turned off the pump and taken another picture. :D
One comment I'll treasure. He was asked about his favourite plant/s and replied that he liked everything, in its turn with no specializing in any genus. Said he couldn't imagine being surrounded by a group of people obessed by Galanthus, for instance. Scary, was the term he used. ;D He seemed a very nice man. I hope Suan will have some more to say about the talk and her time with him.
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Good to hear your son is on the mend. I think of you every time I go out of my back door, Lesley.
Primula juliae with New Zealand friends.
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Lesley, I send my heartfelt best wishes for your son's recovery. Last year we had a very frightning time after my son was involved in a serious crash on his bike. He was lucky to survive but is now almost fully recovered. My hope is your son will be as lucky.
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Thank you Roma. The Primula juliae looks very happy with New Zealanders, and I'm happy with mine too. :D
And thanks to you also Anne. I think motor bikes were invented to frighten mothers and wives. I don't know many women who have good things to say about them though there are a few women who ride with their menfolk. John has always loved motor bikes and I suppose I'm happy than he sticks to trails rather than the open road but there are still dangers. At 37 he'll go his own way. ::)
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Glad to hear there has been significant improvement in the situation, Lesley, and hope this continues to a speedy recovery.
Paddy
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Lesley,
I'm so sorry to hear about your son's accident. Hopefully in the time between today and the accident he has improved. I am forwarding to you and your son all the positive vibes I can muster to see you through this very difficult time.
All my thoughts are with you.
Rob
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Thanks so much Rob. We've had brilliant support from the whole Forum I think.
If someone could manage some positive vibes that would keep John off that bl..... bike, I'd be grateful. He's talking about it already. :o
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Dan was a lovely, lovely man and an exceedingly witty and charming guest. He has such a broad knowledge of everything in the plant world and he could confirm some of the tree species I have which originally came from China but are not listed in some books. So for us it was an informative visit as well.
I agree with Lesley his show was superb, simply stunning in fact. I love large leaf plants (as well as alpines and small bulbs of course) and the people that I went with all mentioned that they had come away with a sense of invigoration. It has certainly inspired me to come home and start ripping out and rearranging a few things.
I see on his website that he is speaking in Bath and Cornwall next March. If you can - go.
Susan
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Glad to hear that John is doing OK.
My own experience in falling off a bike was many, many years ago.
I had come a cropper off my James Comet - 98cc. It weighed about as much as my Audi A6!!!!! ::)
As I crawled to the kerb a passing motorist stopped and enquired 'Are you allright?'
AlLRIGHT!!!! I am on my knees and feel like - well I'll let you imagine the next bit.
All I can suggest is to insist John buys a James Comet 98cc - top speed 30mph downhill with a following wind.
I am sure John will appreciate that. ;)
Cheers,
JohnnyD
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Very best wishes from Susan and I too Lesley, and pleased to hear John is recovering.
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So sorry to hear about John's accident but delighted to hear he's making a good recovery. My son-in-law is also a motor bike addict - sadly, I don't think there's any cure for this sort of addiction. And nothing that will stop us others worrying. Hope the news continues to be all good, Lesley.
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THanks everyone. Things are progressing nicely I'm told (haven't been up to Timaru since Friday morning) and all being well and if he grizzles enough, I think he'll be home tomorrow with Susan, his sister to keep things calm.
Johhny, I'll pass on that message. I'm sure it will go down well. :D What with the four wheeler he uses on the farm and the assorted trucks, tractors etc on some very steep country, it amazes me that this is the first serious accident he's had, and it wasn't even at work. Years ago, I think he was about 17, he crashed my then car, a Lada, and as you know they're built like a tank. Unfortunately the other car was an Alfa Romeo. Insurance company not happy. No-one hurt though except for superficial cuts and bruises.
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Glad your son is healing well.
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Hi Lesley good news indeed that Your son is improving, very best wishes from us here in Kirriemuir. cheers Ian the Christie kind.
