Tag: community spirit

Plealey Garden Party – a look back to summer

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date March 26, 2018

It often feels good to look back to a summer’s day especially when we are in the grips of an exceptionally long and cold winter. We had been asked by the organisers of the Plealey Garden Party to set up a stall to sell some of our plants. So we prepared our seedlings and young plants from cuttings and nurtured them until the event, when we priced them up, spruced them up and boxed them up for the journey to the other end of our hamlet.

The day of the garden party dawned bright and sunny and warmed up as the day moved on, perfect weather for it! This is the highlight of the hamlet’s year when all fifty households get together with friends, relatives and visitors from nearby villages for an afternoon. The afternoon also raises money for local charities. It is usually held in Well Lane but builders working along it prevented this from happening in 2017. Luckily a resident volunteered her garden for this one.

We loaded up one of our neighbours'(Chris and June) Landrover with trays of plants and Chris delivered them for us as we took a leisurely wander down the road following the trail of bunting. The vehicle certainly made life so much easier for us.

We put our folding table together and laid the plants out as we planned how to display them to look enticing or at least at their best. We were situated in the beautiful dappled shade of old apple and pear trees which was to prove a boon as the day warmed up.

In a short while we were all set and stood back to admire our handiwork. We were pleased with our efforts and hoped the sun would bring out the visitors/punters.

This is the view we had from our seats behind our plants, and the welcoming view for the visitors.

The stallholders waited patiently for the tea party to be declared officially open and the people arrived, mostly young families and couples. The local ukelele band burst into life and entertained us all afternoon, and luckily they thought to bring along a gazebo to protect themselves from the sunshine or the rain just in case.

The weather brought in a good crowd who stayed for a long time and enjoyed the refreshments in the hot weather. The tables were beautifully decorated with small posies from the garden.

A popular visitor to our hamlet’s event was this horse and cart which we often see passing by our front garden. What a delightful and peaceful mode of transport to explore the narrow country lanes around Plealey.

It turned out to be a very successful afternoon with lots of visitors who spent plenty of money that was then sent to the chosen charities. Next year the party will be back in its usual location of Well Lane so we hope the success continues.

Tags community, community spirit, garden parties, garden party, Plealey, village community, village life

allotments community gardening Shrewsbury Shropshire

A Vintage Tea Party – Bowbrook Allotment Community

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date January 10, 2017
1 Comment on A Vintage Tea Party – Bowbrook Allotment Community

The second post about nostalgia is all about a day back in the summer.

We decided to try something new for our 2016 summer celebrations at our allotment site, Bowbrook Allotment Community – a vintage tea party. Jude and Liz worked hard planning and preparing for the event, ensuring we had plenty to eat and drink, the children had activities and making sure everyone knew what was going on.

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So our members donated lots of fancy home-made cakes especially little buns and fairy cakes which looked so colourful and of course tasty when our tea ladies, the Tea Bags, set them out ready for all to enjoy.

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We always cut flowers from around the site’s communal gardens to use to create table centre decorations and they always add so much to any event.

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We asked members to come dressed in vintage clothes and they rose to the challenge, which added greatly to the atmosphere. Even the Tea Bags dressed in vintage styled pinafores.

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We bought traditional lawn games for the children to enjoy. Many of these games were new to them but they were all enjoyed. It was good to hear so much children’s laughter as they skipped away, wooden blocks tumbled down as they played Tenga and quoits were thrown over targets.

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Once we launched into the tea party lots of our allotment community gardeners came along with friends and family, enjoying the chance to get together, catch up and chat in an informal atmosphere. A great time was had by all! Music from the 40’s added to the atmosphere with Glen Miller being a favourite.

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We had a few other surprises in store too, an old grey Massey Fergusson tractor, an oil engine, and my collection of vintage garden tools.

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The Vintage Tea Party proved to be a very popular event and we have had lots of requests to make it an annual event at our allotments, Bowbrook Allotment Community. For more information about our allotment community visit our website, http://www.bowbrookallotments.co. uk .

