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Contents

• Manchester Event - A day of herbs (21 October 2006)
• Grow Your Own Magazine Starts Herb of Month Articles (October 2006)
• Pictures from our Annual Conference (16 September 2006)
• Sophie Grigson - our first president (August 2006)
• Visit to Yaxham Park (Saturday 12 August)
• Medicinal Herbs Workshop (Thursday 3rd August)
• The Healing Power of Plants (24 July 2006)
• New Growing Herbs Booklet
• Silver Medal at Tatton (19 - 23 July)
• Garden Open Day (July 2006)
• Herb Society Visit to Highgrove (July 2006)
• BBC Gardeners' World (June 2006)
• Herbal Golds at Chelsea Flower Show (May 2006)
• Wholly Herbs Festival (May 2006)
• New Year Message from the Herb Society Council (January 2006)
• Out new editor - Hilary Paviour (January 2006)

Manchester Event - A day of herbs

21 October 2006

This was our fourth event in Manchester and the third held at a hall in Denton.   We had 19 people booked to attend plus the facilitators.

Jan Greenland started the proceedings with a talk and demonstration of historic food. This included John Evelyn’s Grand Sallet and Skye Gyngell's baked quince with honey, bay and verjuice, which we also got the chance to taste at lunchtime. The piece de resistance was Jan’s marzipan fruits. She took the marzipan, divided into six pieces and made pear, apple and peach shapes. These she painted delicately with food colouring and used pieces of clove to finish off as stems. The demonstration was accompanied as usual with Jan's amusing anecdotes.

Jan had already made Lynne Tann-Watson’s Rosemary Bread, which we got a chance to sample at lunchtime.

Phil Jones of Tavistock Herbs told us how to care for our herbs over the winter so that we would have supplies of chives, mint etc. throughout the year.  Tavistock herbs is based in Preston, not Tavistock!  The name comes from Tavistock House which happens to be the name of the house Phil and Chris bought to base their business.

Cheryl Waller (Society council member) had set the tables beautifully for lunch and arranged vases with little posies of herbs on each table.  Sally Miller, though now retired from the council, brought the delicious soups.  She was then able to sit back and enjoy the day for the first time in ages.  I notice she did end up with a tea towel at the end of the day.  There was also a choice of wonderful home-made puddings and desserts.

Jane Gray did an excellent talk and demonstration of how to make your own nostrums for common ailments from the contents of your kitchen.  She had been scheduled to talk to us last year but could not due to a mix up over dates.  But her replacement then was also a wonderful speaker.  Jane, with her two assistants did demonstrations of lip balm and ointment making. 

It was a varied and interesting day. Thanks are due to everyone who helped to make it so good. Special thanks are due to Nicky Westwood (Society administrator) who was closeted in the kitchen much of the time washing dishes but emerged when needed to introduce the presenters.  Cheryl adds an artistic touch to everything she does, even to the swirls of lemon zest in the water jugs  Thanks are also to Sally, who rose at the crack of dawn to drive from Milton Keynes and still had to drive back.

Audrey Butterworth

Pictures from our 2006 Manchester event

The audience	Products of Jan's demonstration grand sallet and marzipan fruits

Phil Jones	Lunch table setting

Jane Gray	Demonstrator helping Jane Gray

Grow Your Own Magazine Starts Herb of Month Articles

October 2006

Debs Cook who writes the regular Herb-of-the-Month article for our web site has been asked to do the same for the Grow Your Own Magazine.  Her first article has just been published and is on chives (both common and garlic chives).  As we have become to expect from Debs, she has included her own stunning pictures.  She is kindly doing the articles to promote the Society but is a slightly over awed to be described as the 'Herb Society expert'.

Page heading for Debs's new article

Pictures from our Annual Conference

16 September 2006

Our conference was held at at Sulgrave Manor.  It was a very friendly event which was enhanced by the pleasant weather.

We started with the AGM which dealt with the formal business of the society including discussing our strategic plan.  This plan can be downloaded here as a pdf file.

Arthur Shearing then gave a a useful and entertaining talk on how to grow and look after your thymes.  After an excellent lunch, we stretched our legs in our herb garden before listening to a highly informative talk from Ann Walker (council member and practicing medical herbalist and researcher) in herbal medicine in the modern world.  The day ended with a cookery demonstration by Kate Girdles covering cordials, pestos, chutneys and other delicious things you can make from herbs available at this time of the year.

