Norfolk One Day Conference 2012

[tonyg]

A date for your diaries.
The Norfolk AGS group are celebrating their 40th anniversary in style.  We are organising a one day Alpine Gardening conference in Norwich.   You are all invited to attend

Date: Saturday 8 September 2012

Venue: The Abbey Conference Centre, Bracondale, Norwich.

Speakers provisionally booked so far:  Ian Young, Harry Jans.

The likely cost is to be around £25 per head to include lectures, Tea/Coffee/biscuits am & pm, lunch.

Please put the date in your diaries - lets make it the biggest forum get-together outside Scotland

More details to follow.

[Luc Gilgemyn]

hmmmmmmmm verrrrry tempting....

[mark smyth]

very! How far is the venue from the airport?

[tonyg]

Norwich Airport is 3.5 miles away.  Not far by taxi and Park & Ride buses run from Airport to city centre bus station where a quick change will take you to Bracondale.  
For rail travellers the station is less than 1 mile away.
Road access is excellent, the venue is close to the bypass and the city ringroad.

[tonyg]

An Update

Alpines Home and Away - Cultivation and Exploration

One Day Conference / Discussion Day

Harry Jans   : Using Every Square Inch
Kit Strange  : Propagation of Alpines (short lecture)
Ian Young   : Nature - The Gardeners Tutor
Harry Jans   : A World of Alpines

Side Shows :  Kit Strange demonstrating propagation, Jon Evans photographic display, Trade Stands.

We are building in a longer than usual Lunch period allowing time to socialise and participate in the side shows.

The Abbey Conference Centre is spacious and has some historic significance.  (Carrow Abbey was a community for Nuns until the Dissolution but some buildings were in private use until the site was developed by Colmans in the last century.)  Tea/Coffee three times during the day and a decent buffet lunch are included in the price of £25.

Bookings can be made by contacting me by Personal Message.

[mark smyth]

£132 return - ouch         

Anyone passing Stansted or Gatwick?

[jomowi]

£132 return - ouch         

Anyone passing Stansted or Gatwick?

Plus a departure tax for anyone leaving from Norwich airport.  £5 last time I used it. 

[tonyg]

Not that I am expecting hordes to travel down from the frozen North but it is still probably cheaper than the train ... and a lot quicker!

[tonyg]

Site meeting today.  Here are some pictures of the venue.  It has excellent facilities, heaps of historical interest and gardens with medieval ruins to explore.

The Abbey Conference Centre takes its name from Carrow Abbey, home to a community of Nuns in medieval times.  For many years the home of the Colman family (think mustard) the old family home now forms part of the conference Centre.  We will have sole use of the centre on the day including access to the garden and the ruins of the medieval abbey.  There is plenty of space for the various elements of the conference and the possibility of lunch being taken alfresco on the south facing terrace.

Hopefully the pictures below will help any waverers to make up their minds .... note that the lecture room has padded seats 

Booking forms will be available in the next few weeks.  These will be circulated at AGS events and mailed to local group secretaries.  Or you can get one direct from me, just PM or email to ask.

[Maggi Young]

That is one stunning building- that facade was never knowingly underdecorated, was it?

 Hard to get past all that fancy brickwork to worry about padded seats!

[tonyg]

You can download a booking form here.

Map and directions will be sent with tickets.

[tonyg]

Seven Weeks to go!  8th September is the date for your Diaries!

Numbers are looking good.  If you have not booked yet, now is the time,  Download booking form from previous message or contact:   
Diane Blyth.  Tel 01508 494277  phil_blyth2003 at yahoo.co.uk

Outstanding Speakers presenting specially commissioned lectures.  Excellent venue and food to match.  Top alpine nurseries in attendance.  World Class photographic display.  ....And Cake!  Well we are celebrating our 40th!

Alpines Home & Away
Cultivation & Exploration
Celebrating 40 Years of Norfolk AGS Group
Saturday 8th September 2012
Abbey Conference Centre, Norwich

Programme

900        Registration.  Tea/Coffee.  Plant Stalls open
1000      Introduction
1005      Using Every Square Inch - Harry Jans
1105      Break
1130      Propagation Techniques - Kit Strange
1200      Lunch - Extended break giving time for:
              Propagation Demonstrations by Kit Strange
              Photographic Display & Plant Sales
              Free Access to the courtyard gardens and the ruins of the 14th C. abbey 
1400      Nature, The Gardeners Tutor - Ian Young
1500      Break and Cake
1520      A World of Alpines - Harry Jans
1630      Speakers Forum
1700      Conference Close

[Maggi Young]

As one of the Speakers is off to book his train tickets, I am reminded that it is just a week until this event..... hope that there are good numbers attending and that at least some of them will have an extra piece of  anniversary cake on my behalf!
 How I hate to miss a good event (with cake!)

[Brian Ellis]

As one of the Speakers is off to book his train tickets, I am reminded that it is just a week until this event..... hope that there are good numbers attending and that at least some of them will have an extra piece of  anniversary cake on my behalf!
 How I hate to miss a good event (with cake!)

I will take it upon myself to carry out this onerous task

[Tim Ingram]

(This is my take on a really good day in Norwich - I hope it may be repeated before too long).

With grateful thanks to Tony Goode and all the Norfolk Group for a thoroughly enjoyable day up in Norwich. The venue was comfortable and very pleasant; the weather sunny and balmy; and there were a few good, really good talks, from Harry Jans, Kit Strange and Ian Young - very contrasting in their subjects, but all showing the fascination and great fulfillment that the speakers get from growing alpines and learning about them in their natural environments. Kit's practical demonstration garnered great interest, and for the connoisseur of the great beauty of alpines, Jon Evans showed many of his beautifully captured images, including a wonderful collection of cypripediums.
Harry Jans grows plants in a way that few others manage and can only wish we could emulate, and also took the audience on a tour of the alpine world which even included travelling by balloon at one point(!), not so far from 'Around the World in 80 Days'. Kit talked about propagating plants, especially bulbs, at Kew, and the practical aspects of growing plants, which is the basis of what we all do and really valuable to keep revisiting. She finished her talk by questioning the audience about the methods of propagating a range of different plants, which was good fun and got some debate going. And finally Ian Young took us back to Nature as the guide and teacher of how to observe and grow plants, and showed examples in his garden which could have been taken from a mountain rocky outcrop. I particularly liked the idea of doing this even on the smallest of scales in a trough, or even in a pot which display plants in a very different way than most people are accustomed to at Shows. This tends to the way many plants are grown and displayed in Japan, which captures them as part of their environment rather than as somehow isolated from it. If I am not unusual in coming away so inspired and stimulated with new ideas - plus a few new plants from the nurseries to put these ideas into practice - then I imagine a good time was had by all, and good luck to the Norfolk group for the next 40 years!