Tags allotments, Bowbrook Allotment Community, Bowbrook Allotments, cakes, communal gardens, community, community gardening, community spirit, Massey Fergusson, old tractor, tea party, vintage, vintage tea party

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Ponthafren – an amazing community garden.

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date August 30, 2016
2 Comments on Ponthafren – an amazing community garden.

We love visiting community gardens whenever we can find one to explore. We like to see what they are trying to do and particularly how gardening is involved in their client activities. We were delighted to find one open under the auspices of the National Garden Scheme not far away just over the Welsh border into Powys. As we approached over a river bridge and first spotted the building we were taken aback by its sheer size. It looked an impressive building with its gardens sloping down to the river bank.

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We received a warm welcome from the volunteers who ran the centre and enjoyed a tasty cup of tea and extravagant looking cup cake each as we chatted and learned more about the work of the group. We were amazed at what we heard and were full of admiration.

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We couldn’t wait to wander around the garden and see what the volunteer leaders and their clients were up to on this steeply sloping wooded riverside site.

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Bunting and flags always add to the feeling of being warmly welcome in any garden and here they fluttered in profusion.

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Mosaics were popular ways of decorating features here from table tops to sundials. The clients created these in their art and craft sessions.

There were clues at every turn that wildlife was welcome to share the garden with the clients, volunteers and visitors.

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There was such a sense of humour prevailing throughout the community garden and many craft items created by the clients illustrated this.

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As with any garden whatever its primary function fine examples of plants are good to see.

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Productive gardening was all part of the work here with the produce grown and nurtured by the clients being sold to help raise funds for the community garden. Wormeries sat in one corner working away producing compost and liquid feed for the veg.

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We found some fine examples of craftwork in metal and fabrics among the plants on the slopes.

We finished our tour by taking wooden steps and gravel paths down to the riverside where we ended beneath colourful cheerful bunting just as we had started. We were so glad to have discovered this special place run by such special people and they also told us of another community not too far away which may be a place for a future visit.

Tags communal gardens, community, community gardening, community spirit, fruit and veg growing, gardening for wildlife, outdoor sculpture, productive gardening

awards community gardening

More Awards for Bowbrook Allotment Community

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date February 12, 2016
5 Comments on More Awards for Bowbrook Allotment Community

There is nothing better on cold dull days of winter than looking back.

When the RHS gave us our first award we jokingly started calling ourselves an “Award Winning Allotments” and then as we get more and more we now call ourselves the “Multi-Award Winning Allotments”. Well last year in the autumn we were invited to another award ceremony jointly held by the RHS and Britain in bloom.

We enjoy these ceremonies as it affords us the opportunity to meet gardeners from other community gardens and see what they are getting up to. This year the ceremony was held in a hotel with well-laid out gardens too so we enjoyed a wander before our lunch.

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Our allotment gardens, Bowbrook Allotment Community, affectionately know as BAC, fall under the RHS Its your Neighbourhood Scheme for community gardens that improve their local areas. We are measured against a set of criteria which consider horticultural excellence, environmental enhancement, wildlife friendliness and community involvement. Assessors from the RHS make visits and spend several hours on site marking us against set guidelines. The awards are awarded at 5 levels starting with beginning at Level 1 moving up to Level 5 Outstanding. They can also give out discretionary awards to individuals and community gardeners.

We were pleased to receive a Level 5 Outstanding Certificate in 2015 for the 5th year running. We were totally surprised when we were called up at the end of the award ceremony to be be awarded an RHS National Award of Distinction, one of only two awarded. We were given this as we had achieved a mark of 100% in every category. Can’t be bad! It truly reflects our great community spirit!

I thought it would be interesting to add photos of the banners displayed in the hall as they give clues to the spirit of this award scheme.

