SRGC Discussion Weekend 2012- Dumfries 28th to 30th September

[angie]

See you them Richard.

Just gathering assorted emergency rations for the journey- train travel raises such an appetite at the best of times!

Yep same here, got my goodies for my car journey, chocolates, toffee and Juice, will stop for my coffee fix half way, hope Roma and Maureen don't like sweeties, I hate sharing my sweets 
See you all tomorrow, of to bed now.

Angela 

[mark smyth]

wonder if I can swap a weekend in Fermanagh looking for bats for a weekend in Dumfries

[Brian Ellis]

Hope you all have a wonderful time, I'm sure you will.

[mark smyth]

Hope you all have a wonderful time, I'm sure you will.

As Jessie J sang recently "it's all about the money, the money, the money" I'm making £££

[Stan da Prato]

some pictures of the group building - or watching the building -of  a rock garden in the hotel grounds

[Richard Green]

I was a great weekend and really good to catch up with several forumists in a non-virtual way again. The speakers were excellent so many thanks to the Reivers group for their hard work.  I am looking forward to next year in Granton-on-Spey already !

[Stan da Prato]

some snaps of the show - handheld camera in rather weak light it so may be others will be able to add better pictures  and more info

[Stan da Prato]

another batch

[ichristie]

Hello everybody, thanks Stan for posting the first pictures from the Cairndale Hotel Garden. Ann and I set off from Kirrie early on Friday morning with the car loaded full of plants for this garden we had only seen pictures of the area so it was important to get down to Dumfries and see where we were to build this garden. When we arrived and saw the area we immediately started to remove the weeds and old tree stumps have dead shrubs, we had 4 small groups of rock in place and a good pile of other rocks, flat slabs to work with. We were joined early by Margaret and Henry Taylor what a work they did , I decided to group all the rocks together and form 2 islands on top of the existing membrane so while I did that Margaret, Henry and Ann my wife planted 3 big Azaleas 3 big Rhododendrons at the back of this raised area we hope these will grow and help hide the big road sign and conifer hedge, I also pruned several branches from a large purple leaved Acer which were overhanging the area. Once the first island was built everyone helped to fill it up with a compost mixed with sharp sand then I split up the flat slabs  these were placed on the island to form a sort of Crevice effect the crevices were filled up with the compost mixed with good sharp gravel Margaret, Henry and Ann carried on with the filling up the base of the second Island leaving the flat stone ready to be placed by the team on Sat Morning. I then re-built most of the existing sandstone wall, Ann Sinclair asked if a seat could be formed at the front where a Bride and Groom could sit to get wedding pictures taken this was done using some of the flat sandstone slabs, I am pleased to say that a cushion will be supplied for people to sit on.  We had a great team on the sat with so many people helping some shouting directions from the sidelines others enjoying watching as the garden began to come together. I must thank everyone but without Margaret and Henry Ann Sinclair, Tony and Celia Mitchell, Dave Millward Peter Semple, Greta, Liz, Brian and just everyone we had so much good fun, thanks to the weather which stayed dry and we have left a great reminder at the hotel for SRGC which will grow for years to come. I am going to post pictures from the Friday to the finished garden on the Sat, I am sure you will recognise many friends thank you all again,  cheers Ian the Christie kind.

[ichristie]

Next set

[ichristie]

Last few.

[SusanS]

Hope you all have a wonderful time, I'm sure you will.

Darren and I had a fantastic time, it was great to catch up and meet with friends, both old and new.  The entire weekend was a joy from start to end, my only comment would be that it was too short - but time does fly when you are having fun 

Susan x

[Maggi Young]

We're home, quite exhausted- It was a great weekend. Really lovely to see some old friends who haven't been upt othe weekend for a while, and others for the first time- terrific company and a range of super talks. Morec when we've recovered!

[angie]

Thats me just back and I am exhausted as well and I never did any of the hard work that others did. The speakers were brilliant.
Great meeting everyone again and meeting new folks. Hope you are all home safe and sound and hope to see you all again soon 

Angie 

[krisderaeymaeker]

We came home today  around 11.00 hrs.... Weather was really bad yesterday until we reach the area around Leeds. But we did'nt mind at al because we had a great weekend !!!! To see al those members was a great joy .I even had not enough time to speak with al of them.Time realy run to fast .... Al people are so friendly and helpful to us .
I was a bit unhappy because we have to leave earlier and so we have missed the lectures from Colin and Henrik and also the second one from Oron .But this feeling washed away  due the fantastic show John had given .I can't remember the time that I had so much pleasure , his jokes and way of talking was fantastic.As Maggi already told ,al the talks are super !  And the opportunity to speak with many friends , old and new ones make me even more happy .
We are a bit tiried to , because it was a long trip ....I made some pictures to but for the moment I need more energy to upload them.
Come back on that subject.
If only the distance between our countrys was a bit shorter ...In that case I would be there each year .
Thanks to al the great people of the SRGC to make this weekend so succesfull. Thank you " Reivers ", SRGC ,speakers ,friends .
Liz must be proud but ofcourse she did also a great job .