THE Durban North Garden Club (DNGC) celebrated its 70th platinum anniversary with a luncheon last week.

The event was held at The Market on Lothian Road and saw past members, longstanding members, past presidents as well as special guest Julie Scragg and guest speaker William Collingwood join in on the celebrations.

Wendy Clack, president of the club, said the day was about celebrating seven decades of friendship and special memories.

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“While going through our old records one of our longstanding members, Sandy Grant, came across minutes dated November 8, 1954, the very first minutes of an inaugural meeting sponsored by the Durban North Ratepayers to launch a garden club for the enthusiastic garden lovers in the area. The seeds were sown and the DNGC became an entity. During the course of that evening 53 members enrolled, which was a really promising start,” she said.

Clack added that initial subs were 10 shillings a year, 15 shillings for a husband and wife and 2/6 pence for children under 18.

“While things have changed over the years, we do have super speakers who we learn so much from and go on some lovely garden visits. We also do something for the community every year, donating to old age homes, animal welfare organisations and other charitable causes,” she said.

A special part of the celebrations was a leather-covered Honours book presented to the club by William Collingwood on behalf of one of the founding members of the club, Mr. FH Collingwood, whose name was synonymous with gardening in the province.

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