Tags awards, Bowbrook Allotment Community, communal gardens, community, community gardening, community spirit

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Furzey Gardens – a wonderful gardening community – Part Two

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date December 13, 2015
3 Comments on Furzey Gardens – a wonderful gardening community – Part Two

Back at Furzey Gardens we continued to wander along its magical paths seeking out secret places and reveling in its beautiful plants. Beyond each corner more beauty was revealed and the depth of its calmness and peace increased. Furzey Gardens takes hold of its visitors and admirers. Throughout the garden volunteers and clients work together, laugh together and learn together. The trust here is set up to help adults with learning difficulties gain new skills, social and horticultural and develop a sense of self esteem and confidence. This results in everyone at Furzey having great pride in what they are doing and a deep level of satisfaction.

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A graceful stand of Birches with the white umbels of Cow Parsley scattered at their feet felt as full of calm and contentment as any place could possibly feel.

The rust colours of autumn trees matched the seeds of Primula close by.

The colours, tints and shades of Autumn can make ordinary places look special but it can also make special places look exceptionally beautiful. Just as we discovered here at Furzey.

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Homes for everything can be found at Furzey. As well as homes for fairies we found homes for hay bales and homes for birds.

The hedges along the edge of the gardens were full of fruit ready for the invasion of winter migrating thrushes and our resident Blackbirds and Thrushes.

Enjoy our wanderings back to the cafe where we refreshed ourselves before journeying back to out hotel.

Among shrubs and trees we discovered a building which hid a secret place for sky viewing.

I thought I would drop in a couple of pics of herbaceous flowers to show that there was a lot more to Furzey than shrubs and trees.

I promised to share with you more of those Fairy and Insect Doors secreted around Furzey.

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Our tour of the gardens at Furzey finished as we explored the 16th Century Forest Cottage, beautifully renovated and re-furnished in simple elegance. It sat in a garden of equal character and an accurate portrayal of its period.

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Tags communal gardens, community, community spirit, Furzey Gardens, garden furniture, Hampshire, ornamental shrubs, ornamental trees, shrubs, trees and shrubs

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Furzey Gardens – a wonderful gardening community – Part One

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date December 11, 2015
1 Comment on Furzey Gardens – a wonderful gardening community – Part One

Jude, The Undergardener, and I always love visiting community gardens to see what is going on. As we are Chairman and Secretary of a community garden, Bowbrook Allotment Community, we always appreciate everything our fellow community gardeners are achieving.

When in Hampshire we discovered that we were close to Furzey Gardens, run as a charitable trust and a very special community garden indeed, described as “A haven of peace and tranquility in the heart of the New Forest.”

We discovered this 10 acre garden created within woodland around a 16th Century forest cottage. It is a partnership between Furzey Gardens and the Minstead Training Trust. To find out more check out their respective websites, http://www.furzey-gardens.org and http://www.minsteadtt.org .

We arrived at their car park where our progress into the car park was hindered by wandering pigs belonging to local commoners taking advantage of their “rights of pannage”. The signage looked promising. We soon came across a photograph of some of the garden’s volunteers and a shed where produce was sold.

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And once inside we discovered a lovely cafe and gallery run by some of the trust’s volunteers. This was to set the scene for the whole visit.

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The views from the table at which we enjoyed our coffee and cakes were certainly very encouraging. We set off with high expectations!

We noticed within the outside seating area this huge table carved by a local wood sculptor from the trunk of a tree. It was hard to see how this was possible. But possible it was! In the picnic area we found another!

We found more beautiful hand made furniture throughout the gardens.

We soon discovered that this was a garden sporting some beautiful specimen trees and shrubs which in early autumn were performing a colourful show. The volunteers maintained the gardens and individual specimens to a very high standard. Above all a sense of peace pervaded every space and the volunteers we saw working looked full of contentment and displayed a great pride in their work.

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We loved this sign which faced us as we followed our pathway through the garden.

“We love children but we also love plants!

Many of the plants at Furzey are old, rare and fragile.

So please don’t climb our trees or trample on the flowers.

Feel free to hop and skip along the paths

And follow the secret places map.”

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We moved on and the low autumn sunshine lit up the foliage all around like a massive stained glass window.