Pictures of the day can be seen below.

Discussion amongst arriving guests. Natalie Hodgson (L), lavender growing expert, talks to Ann Walker, council member	John Baylis, council chairman, addresses the meeting at the AGM while Nicky Westwood, administrator, takes notes.

Section of the audience	Arthur Shearing tells us about thyme

Visit to the herb garden	Jan Greenland and Cheryl Waller, council members debate the merits of herbs in the bed for herbs from the Americas

Ann Walker answers questions on her presentation	Ann Walker explains the complexities of the health of 'modern man'

Kate Kee prepares the food...	...which we enjoy sampling

Sophie Grigson - our first president

August 2006

The herbs Sophie grows in her garden near Oxford have proved indispensable when testing new recipes. As well as mint she grows the staples such as thyme, rosemary and parsley, and has added sorrel, salad burnet (which she says she's trying to like), marjoram, lovage, angelica and sweet cicely. 'I find that herbs actually like growing and respond well to being regularly picked. I treat them with benign neglect on the whole.'

Sophie, daughter of food writer Jane Grigson, has written many best-selling cookery books and has become a familiar face on our TV screens.  Her latest book, Vegetables, published by HarperCollins, comes out in October.

The above is a shortened version of an article in our August Herbs magazine.

President's event

Sophie will be hosting a major event at Ryton Organic Gardens near Coventry on 9 June 2007 where she will be the main speaker and will give a cookery demonstrations featuring some of the dishes we will enjoy over lunch.  There will be other lively presentations and activities covering many aspects of herbs to provide you with a fun and informative day.  Check our Diary page nearer the time for details.

Herb recipe booklet

Sophie is asking Herb Society members to submit their favorite herbie recipes to included in a booklet to be published by the Society.  Find out how to submit your recipe.

Note from the Council

The Society decided to appoint a celebrity president in order to raise our profile and to stimulate our ideas by interacting with such an eminent person.  To avoid imposing on a busy personality, we are only asking the current and future presidents to serve for one year.  We will choose successive presidents who have different backgrounds.  So, this year we have a culinary expert and next year it may be a gardening expert and, following that, perhaps an expert in medical herbalism.

Visit to Yaxham Park

Saturday 12 August

The Society was pleased to visit the seven acre garden of past Chairman Deni Bown.  This quite exceptional garden was created with the help of a Feng Shui master, and it shows.  The hard landscaping, water features and design were inspirational.  Naturally the planting by Deni reflected her travels worldwide and featured herbs and plants which many had never seen before.  Deni demonstrated their special properties and told us of their healing powers.  The plant associations were aesthetically pleasing and each displayed its singular form against the bark mulching.  No weeds, or disease or dead or dying bits were to be seen.  And we all marvelled at the skills evident in the creation of a truly great and remarkable garden and work of art, in only seven years from agricultural land.

We then had the most delicious lunch, imaginatively created by Deni from home grown fruit and vegetables.  Hardly any food miles were involved.  And therefore this wonderful meal was not only health giving and nutritious, but also eco friendly.

Altogether this was a memorable experience and I can't wait to visit this unique garden again.

Jan Greenland
Council Member

Medicinal Herbs Workshop

Thursday 3 August 2006

This one day workshop was conducted by Norman Howard, member of the National Institute of Medical Herbalists.

In the morning Norman took participants through how herbal medicine can be used in the home, accompanied by a list of do's and don'ts. There were many questions and a lot of notes were taken.

The day was punctuated by a herbal lunch which included puddings decorated with flowers from the garden and a Tudor syllabub.

After lunch the group went around the garden with Cheryl Waller (Herb Society Council member) and Norman, where they discussed the various herbs and their properties.  Back in the Courtyard hall Norman demonstrated making cough syrup, ointments, decoctions and infused oils.

The day finished late, but participants were fortified with a slice of homemade lemon balm cake before departing with reams of handouts which Norman had prepared. Food for thought!

Nicky Westwood

The Healing Power of Plants

Lecture by Timothy Walker of the Oxford Botanic Gardens at Sulgrave Manor on 24 July

This was a joint event held with the RHS.  Timothy gave a fascinating and highly amusing talk on how plants have been used through the ages for their medicinal and healing properties.

