The North of England Orchid Society...The North of England Orchid Society 2018 Newsletter Issue 3 As possibly the oldest Orchid society in the world we exist to promote the cultivation

The North of England Orchid Society

2018 Newsletter Issue 3

As possibly the oldest Orchid society in the world we exist to promote the cultivation of Orchids, both species and

hybrids, and welcome new members so as to help and encourage all who are interested in growing Orchids,

however large or small their collection.

1

Harrogate OS Annual Show

A Great Show with lots of stunning orchid displays and traders.

David & Lynda Crook and George & Sheila Barnes acted as our show team. We had been informed that set

up could not be done until the Sunday morning, but we could leave plants in the halls between three and

5pm on the Saturday to keep them warm. We all arrived at 3.30pm to drop off plants, only to find that the

room allocated to the show was vacant as the expected booking had cancelled at the last minute; this

delighted us, especially Sheila and George who were down for judging on the Sunday. The judging teams

included our own trainees Richard Rhodes and Nick Gilliam, who acted as stewards.

The change of plans enabled us to set up quickly within an hour and half and we retired to our hotel for a

rest and dinner. More importantly breakfast on the Sunday morning was now possible and suitable

victualed we completed the display well within time for judging at 9.00am. Our display was well endowed

with rosettes at the end of the judging, and we also took the rosette for the Best Amateur Display.

Visiting societies included Sheffield & District, East Midlands and the

North East of England OSs

Best in show and best any other species was a magnificent Chysis

aurea (L) belonging to Hilary Hobbs of Harrogate. Best hybrid in show

was Rhyncattleanthe young-min "orange", also grown by her. In all we

took 3 Rosettes and 7 Highly Commendeds.

George Barnes






2

March meeting and Auction, Rixton with Glazebrook The late winter freeze resulted in a limited attendance and poorly filled show benches at this meeting.

However the potential gloom was relieved by the attendance of a whole crop of new members, all of whom

participated actively in the afternoon auction of some 57 plants.

We welcome David Bell, Rebecca Harding, Chris Jones, Paul Murphy, and Marina Parha, as well as Viv Bown

who has taken over the management of Steve Manning’s pleurothallids at Chester Zoo and who brought a

great selection of plants to the auction.

The small species class was well filled with David Crook’s Dendrobium sulphurium winning 1st, beating

George Barnes’ Dendrochilum wenzelii ‘Red’ and my Maxillaria variabilis. My Coelogyne cristata, the only

entry, came 1st in the large species, showing that it is always worth exhibiting plants, even if you do not

consider them to be specimen quality.

Keith Smith

showed three nice

Cymbidiums, Ruby

Sarah ‘Gemstone,

1st., Strathbraan

‘Cooksbridge

Pearl’, 2nd., and

Doris Dawson

‘Scotch Mist’, 3rd.

John Gay mounted large group which gained a Silver Gilt.

My Phal. lueddemanniana with 5 spikes, one keiki and a solitary flower also got 1st.






3

Finally, George Barnes put

up a splendid Vanda

veitchii and David Crook

showed Cattleya Adela

(percivaliana x trianae).

After lunch a most

successful auction of

some 57 members’ plants

was hosted by John Gay in

his inimitable style.

Ferocious bidding, mainly

by our new members,

aided by Chris Burrows

and our late-comer

Alastair Wilson and by the

donation of their proceeds

to the Society by two vendors, resulted in total sales of £421 and a healthy income of £176 to the NEOS.

Society paintings

Many members will know that the NEOS possesses a

collection of gouaches of awarded flowers dating from

the early 1900s. The Committee has discussed ways in

which we might profit from them, based on

suggestions by our President, and enquiries have been

made as to the viability of producing limited edition

prints of a number for sale via the internet. These

proposals were discussed at the recent AGM and

obtained members’ agreement. The originals are by a

number of botanical artists, one of whom, Frederick

Bolas, is well known in antiquarian circles and we

propose to use a small number of the most attractive

of his paintings in the first instance. Leon Skorczewski

has researched ways and means of getting the project

off the ground. Pricing will depend on overall costs.

Interestingly, George Barnes came across a

commercial arts site in Dublin offering originals (not

from the NEOS) via E-bay by the same artist, at £180

each, though it does not look as if there have been any

takers.

Cattleya Alex, FCC 16 Dec 1915






4

EMOS Annual Show

The North of England Orchid Society,

AKA David and Lynda Crook, George

& Sheila Barnes displayed at the

Lowham Village Hall in support of

the East Midlands Orchid Society.

The show was well attended by the

public, and the traders there

included Peter White, Burnham

Nurseries, Phoenix Orchids and

Orchid Alchemy. Other society

displays were mounted by Harrogate

OS, Sheffield and District OS,

Darlington and District OS, North

East of England OS and of course

East Midlands OS.

Worthy of note was an absolutely magnificent Bulbophyllum

Elizabeth Ann Buckleberry shown by Baccus Paulesu on the

Harrogate stand which took Best Amateur Plant.

Our own stand gained six

awards of merit along with

three rosettes, a first for

Lycaste Jason shown by David

Crook, a first for

Dendrochilum glumaceum

show by Sheila Barnes, and a

second for Cymbidium Ice

Cascade shown by George

Barnes.

EMOS also provided (at a cost

of course) - Ploughmans lunches salads and a good selection of cakes,

for those who wanted lunch.

Mel Stephen writes:

Many Thanks to you and all your members who helped to make our show possible.

The day was well attended with 397 people through the door.

The traders also had very good sales throughout the day.

I have attached the awards list for you to pass on to your society members.

The EMOS team look forward to seeing you all at future shows throughout the rest of the year.