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We enjoyed having so much choice when it came to sitting resting and taking in the beauty of Furzey. Many benches were memorials of volunteers, clients and visitors who simply enjoyed the special nature of this place.

After a break for tea and yet more cake we set off through the shrubs and trees to find the lake, a lake whose surface was cluttered with water lily leaves and its moist margins decorated by big-leaved plants and umbel seed heads.

Throughout the walkways there were secret places for children to discover, “Fairy Houses” hidden low down and camouflaged.

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We shall find more of these little magic places in part two of our visit to Furzey, but I shall finish this first part by sharing with you one of the many thatched rustic garden buildings scattered throughout the gardens. The use of coloured glass leaves added magical light effects.

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Tags communal gardens, community, community gardening, community spirit, Furzey Gardens, garden sculpture, garden seating, Hampshire

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New Toys for our Allotment Site

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date December 4, 2015
1 Comment on New Toys for our Allotment Site

It is always exciting to get new equipment for our community allotments, Bowbrook Allotment Community (BAC), but when we get three close together, two of which are real boys’ (and girls’) toys then it really is extra exciting. You will notice as this post moves forward that the girls mix it with the boys at BAC however tough the tasks.

Our first new toy, or should I say piece of equipment, was an attachment for our Ryobi strimmers which allows us to prune thick branches, a bit like a mini-chainsaw. The second was a mighty petrol-driven chipper/shredder, and the third a pair of wooden raised vegetable trugs. Jude and I give talks to garden groups and together with other committee members provide “Walk and Talk” sessions for groups at the allotment. With the fees we charge we manage to buy extras for the site. Using some of this money together with a generous grant from our local town councillor we were able to acquire these helpful machines.

We were so excited when the huge box arrived with our big red toy inside. Michael soon got to work breaking the box open.

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We quickly set about deciphering the instructions and putting all the extra bits and pieces together.

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Once all put together and filled with fuel we wheeled the red chipper all the way up the big grass path to the mature trees around our picnic area, where a mighty big pile of prunings awaited chipping. We had produced the pile of prunings when we used our other toy, the Ryobi pruning attachment.

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We have a policy at Bowbrook Allotment Community of following the 3-Rs, reuse, reduce and recycle. A key element of this is keeping as much green waste as possible on site where we can use it again. Thus all the cut branches from tree work and shrub pruning are now going into our new shredder.

Jude the Undergardener piled the shreddings into a wheelbarrow and wheeled them off to the Winter Garden where they gave us a fresh soft pathway.

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Our 3-Rs policy also meant that we recycled the cardboard from the box that the big red chipper arrived in. Sherlie tore it all up into pieces and mixed it with grass cuttings and this will produce quality compost for using as a mulch on our communal borders.

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Earlier on while Mike, Pete and I were unpacking and putting the new chipper together Jude and Sherlie got out the tools and put together our two new wooden raised trugs.

Quite soon after the big red chipper was rolled out again as we began our hedge cutting season.We chose an extremely wet and windy day but everyone had lots of fun fortified throughout by soup and cake provided by the committee and served up by our tea committee, “The Tea Bags”.

To discover more about BAC please check out our website http://www.bowbrookallotments.co.uk

Tags Bowbrook Allotment Community, communal gardens, community gardening, community spirit

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Our Allotment Open Day

The highlight of our allotment year is our open day. This is the fifth year in a row that we have opened Bowbrook Allotment Community under the auspices of the National Gardens Scheme as one of the lucky gardens appearing in their famous Yellow Book. We enjoy letting anyone who wishes to visit our community gardens come to see what we get up to.

The day began at 8:30 am when some of our young families toured our wildlife areas with members of the Shropshire Wildlife Trust and the Shropshire Mammal Society who had set live mammal traps the evening before. We periodically link with the trust to discover aspects of the biodiversity of the site. This gives our young members the special experience of seeing close up the mammals living on site and the trust members help them use charts to identify the creatures trapped. The children had the chance to see some or our birdlife too, and at times wander off to enjoy their own special places.

