By the time you read this Christmas will be over and we will be well into the New Year wondering how the time can go so quickly from one year to the next. So I hope Christmas was good and that 2008 is a happy year for you all.

We are starting the year with two more members on our staff than we had this time last year. First is Steve Shaw, who has been doing a marvelous job at our nursery at Tolosa Park for the last 12 months but only in the last month or so has been officially on our books. We are very pleased that we can keep Steve as he is a man of many talents. Our other brand new employee is Oliver Strutt, who will be helping Ruth with the field days and workshops. Oliver has been a member of the USN for some years and has recently been compiling plant lists for the various regions of the state which will soon be on our website. He is a very accomplished botanist and we are fortunate to have him and Steve with us, albeit on a very part-time basis.

You may have noticed that recently we have been having problems with our web-site. At one time it simply was not there! However we hope to have overcome the problems which were associated with upgrading the site and while it is far from perfect at the moment it soon should be even better than it was before.

Your little plants should be steaming ahead by now but don't despair if some haven't germinated yet -- ultimately most will and if you are really worried contact Ruth who can probably send you more seed.

All the very best to you all for 2008 and thank you all for your support through the year.