Today, far from being the preserve of the beard and sandals brigade, plants are used on an industrial scale as a source for many drugs.  Even if the drugs can now be synthesised, the initial discovery of the medicinal properties often came from plant studies.  Also, plants could be the source of a vital ingredient in the synthesis of an important drug.

But, plants must be using in a sustainable way for drug manufacture.  We also need to resolve who owns and should benefit from these plant extracts especially if they are are being harvested form a developing country.  These issues were illustrated by the discovery of a useful anti-cancer drug taxol in the bark of the north-American yew.  But these are slow-growing trees and it would take the destruction of three trees get enough taxol to treat one person.  Luckily, an alternative chemical was found in the leaves of the English yew which can tweeked to produce taxol.

Another problem with sustainability is that wild plants often contain the healing chemicals which are not present in the same plants grown commercially.  This gives rise to the Indian and Chinese traditions that only wild plants should be used in medicine.  The reason is thought to be that the stresses experienced by wild plants is what helps create the healing chemicals.

It as a very hot evening for Timothy's lecture and this was exacerbated because our event clashed with a wedding reception at the Manor so we had to squeeze in a small room.  But it very certainly nice to stroll round the herb garden as the sun was setting.

Enjoying a cool stroll in the Herb Society garden at Sulgrave

New Growing Herbs Booklet

By Dave Butterworth

The first book on herbs I bought was called 'Growing Herbs', authored by Eric Groves and published by the Herb Society in 1977.  It was perfect for a very amateur gardener like me because it had a very simple tabular layout that told me everything I needed to know about the growing and use of any herb I might want to use.  The particular herb I wanted to grow at the time was the almost unknown and unobtainable herb, coriander.  Well, obviously you could buy the seed as a spice but getting the fresh leaves meant a special trip for me to the Cowley Road in Oxford where there were lots of Asian food shops.  How things have changed!

The booklet has gone through a complete revamp under the authorship of our past Chairman, Jessica Houdret.  It still retains the tabular layout but the number of columns has been reduced to improve readability without loss of information.  Also, background colours in the table helps to guide the eye.  It lists over 90 herbs.

The booklet costs only £2.50 or £3 with postage and package from Nicky, the Herb Society Administrator.  Phone her on 01295 768 899 for your copy.  If you are a member of the Herb Society the cost is £2.50 including postage and packing.  Or, better still, go to one of our events and buy a copy for the reduced price of £2.

Growing Herbs - the old and the new

Details of one of the pages

Silver Medal at Tatton

19 - 23 July

The Herb Society Stand in the in the National Plant Societies' Marquee at Tatton Park Flower Show was awarded a Silver Medal by the Royal Horticultural Society.  The stand was designed and put together by Cheryl Waller with help from Sally Miller.  Thanks go to all those who helped on the stand: Sue Townsend, Cath Hayes, Frances Kershner, Carole Copping, Mary Dearden, Lesley Carroll, Jane Gray, Andrea Soloman, Glynis West, Miriam Shepherd, Rachael Egan and Rosemary Scholes.

Garden Open Day

Sunday 16 July

Jan Greenland, Council member, opened her walled Victoria garden near Leek, Staffordshire, to the public in aid of The Herb Society.  Debs Cook attended the open day and provides this report along with the pictures.

The weather was glorious and the garden was a delight, everybody was cooing and stroking Jan's silver sage (Salvia argentea) which looked and felt like huge furry teddy bear ears.   I'd never seen it before so it was wonderful to see.  Jan has to keep it in a pot so that the slugs don't get it.  I'd also never seen a pink meadowsweet before either (Filipendula rubra 'Venusta').

There was so much crammed in to the borders, that Jan provided visitors with lists detailing which plant was in which border to help them find things.  I'm currently re-doing my garden so I came away with a lot of ideas. My only problem is my garden is about 1/10th the size of Jan's so I'll have to cut my plans down my ambitions.

It was a real pleasure to meet Jan.  She's a wonderful lady who made time to chat to everybody that came to the garden as well as providing some lucky people with cuttings (I got some mint from her).

Jan showing visitors around one of her flowering borders

Herb Society Visit to Highgrove

Thursday 13th July

Nicky Westwood gives her impressions of the Herb Society visit to the Prince of Wales' private garden at Highrove House.