Many Thanks, Mel Stephen






5

Some anecdotes

On our way to Norway we passed through security at Manchester airport.

We were stopped as one of our carry-ons became the subject of close inspection. The attitude of the girl

searching it became more and more frosty, she called a superior and the suitcase was tested with swabs.

Eventually we were taken to one side and questioned, asking where we were going, what did we do for

jobs etc. When we asked what was the problem we were told our suitcase had tested positive for nitrates; where

had we got them from and for what purpose?

It became clear that we were under suspicion as possible terrorists, and eventually we explained that as

orchidists we used fertilisers which may contain nitrates and as we attended several shows with orchid plants

possibly coming into contact with the suitcase there may have been some contamination.

Still suspicious they asked Sheila to undergo another security scan.

Eventually satisfied, they let us go, with no time left for breakfast before a boarding the plane: No such trouble

with security in Norway

We will now keep orchid travelling suitcases away from holiday ones… George Barnes

Orchid Talk to National Vegetable Society, Manchester

At last year`s RHS Show at Tatton Park I was approached by the secretary of the Manchester National Vegetable

Society, with a view to giving an Orchid talk to their Society in 2018. The day before we were due to fly out to the

Far East, he called, suggested a date of Tuesday 3rd April, but said that, recognising we were setting off the next

day, he would confirm everything when we returned.

After a fortnight in the Far East, I of course had forgotten all about it---and there had been no letter to remind

me: On 28th March, my grand-daughter, who had been following the Face-book saga about data release, said “

Grandad, do you know that if you type your name into Google, there is a history of all sorts of things you have

done”? So, with no further ado, that`s what I did, and there were pages of it.

On page 3, I was down as the Guest Speaker to the Manchester NVS, but no-one had thought to contact me.

There was no Phone Number, but there was a name and an e-mail address on the web-page, so I sent off a query

asking them to confirm---and received a response saying they had never heard of me! I then sent a reply saying

that I assumed I could stand-down (and copied the web-page showing me as the guest speaker) A flurry of e-

mails then ensued.

The NVS secretary who had approached me at Tatton had apparently stood down.

The stand-in secretary didn`t know I hadn`t been formally invited.

The Website I had seen belonged to another Society.

Very belatedly, and totally by accident, everything was back on course.

Hazel and I went along to the Hough End Centre at Chorlton on Tuesday 3rd April and I gave an Orchid talk to

the Manchester National Vegetable Society, followed by a potting demonstration. The meeting didn`t start until

8pm, and we didn`t finish until 10.30pm—getting home at midnight.

A good time was (apparently) had by one and all. Leon and Hazel






6

April meeting at Hoghton Village Hall A well supported meeting at this new venue saw several of our new members exhibiting interesting plants

in a well-lit hall whilst Leon Skorczewski put on a fascinating running-loop slide presentation of his and

Hazel’s recent SE Asia trip in the adjacent lecture-room.

The large species were dominated by Malcolm White’s magnificent

Bulbophyllum phalaenopsis, Leon Skorczewski’s Coelogyne lawrenciana coming

second.

Rex Harrison put up a Sarcochilus hybrid, Renanthera monachica and Calanthe discolor tricarinata whilst

Leon Skorczewski mounted Oncidium splendida, Zygopetalum Lowsendorf and Dendrobium chrysanthum.,

as well as Ascofinettia Fuchs Blue, but in my

(? jaundiced) view all these were outclassed by

Margaret Birks’ Calanthe seiboldii (R & L) which

rightly gained a

CC.






7

Oncidium splendens Zygopetalum Lowsendorf Dendrobium chrysanthum

Other class entrants included Eddie Oates’ Phrag Olaf Guiss, David

Crooks’ Cattleya (now Laelia) jonghiana, and Keith Langley’s splendid

Odontoglossum Puccini.

Finally, Viv Bown produced another splendid Pleurothallid selection

but sadly your photographer failed to capture these in sufficient

quality to publish; I’ll try better next time.

Hinckley and District Orchid Society Annual Show, April 2018

A very good time was had at Hinckley although the drive down was very difficult because of holdups on

the motorway. However, build up was finished by about 6.30pm and we had a very enjoyable evening.

There were 7 societies exhibiting, all of which put on very good displays. There were 4 trade stands,

including Peter White and Royden Orchids, who were kept very busy. We put on a very good display and

won the Rosette and Plaque for Best Society display.






8

John Gay won the Best Hybrid rosette for his Phragmipedium grande and the Best Species rosette with his

Coelogyne cristata alba. He also won two Awards of Merit for his Phragmipedium Jerry Lee Fisher and

Phragmipedium Ackers Sunset.

(Didn't he do well!)

Sheila Barnes won the Judges Award rosette for Dendrochilum

wenzelii and David Crook won an Award of Merit for his

Dendrobium sulphureum.

Everyone had a great day but it

would be good to see more

members attending these outside

associate society shows so as to

meet and get to know the

members of other societies. It is a

good day out for anyone interested in orchids, with a wide variety of

species and hybrids on display, many members of our associated

societies having interests in species and Genera not fully covered in our

own society, and of course there are always plenty of plants to buy. David Crook

Postscript

Finally, your editor regrets that he was unable to attend any of the recent external shows owing to his ill-

health; I hope to continue as editor for the time being but am well aware of my poor outlook and hope that

some member will consider taking over my role in due course.

My greatest regret is in being unable to attend the outside shows themselves, for as David Crook says

above, they are all great days out, even if the travel can be tedious.

Alan Ridgway

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The North of England Orchid Society...The North of England Orchid Society 2018 Newsletter Issue 3 As possibly the oldest Orchid society in the world we exist to promote the cultivation