since 2006. This enables those with less time to display images of their plants and receive feedback from expert judges and from the community of members. Images of plants growing in the open garden, and of gardens themselves, may be submitted. The AGS itself also regularly acts as an exhibitor at the UK's Chelsea Flower Show. The combination of talented designers and the expert growing skills of the members always results in an award-winning stand, including the President's Award for best display in the Marquee in 2008. History 1929 to 1989 The society was founded in 1929. Sir William Lawrence, who was at the time the treasurer of the Royal Horticultural Society, first suggested creating a "rock garden society" in June 1929. The first general meeting was held on 10 December 1929, when the name was changed to its present one, as its principal purpose was to encourage the cultivation of alpine plants. Its founding members included Dorothy Renton and her husband. Lawrence became the society's first president. Within five months, on 5 April 1930, the society held its first show, a tradition which has continued since. Exhibitors compete for awards, including the Sewell Medal and the Farrer Memorial Medal, introduced in 1931. Non-competitive displays have been included from 1931 onwards. From the beginning the society supported expeditions which involved collecting plants from the wild for introduction into cultivation. The support sometimes took the form of individual members taking shares in an expedition by providing finance in return for a proportion of the material which was collected. The society also organized its own tours, beginning in 1933 with a tour to Snowdonia. Tours continue today, although with changed attitudes to conservation, the society does not allow collecting on its tours. The first "bulletin" was produced in 1930, containing only 13 pages. The size rapidly increased. From 1930 to 1944 (Volumes 1 to 12 – not one per year) it was called the Bulletin of the Alpine Garden Society; from 1945 (Volume 13), "Quarterly" was added to the title and it became the Quarterly Bulletin of the Alpine Garden Society. The Bulletin contained (and continues to contain) articles of various kinds, including reports of the Society's shows, information on cultivating plants which fall within the society's remit, and accounts of such plants in the wild. Photography was an important aspect of the Bulletin, initially confined to black-and-white, such as the picture