We then started sorting out everything we needed ready to open up the site to our visitors at 2:00. We gathered together all the plants we had ready to sell on our plant stall.

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“The Tea Bags” our refreshments sub-committee, began putting together their tea shop with the help of many volunteers. Gazebos had to be erected, tables and chairs arranged and all the cups, saucers and other paraphanalia needed sorted and organised. All day from 8:30 onwards our members delivered home made cakes and biscuits.

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A gazebo had to be positioned to create our ticket sales and info area. Jill and Geoff manned this area while we were open greeting all our visitors and giving our information sheets, quiz sheets, trail guides and the important competition voting slips. The photographs entered by our members into the photo competition were pinned to a board ready to be voted on by our guests during the afternoon.

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Every year our guests are asked to judge various competitions including our scarecrow competition. This year our theme was “Heroes and Villains” and here are a few for you to enjoy.

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Our competition this year for children was “Making A Miniature Garden in a Yogurt Pot”.

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We also invite our guests to vote for their favourite photographs in the selection entered by members.

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We invite local conservation groups to come along too to show our visitors all about their work, and this year the Shropshire Mammal Society, the Shropshire Wildlife Trust and the Shropshire Beekeepers Society all joined in.

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Our Tea Bags tea shop soon got busy and by the end of the day the Tea Bags had served hundreds of cups of tea or coffee along with a wonderful choice of home made cakes baked by our members.

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Close by a local Ukele Band entertained our guests as they enjoyed their refreshments.

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One little lad was mesmerised by their magical sounds. He turned his back on all other distractions and sat down to listen.

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Lots of our members work on their plots or sit close by their plots to greet our visitors, answer queries and share their secrets of growing good crops. Even our younger members are proud to show their produce to our visitors.

After the last of our visitors left and the site grows quiet once again the task of returning the allotments back to its usual character quickly began. The Tea Bag tea shop soon disappeared as helpers put away their cups and saucers, tea urn and generator and tables and chairs.

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And the winner of the scarecrow competition was Robin Hood made by Pete and Sherlie!

After a busy morning setting up, a busy time looking after our guests and then a busy time returning everything to normal the site finally became quiet, we locked the gate and wearily made our ways home. When we took stock of the day we were delighted to discover we had been host to 355 visitors and sent nearly £1700 to the National Garden Scheme and their wonderful charities.

Tags Bowbrook Allotment Community, communal gardens, community gardening, community spirit, National Gardens Scheme, NGS

allotments community gardening National Garden Scheme NGS Shrewsbury Shropshire Yellow Book Gardens

Sharing our allotments with all generations.

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date July 25, 2015
3 Comments on Sharing our allotments with all generations.

On our allotment site, Bowbrook Allotment Community, we try to be as inclusive as possible and encourage everyone to become members, take part in our activities or simply visit us to enjoy our special community garden.

So far this summer we have hosted youngsters from our local Beavers and Rainbows groups and more elderly groups from the Fitz Friendship Group and the National Women’s Register.

The Cubs came on a wet evening to help us with garden jobs in our borders, weeding and mulching. A week later we were joined by our local Rainbows group who came for a wander around our Interest Trail using one of our quiz sheets. They enjoyed the excitement of our wildlife areas and community gardens. The pics below show the Cubs weeding the edge of one of our Butterfly Borders and the Rainb0ws exploring our Fruit Avenue.

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This week we entertained a group called the Fitz Friendship Group who were mostly elderly but equally excited at visiting our site.

We serve our visitors with tea/coffee with cakes and we have our own tea committee who call themselves the Tea Bags. The first two photos below show our beautiful antique cups and saucers lined up ready to be filled and our selection of tables and chairs ready to be used.

Anne can be seen working away in the kitchen area of our communal hut, slicing the home-made cakes ready for serving.

When our visitors arrived we assembled for a quick background talk about our site explaining how we have developed over the six years of our existence, before setting off on a gentle stroll around.

