On May 19th a party from Gardening Friends plus some guests visited Theobalds Farmhouse Gardens. Our group has visited the gardens on several occasions and we try to time our visits for different times of the year. This year we were too late for Alison's tulips, which in previous years have been quite spectacular. But there is always something interesting to see there and we weren't disappointed this time. Alison is a always so welcoming and an enthusiastic and knowlegeable guide. We walked through a series of beautiful little gardens, down to the lakes and to the little stream that flows gently along the end of the property, then through the little wooded area and back to the summer house/tearoom, for coffee, tea and Alison's delicious home-made cakes! A lovely relaxing afternoon!
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Roger Dungey gave us a very interesting talk which took us from his humble beginnings as a gardener's boy working at Wakehurst Place in West Sussex, working his way up to owning his own garden centre and exhibiting at Chelsea Flower Show.
On the way up, at a very young age, he took himself to America, taking advantage of all work opportunities as they arose, becoming a very successful travelling representative/salesman for a horticultural company, before coming back to the UK. He worked for Rochfords for a number of years, and with his, obviously exceptional, organisational abilities eventually became one of the directors of the company. When he left Rochfords he decided to start his own garden centre, which became a great success and he won a gold medal at the Chelsea Flower Show! Roger's story was really inspiring. It showed what can be achieved with hard work, and although it was clear that he had very good business mind and great interpersonal skills which made him such a successful salesman, he also had the courage to grasp any opportunities, both work and educational, that came his way, and made the very best of them.
Karen Horton was a very interesting and entertaining speaker on the Role of Volunteers in the RHS. It was a very enjoyable talk and I think we were all especially impressed with the range of clothing (in a lovely shade of purple) supplied to volunteers. Something to cope with all our very changeable weather conditions!
September 9th was our first meeting since March 2020 and it was lovely to see so many of our members returning again. We also had 8 visitors, one of whom joined on the day, and we're hoping more will join over the following months.
A speaker is booked for next month (please see the programme page) and more will follow, though unfortunately some of our favourite speakers have retired since we last met. I hope you all received copies of our newsletters (6 issues) which we've been emailing or posting over the past 17 months. I know that email can be quirky (and some go straight to junk/spam) so if you are missing any issues and want them sent, please let us know. Our Christmas Tea was a week early this year because our venue will be in use as a polling station next week - the second Thursday of the month, when we usually meet. It was a shame that we couldn't have the Padwicks, who were booked to entertain us next week, as they weren't free to come today, but we have booked them for next year, when hopefully, there will not be another election - though actually, maybe by then, we'll be demanding another election - who knows! Anyway, we filled the time with a couple of quizzes, both of which were won by Reg's table - well it is his birthday, so that's OK! Audrey has been made an honourary member for all her hard work in running the group so well for so long, and we all signed a card and gave her some flowers and chocolates. Gerald excelled himself with the Christmas decorations with his illuminated eiffel tower complete with moving airplanes; his moving train with passengers, a Christmas Tree Father Christmas, a giant cracker, lots of coloured fairy lights and a vintage Bambi! We're so used to Gerald's special effects that I don't know what we'd do without them now! He and John spent ages decorating the hall, we didn't think they'd have any time to sit down and enjoy the tea. But they finished at last and left the decorations up for a while after the meeting ended so the group of children who use the hall after us could enjoy them too - they all seemed delighted with the lights and train and little airplanes. We were all so busy that we didn't get round to thanking all our lovely, generous members who made our Christmas Tea such a feast! So thank you all for your wonderful contributions! On Saturday 21st September - a beautiful day before the downpours and storms of Sunday - eight of our members went on a visit to Myddleton House. Joan and Doreen supplied the following information about their visit with all the photos. Members had expected to pay £5 entry fee (as mentioned on the website), but on the day entry was free! Myddleton House is now used for Lea Valley offices so there is only modern office furniture and sadly nothing from the period, which was disappointing. Members wished that some of the original furnishing, at least in one room, could have been left in situ. They saw just the ground floor rooms. The ceilings and coving were magnificent and there were tables laid out with lots of photos and information. There was a guide and member of Myddleton House Society in each room to discuss the history, life and work of plantsman E A Bowles who was also an artist, entomologist, botanist, writer, plant hunter world wide, and a lay preacher. Myddleton house was built in 1814 by his great grandfather. After Bowles' death the house was empty for a while and then taken over by the Royal Free Hospital for a medical school. The gardens were used by the pharmacy department and the restored kitchen garden has a glass house, peach house and potting shed, growing vegetable varieties from Bowles' time. In 1968 it was sold to the Lea Valley Regional Park Authority. A heritage grant has enabled extensive restoration. The tour inside was quite short (45 mins) and afterwards they walked round the gardens, sat in the sunshine and enjoyed a cuppa (some with cream teas!) with lots of talking, friendship and laughter. Our Bring & Buy today made a total of £73.29, and I think we have to blame Gerald for that odd 9p! He always manages to sneak in a few coppers! We didn't make as much as last year, but there were fewer members attending and we did have some nice things to sell.