The party of visitors

Well, we couldn't have picked a better day.  The sun was out and there was a gentle breeze as we stepped off the bus.  We were ushered into the Orchard Rooms - a beautiful new reception building in the grounds - and welcomed by our guide.  As he lead us out it became obvious that we were standing in a gap in the yew hedge at the front of the house.  The hedge, which was designed by the Sir Roy Strong, is trimmed twice a year and the clippings are taken by a company in Bristol and used for the cancer drug, Taxol.

Looking around we had a view up the formal gardens leading to the house and the, in the other direction, into the distance at the view beyond.  The Prince had personally planted thyme between the stones all the way up to the house, only for ground elder to start threading its way through!  Everything possible was done to prevent this, except the use of herbicides.  Ultimately the whole garden was lifted and dumped, re-layed with fresh earth, and the stones and thyme and other plants reinstated.

The Prince insists that the grounds are maintained organically, and the wild flower meadow, which we next moved into, is a typical example of this.  It is mown once a year when the wild flowers will drop their seeds.  The hay is then gathered manually, and later sheep are allowed to graze the meadow for a short while in order to tread the seeds back into the soil.  This is a delicate balance - if the sheep are allowed to graze for too long they end up strengthening the grass and driving away the wild flowers.  Sadly for us, the meadow had been mown only five days earlier, but there was a strip of poppies and corncockles by the main drive that leads to the front door, and this gave us a taste of what it is like.

At this point our guide mentioned that Highgrove is home to the National Collection of beeches, and he pointed several out.  There are currently 67 varieties around the grounds.

I had always known of the pool surrounded by hostas and the stumpery, but hadn't realised they were on the other side of the wild flower meadow, so it was a surprise to wander between the trees and discover myself in a dell.  Our guide explained that the natural balance was maintained so well without the use of chemicals and the encouraging of animals and insects, that the hostas are strong and healthy, and remarkably 'bite' free!  Incidentally, Highgrove is also home to a National Collection of hostas.

The Prince has planted little sanctuary areas all through the trees with small temples and statues.  Each turn in the path provides another surprise.

Then suddenly we went through a door into a walled vegetable garden and proceeded under an arch of apples to a pond in the middle.  This is surrounded by a variety of herbs.  This garden is divided by tunnels and box hedging into various geometric sections, and here organic fruit and vegetables are grown for the Prince's own table.

Coming away, we walked back across the flower meadow to the main door of the house and then into the black and white garden. The garden is divided into quadrants of black and white flowers and closed in by a high yew hedge.  We all found it quite enchanting.

From here we went through a lovely gate to the front of the house and looked down the formal garden to where we had stood when we arrived. The view is uninterrupted to Tetbury and its church spire beyond, and as a previous owner of the house in the 1700s placed a covenant on this view, it can never be spoilt.

We then moved under the Lebanese Cedar which was looking extremely tired and sad.  The guide explained, not to our surprise, that it was apparently dying.  He said that if it did die it would remain in situ as the Prince did not cut down any trees on the estate.  Another one had been planted a few paces away, although this was still quite young, and not yet the spectacular shape associated with these magnificent trees.

From here we went through a wall into the Carpet Garden.  This is like entering the world of the Arabian Nights.  The Prince received a Silver Guilt for this garden at Chelsea and then reconstructed it at Highgrove.  The walkways are all tiled in Persian colours and the fountain in the middle is a huge scallop shaped marble dish in which pink and red flowers from the garden are floating.  The clear water ripples in tiled channels along the sides of the paths.

Then we were ushered back into the Orchard Rooms for tea from a service decorated in the Sir Roy Strong hedge design.  The Dutchy of Cornwall shortbread - delicious!

The house uses any spare vegetables or fruit for jellies and preserves in the shop, and also makes its own range of organic toiletries.  The shop was too tempting, and the fudge (which I normally loath) positively melt-worthy.  I bought far more than I had anticipated and was given an organically made natural cotton bag (with Highgrove printed on it) to carry it all away in.  Many of the Herb Society members came away with a selection of unusual plants.

We were lucky to visit on such a lovely day at such a lovely time of year, and the visit was a huge insight into the Prince of Wales, his interests and concerns.  We were pleased to make a donation to the Prince's Trust and intrigued to learn of his other activities including a college in London designed to encourage traditional building crafts, such as masonry and wood carving.  Many examples from this college were to be seen around the gardens.

BBC Gardeners' World

14 - 18 June

BBC Gardeners' World had a terrific feel this year - the weather was perfect and the outside gardens provided a huge variety, from seaside gardens with hammocks to courtyard patios with fountains and curving walls.

