QUEENSBURGH Orchid Club has changed its name to Highway Orchid Society.
With the help of a marketing agency, and through a democratic process, the club is now known as the Highway Orchid Society to include its growing membership outside the Queensburgh area.
In 1973, a group of orchid growers from Hillary, Queensburgh, Seaview, Escombe and other areas along the Old Main Road formed a new orchid club called the “Queensburgh Orchid Club”.
Founder members of this new club included Mr M.P. Theunissen, Ginger Grey, Mervyn Grant, Johnny Kloppers, Ron and Colin Kirk, Hugh and Lucy Zank, Morgan Freeman, Dereck Damp, Ron and Terry Slater, Alan Huntley and Jeff Joubert, according to members Jimmy Pauck and Colin Silver who shared the club’s history and growth.
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Meetings were initially held in a small hall on Old Main Road but the club soon outgrew this venue and moved to the NG Kerk Church Hall in Escombe and later to the library hall in Malvern.
Members from other areas such as the Bluff, Pinetown and eventually the Upper Highway area joined and by 1984 the Queensburgh Orchid Club boasted
over 100 members with attendance at monthly meetings of 50 to 60 members. There were seldom fewer than 90 to 100 plants on the plant table.
It is interesting to note that a full membership fee in 1983 was R10.
The Queensburgh Orchid Club has actively supported local orchid events, and participated in every National SAOC Show since 1981.
Colin Silver was president of the club for an incredible 21 years, from 1985 to 2006.
Due to deteriorating conditions at the Malvern hall, the club moved its monthly meeting to the Pinetown Methodist Church Hall, in Pinetown.
The new venue was more central to the distribution of the club’s membership and the membership profile had changed and the digital age was well and truly upon us, so it was decided to refresh the clubs name and image.
Annual orchid show
THE Highway Orchid Society annual show will take place in the Kloof Civic Hall, Cnr Old Main and Village Road, Kloof on 1 and 2 September from 10am to 3.30pm on Saturday and 9am to 2.30pm on Sunday.
The show, which normally takes place late in July, has been moved to early September to give the public the opportunity to see some different stunning plants.
Entry is R20 for adults and R10 for learners.
For details, contact Jimmy 082 809 1572, Colin 084 632 2883 or Zoe 084 641 5008.
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