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AGM 2001
The 10th Annual General Meeting of the Irish Christmas Tree Growers was held on Saturday July 7th, 2001, at the Killeshin Hotel, Portlaoise, Co Laois.
Brief report
The meeting opened with one minute silence as a mark of respect for Graham Smyth of Royal Irish Silvaculture who died tragically during the previous week.
The AGM was well attended and several presentations were made.
Mr Harry Mooney of Irish Forestry Enterprises spoke on the subject of selling and buying christmas trees in Ireland and abroad.
Christy Kavanagh gave an inspiring talk on the retailing of trees to the consumer, pointing out some of the ever-changing needs and requirements of the christmas tree buyer; style, shape and cleanliness being major factors in addition to the need to load the tree netted or string-tied into the customer's car. A total service is what he advocated if you want to keep the customer happy!
Dr Eugene Hendrick (COFORD), Denis Kelleher and John Fennessy updated us on the research front and reiterated the need for further research projects.
Francis Prendergast gave an excellent visual presentation on the most effective use of herbicides.
The final word came from our quality officer, John O'Connell, who gave an excellent presentation on the "Growing of Quality christmas trees". His words of wisdom should be carefully considered by anyone who is comtemplating growing christmas trees for the first time. He emphasised the fact that quality begins with the matching of species and site. Then comes the careful choosing of provenance, the establishment and maintenance of the young plants, tree culturing, weed control, fertilization and eventually the biggest headache of all "Where are the trees to be sold"? and "How will I harvest them"?
There was a vote of thanks for Mr John Chamney who stood down as chairman and Mr John Sheridan who has retired as Honorary Secretary after many years of dedicated service to the Irish Christmas Tree Growers.
You are reminded that the Irish Christmas Tree Growers will have a stand at the Kildare Growers Show on July 25/26 and will also conduct the christmas tree competition.
This competition was won last year by Martin Kelleher of Kellehers Christmas Tree Farm and he subsequently presented a christmas tree to An Taoiseach last Christmas.