The Herb Society took its usual place amongst the National Plant Societies and was opposite a large floral and vegetable display which needed constant watering and spraying. The large bowls of strawberries and raspberries were very tempting, and some of us shot across at the end and bought up the home grown fruits and vegetables. They were delicious!

Ruth Waters put the stand together, providing some wonderful arrangements of plants and large floral sprays of herbs. Many thanks to her and the other volunteers. The theme of the stand was very much lavender and mint, and a lot of time was spent chatting with the public about these and other herbs.

Welcome to the nine new members who came on board!

Herbal Golds at Chelsea Flower Show

23 - 27 May 2006

The pictures here are of three gold-medal-winning stands in the Great Pavilion.

The Cottage Herbery, Tenbury Wells, Worcs. Many Members will remember the wonderful presentation given by Kim and Rob Hurst of the Cottage Herbery at our 2004 Annual Conference
Downderry Nursery, Tonbridge Wells, Kent
Jekka's Herb Farm, Alveston, Bristol

Wholly Herbs Festival

13-14 May 2006

The Herb Society was invited to take part in the Wholly Herbs Festival at West Dean College Near Chichester.  Wholly Herbs is a new initiative and this was its second year.  Cheryl Waller set up her as always fascinating Herb Society stand which included several educational leaflets as well as a compartmented box of dried herbs for identification. She had an excellent selection of pure herbal products and seeds for sale and Barty Phillips was invited to sell copies of her book Herb Gardens and Tea.  Thanks are also due to Clotho Spinner and Sally Miller for helping on the stand.  Eleven new members joined the Society at the show.

New Year Message from the Herb Society Council

January 2006

2005 has been another eventful and successful year for the Society. Our major achievement has been to agree our strategic plan in consultation with the membership. This plan sets the direction and major objectives for the Society up to 2010. Our major task for 2006 is, therefore, to draw up the detailed plans needed to achieve our objectives.

We have not spent 2005 just in planning for the future. We also held a series of informative yet fun events at our headquarters in Sulgrave Manor and around the country, in London, Manchester, Bury St Edmonds and Oxford. These events covered a variety of herbal topics including medical, culinary, historical and cosmetic. We are now planning an equally exciting series of events for 2006 including a visit to garlic and lavender farms on the Isle of Wight. We also hope to run a family herbs day at Sulgrave so that we can introduce the fun of herbs to children (and their parents!). So keep checking our Diary page for details of these events.

We continued to have a presence at shows in 2005, namely BBC Gardeners Word and Tatton Park, where we were awarded an RHS Silver Medal for our stand. In 2006 you should expect to see us at Wholly Herbs (Chichester), BBC Gardeners Word, Holker Hall (Cumbria) and Tatton Park.

One of the most high profile events of 2005 was in May when Council Members Cheryl Waller and Sally Miller participated in the Channel 4 Great Garden Challenge. They were given three days and a limited sum of money to build a small garden at Blenheim Palace in competition with another pair of gardeners. They toiled away at this through the nastiest wettest weather imaginable to achieve a delightful herb garden by the judging day which, as luck would have it, was hot and sunny. Sally and Cheryl were happy not to win this round because their prize would have been to build another garden in the next round of the competition!

Sally and Cheryl with the programme presenters for The Great Garden Challenge.  From left to right; James Alexander–Sinclair, Sally Miller, Cheryl Waller, Janet Ellis and Chris Beardshaw.

Our major event of 2005 was, as usual, our Annual Conference in August at Sulgrave. The formal part of the day was our AGM at which we discussed our strategic plan and received many useful suggestions on ways of implementing this plan. This was followed by stimulating talks and demonstrations. For most people, the highlight was a talk from Natalie Hodgson, a lady in her nineties, who related her experiences of opening a lavender pick-your-own enterprise at the age of 80.

During 2005 we have been working on a web site for use in schools to help teachers and children to grow herbs and learn about their many uses. We are pleased to say that this is nearing completion and will be launched early in 2006.

Our main web site has continued to grow in usage with well over 2500 visitors per week from over 40 countries. We started a "Herb of the Month" article in July and this has proved very popular as has the monthly crossword which we started in March. If you have not yet done so, try your hand at the Christmas crossword. We provide a Forum on the web site where you can post messages and respond to messages from others on any aspect of herbs. This receives about 10 postings a week and there are usually over 1000 page views per week.

