Dear Colleagues

I would be most grateful if you could pass a message on to your members regarding the current position at the HPS Office.

As you all know Sally left us at the end of October, since when Clare has been struggling to keep up with the workload. This has been exacerbated by difficulties with the IT systems, including a couple of days when access was impossible. Those problems have now been resolved (I hope!) and we have engaged someone else to help Clare (Vicci) but there remains a significant backlog of membership renewals to be dealt with. If you have renewed your membership by post please be assured that all post has been opened and all cheques etc are being kept safe but it will take a while longer for these to be processed and thus appear on your bank statements. For the next couple of weeks we do have to prioritise the seed orders as it is essential that all these are completed by mid-January, ready for the Shropshire team to pick out the seeds and get them posted to you.

It would be extremely helpful if members could avoid phoning the office for the next few weeks unless the need really is urgent. Enquiries can be emailed to admin@hardy-plant.org.uk and will normally receive a reply the same day if within office hours. If you still need to renew your membership please use the online facility or the postal form from the last newsletter. If you haven’t ordered your seed yet, please do so as soon as possible, again using the online or printed form. The final date for receipt of seed orders is 10th January.

Please be assured that we are doing all we can to get the office running smoothly again as soon as possible. Thank you for your patience.

Wishing you all a very Happy New Gardening Year

With thanks.

Judi Deakin
Honorary Secretary