So thank you to everyone who contributed items to sell and to all of you who bought them! Some of you very kindly agreed to let me donate a few of the items left unsold (including a couple of brand new items), to a Cat Rescue charity to sell, and there are several other bits and pieces that I'll be dropping in to Cancer Research this week. Josie brought in a plastic maniquin head with long blond hair - unfortunately it didn't sell, but the children's activity group next door were delighted to be offered it! See you all next month. Our annual Mini Show was last Thursday (11th) and as usual was a very enjoyable afternoon. There weren't as many entries in some categories as we've had in previous years - the Single Rose, Specimen Flower and Mixed Vase of Flowers in particular, as many roses and other flowers seemed to be past their best after all the very hot weather we've had recently. Also some members who usually enterer several categories were away. This year we added 3 extra categories: two were photographic; photos of a tub with mixed flowers and the other tub with a shrub, plant or small tree. As we usually have several potato entries in the vegetable category, we added one dedicated to potatoes! While we were waiting for our judge Graham Deal to choose the winners and runners up in each category, Joan read us some appropriate and funny gardening poems by Pam Ayres. Then, as she had recently been visiting friends in France who were very aware of the environmental impact of the overuse of commercial cleaning products, and instead were making their own less harmful products using plants or basic cooking items we have in our store cupboards, she gave us the following recipes for trying this for ourselves: LAUNDRY WASHING LIQUID (Recipe from the French lady) 50 Ivy leaves cut up roughly 2 pints of water Bring to boil. Boil gently for two minutes. Leave to stand overnight then strain. It is a brown liquid to use instead of washing powder for all laundry. (Joan said she was a little dubious at first as she thought it would stain her white laundry, but said she found it actually worked extremely well!) 2 recipes from the programme War on Plastic with Hugh Fearnley- Wittingstall and Anita Rani: ALL PURPOSE CLEANER Put into an empty trigger bottle: 1/2 vinegar, 1/2 water add lemon or orange peel and 1 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda Shake well and use on all surfaces with a soft cloth TOILET CLEANER Into a bowl put: 1/2 cup of citric acid 1 1/3 cup of bicarbonate of soda I teaspoon scented oil Slowly add a little water and mix to a solid. Mould into balls. Put the mixture into an ice cube tray, allow to dry. Place a ball into the water in the toilet overnight to slowly dissolve and soak. It is a slow reaction cleaner. Photos of the Mini Show entries this year: Joan did extremely well, winning six categories, but as she had entered twelve categories and donated all but one of her prizes to the runners up, we totally forgave her and will let her back next year! Barbara won the Best in Show with her foliage arrangement.
And as usual, we finished up with strawberries and cream, tea and coffee! Thanks to Stan who always sets up as many tables and chairs as we ask for, without any complaints! Special thanks to Joan who selected and bought all the prizes and who chaired the meeting and kept us entertained while Graham made his selections, and to Jenny for helping him. Thanks to Kathleen for buying the strawberries and to both her and her helpers for washing and slicing them all up for us! Thank you Barbara for dedicatedly whipping up 3 pints of double cream! Thank you to our dedicated refreshment team of Philomena and Sylvia and their washing up volunteers, and to everyone else who helped make it such a good afternoon. And lastly, many thanks to Graham, our lovely judge who takes such care with his selections, and who we were so pleased to have with us again. |
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