Our Herbs Magazine provided us with many fascinating articles over the year ranging from monastery physic gardens to witches gardens, history to modern passions, Aztec medicine to desert-island pharmacy, to name but a few. All of this was done under the professional editorship of Barty Phillips. After 5 years in the job, Barty has decided to hand over her editor's pen to Hilary Paviour who is now working hard on the next edition of Herbs.

Hilary Paviour
The new Herbs editor

A new initiative for 2006 is that we will be launching a scheme whereby related groups and societies may affiliate to the Herb Society and receive a number of benefits by so doing. If your group is interested, check out the details.

With your involvement, we will make 2006 just as successful as 2005. Much of the work of the Society is undertaken by volunteers. If you think you can help in any way, please email us. Typical areas where we need help are in organising events, serving on our stands at shows, helping to co-ordinate our activities such as our new initiative on affiliate groups, and much more. So if you have skills and enthusiasm, we would welcome your help. The Council is extremely grateful for the help we had form our many volunteers in 2005 and we therefore send you all our greatest thanks.

As to the Council itself, we welcomed Alan Lakin and Ann Walker on to the committee. Both have considerable expertise in herbal medicine and in running organisations and so are great assets to the Society. During 2005, our Chairman Jessica Houdret had to resign because of other commitments but we are delighted that our Secretary, John Baylis has agreed to chair our meetings at least up to the next Annual Conference.

If you are reading this but are not already a member of the Herb Society, you should check out the benefits here and then download the application form. If you are a member, get all your friends to join!

The Herb Society Council members wish you all a happy and prosperous New Year and look forward to meeting many of you at our exciting events.

Out new editor - Hilary Paviour

January 2006

"It was in the early 1990s that I first became aware that there were the makings of a small revolution in healthcare.  I was interviewing a group of trainee nurses when one of them mentioned that in her south London hospital an aromatherapist visited some of the seriously ill patients once or twice a week.

"I found this insight into the work of the ancillary caring professions fascinating ­ and unexpected.  I was curious about what must have been some pretty enlightened bureaucracy: this was the NHS after all.  How come such an innovative concept had been allowed through the doors of an overworked and target-driven (even then) NHS hospital?

"It became evident that even the most sceptical medics were appreciative if a patient's well-being was enhanced by a session of aromatherapy. Soon it wasn't unusual to encounter the scent of lavender on cardiovascular wards, and clinicians began taking a serious interest in research into plant-based therapies.

"Now, medical students who skip such studies do so at their peril ­ for one thing, herbal preparations can interact with the chemical products of the pharmaceutical industry.

"For many years I've worked as an editor, commissioning editor and writer in medical journalism, so I've been able to watch such changes in the areas of health and medicine. The prospect of following these developments more closely through Herbs and its particular relationship with medical herbalist professionals is an exciting prospect.

"And because herbs are so integral to all our lives, it will be a pleasure to explore the ways they are cultivated for use in the kitchen and the garden, as well as in medicine, and their use throughout history. The roll-call of experts in all these fields is impressive, and I hope they'll continue to write in Herbs ­ and it's to be hoped that others will feel they would like to contribute, too.

"I do hope you'll join me on this journey of exploration through the world of herbs. And at the same time I hope you'll give me lots of feedback in the form of letters in which you raise issues you feel strongly about, as well as ideas that you'd like to see reproduced in the magazine."

Barty Phillips

Hilary is following in the footsteps of our excellent previous editor Barty Phillips who started as Editor with the November 2000 issue of Herbs having taken over after a gap when we did not have a professional editor.

Barty says, " My intention was to produce a magazine that was balanced, full of variety, readable by professionals and amateurs alike and that would reflect the many different interests of members and potential members.  My idea was it could become something for the Society to be proud of, readable, interesting and wide ranging while still concentrating specifically on herb-related subjects.

"I do think I achieved my main objects - reactions from members has been consistently good and I think I have left something of great value to the Society which I hope it will be able to use as a tool to attract new members.  I am very pleased that I have been asked to stay on as Consultant Editor and will be happy to continue to further the interests of the Herb Society in any way I can."

The Society thanks Barty for her excellent work over the last 5 years and looks forward to working with Hilary.

To make comments on these news items, go to our forum Pot-Pourri

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