Meeting Date: Dec. 18 at the Anglican Parish Hall. After the usual wonderful meal prepared by the ACW, Ben started this meeting by thanking the ladies in the kitchen.
Correspondence: None
Program: Program chairman is Brian P and he introduced his guest Peter Schieman.
- Peter was a brick layer since the 1970’s, involved in building the Scout Hut and one of Ridgetown grocery stores plus a 350’ chimney
- He attended the dahlia show at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Hamilton in 1990, and joined the Hamilton Dahlia and Chrysanthemum Society meetings in 1991
- He bought tuberous roots and did cuttings of those to grow flowers in 1991
- He met Jim McWilliams at the Ontario Horticultural Society meeting at the Wheels Inn Chatham
- Jim invited him to take flowers to the Prince Hotel in Toronto where he won all of the Novice Awards and 40% of the Open Class, beating many UK and US growers
- He’s been growing and showing for 30 years
- Growing dahlias for shows in much more work than to put them in the garden
- He talked about how to cut dahlia tubers to produce more dahlias
- Club members gathered around a table were Peter demonstrated cutting some of Kees’ tubers
- Dahlia tubers are similar to potatoes
- He stressed that you need a bit of stem to be able to hold while cutting the tuber
- You can cut one tuber, to get several potential flowers for the next spring
- Make sure to wash the tubers
- Divide them and then put them in a small pot with sand and mulch
- Keep them in the garage or someplace similar that is about 350 - 400 F over the winter
- Plant them in the spring to get a flowering plants from each piece of tuber
- Peter mentioned that he could get some of his flowers, in sandy soil, to grow to 8 ft tall
- There are an amazing number of classifications of size and colour for dahlias, in a book that Peter brought forus to see
- Peter will be helping Kees cut his tubers over the next while.
- This is a complicated process, requiring a sharp knife to get the potential for several flowers from one tuber
- You can just also store the tuber over the winter and replant it in the spring
- It was an interesting talk, and one would have to be an avid gardener to be successful in getting nice flowers year and year
Committees/Reports
1. Ben: Thanked everyone who helped to make our Christmas party a success
2. Ben: Thanked all who took time making the Rotary Christmas float
3. Kees: No Rotary New Year’s skate this year
- The arena will be closing at 4 pm
4. Ben: Next meeting will be January 6, 2025
- New leader will be David Brian
- Ben thanked David for taking the leadership for the next 2 months
- The programme chairman will be Kees Boeters
As Ben goes out as leader he thanked all Rotarians for their cooperation during his 2 months and wished everybody a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
New Business
1. Ron: We need members to fill leadership positions for the 2025-26 year
- We are still in need of a President-Elect position
- Ron stressed that it is not a lot of work, only what you put in to it
- Our present leader process works, but the president-elect would be better
- Ron is acting as our president, keeping in touch with the DG etc.
- Paul will continue as the secretary for 2025-26
2. Ron: Our meeting on Feb. 17 (Family day) as scheduled or not or not
- After some brief discussion, Ron agreed to send out a survey to see whether members wanted a meeting on Feb. 17 or put off a week to Feb. 24
3. David B: David and family are hosting a polar plunge down at the beach in front of their home on Lake Erie
- There will be a bonfire, sauna and the plunge (which is up to those there whether they take part
- It’s a fund raiser
50-50: Winner was Henny Boeters
Leader Ben asked if there was “Anything for the good of Rotary?”
Leader Ben closed the meeting at 8:10 pm
The next meeting is on January 6th, 2025 .with the guest speaker will be Kees Boeters
The theme for the 2024-25 Rotary year is The Magic of Rotary
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