As we walked the trail Jude, Sherlie, Pete and I pointed out areas of interest. We were amazed how many memories our wildflower meadows evoked. It was a slow but very successful wander. Several of the group found walking difficult but showed such determination to get as far as they could.

We call these sessions “Walks and Talks”, and the fees our visitors pay go towards the charities of the National Garden Scheme. The refreshment money helps to run the sessions and enables us to purchase equipment to make such days easier.

After the “Walk and Talk” refreshments were relished by all. The “Tea Bags” waited on and the four of us who led the tour wandered between tables answering questions.

Here I am with tea cup in hand trying to share words of wisdom!

Our collection of camping stoves were kept busy boiling water to make drinks and the cakes disappeared rapidly.

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A great day was had by all and our visitors left tired out but well-refreshed talking about what they had seen.

Within a half hour we had cleared away and all that was left to see of the day was the collection of flower arrangements Sherlie had created for table centres, using flowers picked from the cutting border on our plot. We have another seven groups already booked for the rest of the summer.

Tags Bowbrook Allotment Community, communal gardens, community gardening, community spirit

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The Dawn Chorus at our Allotments

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date June 12, 2015

To give an extra dimension to our Spring Celebrations at our allotment community, Bowbrook Allotment Community, we added a second social day. We met just as the sun was rising in order to hear the dawn chorus and experience the site coming to life. We soon met a problem though as the coded padlock on our gates is black so it was very difficult to get the numbers lined up to open up. Once that hurdle was overcome we had a great few hours.

It was strange to be on site when it was so quiet. The sky began to colour up before the sun rose and we admired the patterns that jets were painting with their vapour trails across the sky.

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We wandered off around the site following our interest trail paths listening out for the songs of birds as they awoke to add their tunes to the dawn chorus. We were lucky to hear a Yellow Hammer singing heartily on top of our wild hedges. The loudest songs were probably those of the many Wrens who share the allotments with us. But the noisiest birds of all were the Rooks which nest in their rookery sited in the group of mature trees close by. As the light began to appear a few scouts left the rookery and noisily flew over our heads and off into the distance. Upon their return ten minutes later they seemed to have brought news of the best place to start the day’s search for food. Slowly small groups of Rooks flew over us all flying in the same direction to return ten minutes or so later.

As the light slowly increased we heard more birds joining in the chorus, Robins, Blackbirds, Song Thrushes, Dunnock, Chaffinches, Greenfinches, Whitethroats and Blackcaps. We spotted Nuthatches, Treecreepers and a Great Spotted Woodpecker who searched our mature Oak and Sycamore trees for bugs to eat. Collared Doves and Wood Pigeons added their repetitive calls to the chorus and a pair of Magpies tried to spoil it all with their raucous cries. The beauty of the dawn chorus could however not be spoiled by a couple of Magpies.

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We were lucky to see an orange sun rise above the surrounding trees. Young Ella at just five years old was totally speechless! We were engulfed in a golden glow.

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We were lucky to be on site just as the parent birds were leaving the nest boxes. We watched in awe as the adult Blue Tits and Great Tits made so many journeys in search of food and listened to the youngsters greeting their every arrival with raucous cries. We enjoyed our free entertainment. Adults and children alike were mesmerised!

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Part way around our walk we were joined by our family of ducks. A mother Mallard and her ducklings. We met them again when we reached the pond, where they swam for a while and then found a spot in the marshy end where the sun was shining for a good long preen. Can you spot them in the third of these photos?

We returned to one of our communal hubs, the one by our communal hut, where we keep our cookers, crockery and cutlery. First job was to light our fire pits to warm us up. We soon had water boiling for warming mugs of tea and coffee and the aroma of bacon frying was most welcoming. So bacon baps and warm drinks finished off a perfect morning experience together.

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Time for a good laugh too!

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After our breakfast there was time for young Ella to water the children’s mini-meadows, ably assisted by Wendy. It is so good to see different generations gardening together.