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Thanks again everyone. Just for the record, John is home now and by and large not too unhappy to be spending time on the sofa with the TV. He's sleeping a lot and is getting some headaches and is still sore where the breaks are but his docs are happy with the way he's healing. He'll be strapped and in plaster for another 6 weeks most likely.
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Very good news Lesley - healing vibes on the way together with Swiss air :)
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We are so pleased to here he's been let out of the hospital... they may be able to do great things, but they're not places to stay any longer than is absolutely necssary! Send him our fondest good wishes, please!
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I will indeed Maggi. I'm going up tomorrow for a few hours, the first trip this week and no doubt will have plenty of instructions for him, (do this, don't do that etc, all of which he'll ignore).
Swiss air would be great Robin, though it sounds a bit like an airline :D). First frost this morning and I think Bessera elegans has been badly hit. I hope the bulbs will be OK if I rescue them today.
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Lesley nice to hear that your son is out of hospital, tell him we were all worried and wish him all the best from Scotland.
Hope your bulbs are Ok.
Angie :)
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Good to hear the great news Lesley !!! :D :D :D
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I'm just about ropeable at present, (see Moan Moan...) after someone had taken so much trouble on my behalf and had been so generous.
The Bessera looks no worse than it has done for the last 3 weeks. Undercover now though.
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Just found out John Massey Ashwood Nurseries will be joining Harry Jans are guest speakers in 2012 at Lincon Uni in Christchurch. See some of you there.
Jean
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Just found out John Massey Ashwood Nurseries will be joining Harry Jans are guest speakers in 2012 at Lincon Uni in Christchurch. See some of you there.
Jean
Here's a link to Harry Jans' superb web site: http://www.jansalpines.com/index.php?page_id=0&lang=en
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Harry Jans was a speaker at Stirling Group SRGC weekend last year. Excellent talks look forward to seeing him again.
John was talking about Hellebore and Hepatica at a Weekend the Ayr group ran a while ago. Two wonderful lectures.
Jean
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That's excellent news Jean. Annoying that you in Scotland know about it before local members do though. ???
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I did not get the info until it had been announced in Christchurch. It was announced at meeting last night and a friend e-mailed me.
Jean
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I just got the flyer from Ann Cartman!
cheers
fermi
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Hope you and your pals will be there.I hope to go if my Doctor will let me.May see you sooner than that.
Jean
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Just realized why I've heard nothing. My sub is overdue! Will remedy that Monday morning.
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Just realized why I've heard nothing. My sub is overdue! Will remedy that Monday morning.
;D That's a good reason, Lesley! There's often a clue! ;) Probably fell due while you were ill.
I answer lots of queries about missing Journals etc where it turns out the person moved house 18 months ago and didn't tell Graham the Membership Secretary .... he's good but he's not psychic! :-X
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Hope you and your pals will be there.I hope to go if my Doctor will let me.May see you sooner than that.
Jean
Hi Jean,
tell Glassford he should come with you if he's concerned! ;D
I'm hoping to be able to get there and I think a few of our group may make it as well - Cynthia was particularly pleased to hear that John Massey will be there as she has heard him speak before and found him very entertaining.
For some reason it seems to be a week later than usual so it doesn't co-incide with a Public Holiday here! - means taking an extra day off work to be able to spend a week there. Sadly February is also "fire season" here which is a bit off-putting! At least the NZAGS saw the problem with having it in the same year as the international conference in Nottingham and "postponed it" by a year!
I look forward to seeing you in Nottingham or in Aberdeen next year! :D
cheers
fermi
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Congratulations on your 50th anniversary this year. Hope all who are going to the Dinner in Christchurch enjoy themselves.
See you all in 2012
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It's a good record and I think I must be one of very few originals left now. I joined in 1961, aged just 17.
Unfortunately I won't be going up for the dinner, 10 hours driving just too much. It's a shame there isn't something else on at the same time in support. There are to be 3 separate events, but not co-ordinated.
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Just to say I've been sent photos of the CAGS /NZAGS party to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Clubs... see this thread:
http://www.srgc.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=5922.0