Monthly Meeting October 2nd 2018
Our meeting began with a presentation to The Silver Line charity for funds raised this year. We managed to raise £550.00 and Bob Gwynn (left) presented the cheque to Derrick Swallow (Right) who is a Community Engagement Volunteer for The Silver Line.
Derrick gave an emotional and heartfelt thank you to the club following the presentation. Following on from Derrick’s and David LeButt’s presentation to the club earlier this year we were happy to hear there had been several additional avenues opened and new connections made in the community for The Silver Line.
We were very saddened to hear that David has since passed away and Burbage Gardening Club wish to offer their deepest condolences to David’s Wife Karen and family members.
The Show Committee with Derrick Swallow
Left to right: Derek Wheeler, Bob Gwynn, Anne Brett, Caroline Wood, Derrick Swallow, and Trevor Allcoat.
Our speaker for the evening was David Goldsmith and the subject was ” Fascinating Fungi”. David is from the Hinckley Natural History Society. www.hinckleynaturalhistorysociety.com
David opened our eyes to the many various mushroom varieties that can be found in Britain.
David’s expertise on the subject was incredible and varieties can be assessed or classified best by smell and taste. It was explained that taste could be bitter, sweet, hot, mild, acrid, tasteless. The smell could be oily, paint, fruity, meaty or like nothing on earth. David was careful to mention that any tasting must be spat out immediately and never swallowed. Judging by the general reaction in the room it didn’t seem likely that anyone was keen on tasting any fungi, it is wiser to stick to buying from well known shopping outlets. David said he wouldn’t use a book to help categorise a fungi, far too risky. Fungi are constantly changing as they grow and decay and the species is not always easy to label, even for the expert.
We were shown several amazing photographs that David has taken himself in his quest to assess species.
The fungi were marked as Poisonous, not edible, edible, and not worth eating for a variety of reasons. Some although edible are not recommended as they can give some people painful stomach issues.
Thank you very much to David for a very interesting evening.
