F-Troop - Monday 9th January 2012

We had a fantastic day at F-Troop this morning with good inroads made in our major projects (the new storage area and the Lavender garden at the 16th) as well as doing a good clean up around the course
and creating a new garden at the 17th.

This was possible because we had 17 volunteers to share the load  - Martin Gallagher, Nigel Asken, Duncan Dyer, Geoff Bridge, Rob Benson, Richard Casey, Des Wilson, Peter Martin,Warren Gray, Bruce White, Garry Trigg, George Foster, Dianne Beechey, Anne Burgess, Georgina Lamb, Jan Walker and Jan Martin.

That made a huge difference as we could still do much needed clean up work around the course as well as our other projects.

Duncan Dyer, Martin Gallagher, Des Wilson & George Foster worked on the F-Troop storage area which is coming on very nicely. The roof was completed and the security wire put in place with some good welding work by George Foster.

Warren Gray & Nigel Asken teamed up for course clean up with Peter Martin and Garry Trigg. This was a daunting task after all the wild wind of the last week bringing down a lot of loose timber and bark.

Geoff Bridge (on tractor duty), Rob Benson, Richard Casey and Bruce White were on hole digging duty. Firstly digging three holes along camellia way for some new camellias and then started on the "Lavender" garden at the 16th.  They worked all morning on this difficult task that took until lunch time to complete.

One of the prizes for winning "The Best Commercial Garden" in the Gosford Shire last year was a $100 gift voucher from Kincumber Sand and Soil which we have used to purchase some high grade garden soil for our gardens. This arrived this morning so we could get started on the garden work.

Georgina Lamb and Jan Walker took on the mammoth task of cleaning up at the 1st and 10th tees. They did a brilliant job as this area was a complete mess with loose branches and bark from the many trees.

Di Beechey and Anne Burgess cleaned up at the BBQ garden and then created a new garden at the 17th with succulents that had been donated to the club.  They did a great job and included building in a drainage system for the garden.  It looks much better than the dreary little area that it was.  We are now hoping that the plants do not become "rabbit food". The cost to the club for this garden was zero as all plants and garden supplies were donated.

We also managed to plant out two new mandevillea plants at the 18th to replace the two mandevilleas that were destroyed when the electricity lines were put through.  These new plants were funded by a donation from Doon Jansen via monies raised at Doon's Art Show.   Also from Doon's donation we purchased another Mandevillea "Swan Lake" which we have planted at the new garden at the 1st and 10th tees.  The plant support for this plant was donated by Anne Burgess.    These plants will look lovely when they reach maturity.

Martin Gallagher cleaned out his garden at home and donated (via his partner Clare) two mature camellias. an azalea, a gardenia and a box hedge plant.  These have all been planted out - a new home for the azalea and gardenia was the garden behind the putting green and the box hedge was added to the existing hedge plants at the wedding garden.

I was very unhappy to find that two of our hedge plants of the left hand side path at the 10th tee were pulled out of the garden and left to die.  We managed to replant them hopefully without too much shock to the plant.  There was also substantial damage done to one of our streletzia plants at the front fence line.  We can only assume that vandals have done the damage - very disappointing but hopefully the plants will recover.

We are very appreciative to the players and members who have seen fit to drop some money into our donation box at the Pro Shop.  Donations no matter how small will be well spent on our garden projects.
MANY THANKS!

Morning tea this morning was very busy with 17 F-Troopers lined up to enjoy refreshments of mini muffins from the kitchen - thanks Anthony & the boys! (Chef John is on Annual Leave)

After morning tea we worked on with digging the holes at the 16th and planting out the newly donated plants.
It was a very busy morning but very rewarding as we did achieve some good work for the club.

YES! WE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE!