John had grown about 30 acres of trees and nurtured them with a well planned irrigation system. They were sold to the local and surrounding florists as well as being sent to the markets.

Memorabilia from the past was also displayed with much of it being dutifully kept by Tuppy Drabsch.

President Elvy welcomed guests, who all received an Information bag of Forbes, and a special welcome was given to our Mayor Phyllis Miller and our special guest Sue Mowle from Garden Clubs of Australia whom both spoke in detail. Sue outlined the workings of the Garden Clubs of Australia.

A certificate was presented by Sue to our Club Executive congratulating us on our 70 years. Visitors from out of town were also welcomed.

It was lovely to have beautiful music provided on the day by Harpist Angela Scibarras and indeed it was very well received and a special thanks must go to Angela for travelling to Forbes for the occasion.

Catering was by Eat your Greens and very well received whilst the beautiful birthday cake took pride of place and was made and iced by Maryanne Maher.

Later Elvy spoke in detail on a little history of the Club with the inaugural meeting being held in the Mayoral chambers on 27th October 1953.

Elected were President Tom Parry, Vice President E. Ellison, Secretary Ron Olgilvie, Assistant Secretary Reg Edwards, Committee Herb Ruge, Bob Simmonds, Alec Pederson, Dean Morrison (nee Gunning) and Jack MacFarland. Auditor Elwyn Woods.

Membership at that time was six shillings which in todays money is 60 cents.

The first Flower show was held on 18th May 1956 with a special feature of chrysanthemums.

Of course there have been many Presidents since the formation of the Club and many have passed on but still today we were able to have the presence of Loris Stewart, Meg Scholefield, Denise Thurston, Janette Thomas and Tuppy Drabsch and Elvy has held the position since 2020.

Of course the Garden Club still has a solid membership and hopefully it will continue for many years to come as in Forbes there is a lot of interest in gardens.

The honour of cutting the cake was given to Tuppy Drabsch and Loris Stewart who are both Patrons of the Club as well as holding Life Membership. The cake was then served by our own members Irene Ford, Janette Thomas and Meg Scholefield.

The lucky door prize of a pot plant was won by Alison Lockhart, with second prize of a Garden Clubs of Australia calendar which was donated by Sue Mowle.

Lucky seat prizes were also received with prizes being donated by Irene Ford.

At the conclusion of the day President Elvy thanked all for their attendance with a special thanks to the Garden Club Members who helped with the set up the day before and on the day.

It truly was an amazing celebration.

The past year included in our celebrations was our two day Open Garden event on 14/15th October. The gardens were very well received and bought a lot of visitors to town.

Each garden owner was able to choose a charity of their choice which resulted in $5712 being given to charity.

Charities whom received funds were Can Assist $2023.90 being donated by proceeds from the gardens of John Browne, Riverside Community Gardens and Phil and Denise Thurston.

Angel Flight received $1554.40 being donated from gardens of Colin & Gail McKay and Red Bend Catholic College, Forbes Association of Christian Education benefited from the garden of Eric and Marion Barrass $919.90, CWA Evening branch from the open day at Michelle & David Mahlo $605.40 and the Anglican Church Hall benefited from the garden of Father Peter King for the amount of $608.40.

In addition to the above Forbes Garden Club have also recently donated an amount of $3000.00 which was divided equally between Can Assist Forbes, Care West Lodge Orange, Love your Sister, Forbes North Public School Kitchen/garden programme, Ronald McDonald House Orange and Angel Flight.

A special message from the Executive, best wishes for the Festive season and hope 2024 is kind to all.

Contributed by Elvy Quirk