The April meeting of Halesowen Gardeners Club held on Monday April 12 was well attended and it was pleasing to welcome a number of visitors. Our speaker Paul Hand, who was back at the club by popular demand, gave an entertaining talk on wooden spoons. Mr Hand is a skilled wood worker and, following a brief introduction on the history of spoon making and, how he had himself become interested in producing his own spoons, described the methods he used and showed examples of his work. Mr Hand now makes his functional spoons on a more commercial basis mainly using cherry wood but has tried to use all types of native wood including the black poplar (Populus nigra), alder (Alnus glutinosa) and oak. He informed us that in Scotland the birch is the common wood used and Wales favour sycamore wood. Sadly most of the Welch love spoons we find in shops are now made abroad. Mr Hand answered a number of questions from members, particularly on the techniques he used to finish the spoons, and was thanked for his talk, and for bringing along a variety of spoons of all shapes and sizes for members to examine. Our next meeting will be on Monday May 10 when the speaker will be Daniel Fildes with his talk on the Ceanothus Collection in Stevens Park. All visitors are most welcome to attend any of the meetings held in the Shenstone Theatre above the library on the first Monday in the month at 7.30pm. The Club night in June will be our plant sale and members are requested to bring any surplus plants that they have to offer for sale at the meeting to raise club funds. This is a popular fun night for both members and visitors where plants are sold on an auction basis. The July Club meeting on July 5 is the evening visit to Hunters End Garden in Bewdley and members are reminded to register for this trip and to pay £6 fee, to include refreshments, to Kath as soon as possible so that we can firm up arrangements. For further information on our meetings please visit our web site www.communigate. co.uk/bc/viewall.phtml and follow the link to Halesowen Gardeners’ Club.