2022 Executive & Directors
President: Ann Booth
Vice-President: Gerri Randall
Gerri moved to the Sunshine Coast in the fall of 2018, and has loved every minute in this welcoming community. A former RN and clinical conference planner, she spent the last 20 years of her career as Executive Director of the Vancouver & District Dental Society. With most of her family residing in the lower mainland, her ferry visits there are frequent. Gerri has enjoyed her many travel experiences as well…the journeys in addition to the destinations!
Having joined the garden club shortly after relocating, Gerri has found the friendships and camaraderie just as great as the wealth of gardening knowledge available. She has worked on the Community Projects Committee, been in charge of fundraising throughout the pandemic, initiated a group Facebook page for the club, and manages our sharing table at general meetings.
Secretary: Dianne Tarris
Dianne’s grandmother kept a beautiful flower and vegetable garden and shared the joy which inspired Dianne to start her own little garden before she was 10 years old. Dianne grew up in North Vancouver, raised her children in Port Moody and commuted to downtown Vancouver for over 40 years while working a variety of roles in the Insurance business and always messing with plants as a hobby. Dianne moved to Sechelt in 2012 and joined the Garden Club to learn more about gardening in general and in the unique conditions on the Coast. Dianne enjoys the speakers and Garden Tours and is especially interested in growing all things edible and beautiful. Dianne hopes to pass on some of her gardening enthusiasm to her 12 grandchildren.
Treasurer: Muguette MacDonald
Muguette enjoyed a long and successful career in Mercantile Credit working in Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver. She moved to Sechelt after her children had grown. Muguette currently works in accounting and in her spare time enjoys nurturing a symbiotic relationship with the earth through gardening as she slowly replaces the lawn around her home with raised beds. While vacationing in France, Muguette was introduced to biodynamic gardening which appealed to her interests in both astronomy and gardening. Muguette enjoys life on the Sunshine Coast, the people, the community and the nature that surrounds us.
Communications: Lee Tidmarsh
Membership and Newsletters: Lee Tidmarsh
Lee and her husband John Carsley moved to Vancouver and the Sunshine Coast from Montreal in 2007 while continuing to work as physicians. Gardening has always been an enjoyable hobby for both of them. Having enjoyed membership with The Diggers and Weeders Garden Club in Montreal, they decided it was time to get involved with the Sechelt Garden Club in order to continue learning about growing plants. They have had to make adjustments in plant choices given the coastal growing climate. John takes care of the vegetables while Lee attends to the flowers and shrubs and delights in cutting the wild West Coast growth down to size. Lee looks forward to meeting the members as the Membership Director and sharing gardening experiences and ideas.
Webmaster: Dianne Tarris
Guest Speakers: Pat Kolterman
Before Pat retired from teaching elementary school, she had visions of spending lots of time with her children and her grandson in their hometown of Terrace. Unfortunately, a week after retiring, her daughter moved to Kelowna and her son and grandson to Vancouver. After several years of traveling to visit them, she convinced her husband, Ken, to move to Sechelt to be closer to family. And what a wonderful move that has been! Always an avid gardener, she joined the Sechelt Garden Club in 2015 and has enjoyed meeting and learning from other gardeners. Her gardening passions are growing vegetables year round and planting with native plants and drought-tolerant perennials.
Community Projects (Flower Up Sechelt!): Penny Lyle
Penny hails from Tsawwassen where she spent 20 years as a realtor. Gardening did not seem to be on her radar, but her sellers competed for her to hold their open houses. Laughingly, she learned they not only wanted their homes sold, but loved that subconsciously she would deadhead and weed their hanging baskets and garden beds while showing their properties. In Penny’s extensive travels she is always very curious about plant life, so, upon retiring she joined garden clubs in South Surrey and then Sechelt. She enjoys learning from our wonderful speakers, presenters and our own members, which has always been a joy for her.
As Director of our Community Development committee, Penny is spearheading a project to design and plant a small memorial park on the Rimrock Road end this year. In 2016, planting the rock wall surrounding the Sechelt Aquatic Centre, (after ridding it of weeds), was a great accomplishment for the SGC. For future projects, Penny always reminds our Garden Club members to keep their eyes open for little untended spots we may beautify in Sechelt.
Director at Large: Margaret Acton
Member since 2018. Margaret moved to Sechelt in 2017, after working in a variety of nursing positions in Vancouver. She had a house on a shady corner lot with 7 extremely large trees that dropped a huge amount of leaves. As this was an established garden, she spent her time pruning and raking.
She was thrilled to buy a house in Sechelt that had a sunny garden. Plants that she had dreamed of having are now in her garden. The garden was designed by a master gardener and it included an interesting variety of plants. Members of the garden club have assisted Margaret in gaining in depth knowledge about their characteristics.
Margaret welcomes the opportunity to broaden her knowledge and to work with experienced gardeners. She has participated in the community projects committee to make our community a more welcoming place.