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Little Waltham Gardening Club - Programme for 2010
All of these events take place in Little Waltham Memorial Hall at 7.30pm unless otherwise stated.
We are a small, friendly Gardening Club. We are NOT experts, but we’re learning all the time! We look forward to meeting you at some or all of our meetings.
The annual subscription is £7.50. Visitor's entry fee is £1.50. Refreshments and raffle at all meetings in the Memorial Hall.
For more information phone Margaret Williams on 01245 360042 or Pip Wickham on 01245 364319.
1 September 2010
"Wildlife in the Garden", an illustrated talk by Barry Kaufmann–Wright BSc(Hons). Barry is an experienced naturalist and worked for 19 years as a Wildlife Crime Officer. See here for a report on Barry's presentation.
Bee orchids growing in the village...
We're not saying exactly where, but there's a nice little collection of bee orchids growing wild in the village.
Probably the best known British orchid, the bee orchid is widespread and can be found in most counties of England and Wales.
Bee orchids flower between June and July. They usually have between 2 and 5 flowers that grow one above the other in a spike-like head. The bee orchid gets its name from the shape of the flowers. Each flower has three erect pink sepals, two small green petals and a lip, which is yellow and brown with a velvety texture. Although it looks like a bee, it does not use them as its main method of pollination; the usual way is by self-pollination.
The bee orchid is a perennial and the annual cycle is distinctive. The aerial part dries off after summer, leaving only the buried tuber, which sprouts again when good weather arrives. This orchid, like many others, is mysterious in its appearance. It often appears in large numbers on disturbed sites, remains for a few years and then vanishes.
Click the photos to enlarge them.
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Annual General Meeting - report
In March, the Gardening Club held its Annual General Meeting. Chairperson Janet Wood opened the meeting by welcoming a rather larger than usual audience and the business of the meeting was dealt with.
Having been a committee member for 9 years and then taking on the job of Treasurer and later that of Chairperson, Janet told the audience that she now wanted to step down from the Committee.
On behalf of the Club, Pip Wickham (Vice Chairman) thanked Janet for all her sterling work over the years and presented her with a bouquet and a garden token.
As a result of appeals for help on the Committee, we are delighted to report that three ladies have come forward to help run the Club. They are Julie Yates, Alison Jeffs and Jackie Girling.
Spring Show - report
In April, despite a late Spring following an unusually hard Winter, Little Waltham Gardening Club staged a colourful Spring Flower Show on Easter Saturday.
The Club was delighted that the local schoolchildren entered a total of 50 exhibits, all of which demonstrated their fertile imaginations and dexterity, especially apparent in the vegetable monster class. The Della Balfour cup for best entry was won by Eleanor Newport who was again successful in winning the cup for the highest points in the 4–7 year age range. Her sister Paige Newport won the cup for gaining the highest points in the 8–11 year age range.
Other prize winners in the children’s section were as follows:
4–7 years
Daniel Lewis, Glen Lewis, Lucas Ackland, Maria Card–Gowers, Emma Hills, Amy Dunmow and Loveday Willsher.
8-11 years
Paige Newport, Samuel Bates, Adam Lewis, Joshua Ackland, Josh Card–Gowers, Jemma Hurrell, Jake Hurrell, India Willsher and Keirann Hills.
Pip Wickham, Vice Chairman, can always be depended upon to provide many high quality entries and this year was no exception. In addition to winning the John McGee Cup for narcissi and the Don Diver Cup and vegetable shield for his vegetables, Pip also won the Banksian medal.
Iris Diver won the Silver Jubilee Cup for highest points in the tulip classes, while Libby Hill won the tulip cup for best entry.
Margaret Williams won the Les Taylor Cup for the highest points in the spring blossom section and the Gardening Club Cup for best entry.
By gaining the highest points in the photography section, Joan Wickham was awarded the Ianthe Monica Wyard Cup.
Marion Lawson, Show Secretary, won the Double J trophy for the best entry in the flower arranging section, while Hilary Dowling won the Eric Kettle Rose Bowl for the highest marks in this section.
Jean Evans swept the board with her excellent entries and won the Club Cookery Shield, the Margaret Rose Cup for craft, and 2 rosettes, one for best entry in cookery and the other for best in photography.
The weather might have been against them, but Little Waltham gardeners triumphed again.
5 May 2010 - report
The May meeting of the Little Waltham Gardening Club was extremely well attended, with all seats taken. Margaret Willis (formerly of Writtle College and Trueloves) gave a most informative talk on plant propagation.
The title of the talk was “Plants for Free!” which was extremely apt as, given time and a little effort, it was shown that we could all save ourselves a lot of money by both taking cuttings and saving seeds of our favourite plants. Margaret mentioned that well over £900 million is spent on just bedding plants every year.
Her wide-ranging talk covered all aspects from seed propagation, vegetative propagation and useful advice on the taking of both softwood and hardwood cuttings. It was mentioned that fuchsias are excellent plants to take cuttings from, so those who have never taken cuttings could start with these.
The next meeting is on 9 June which is an evening outing to “Furzelea” in Danbury. Departure is at 6.30pm from the Memorial Hall car park. Please ring Margaret Williams on 01245 360042 if you would like to come, need a lift or can offer seats in your car.
9 June 2010
Evening Outing, to "Furzelea" in Danbury, using own cars. Cost £4.50 including refreshments. Depart from the Memorial Hall at 6.30pm. This garden is open for the National Gardens scheme. NB: this is the second Wednesday in June!
13 June 2010
Gardening Club plant and promotional stall with Little Waltham "Open Gardens", exact time to be arranged. NB: this is Sunday afternoon.
7 July 2010
Afternoon visit to Marks Hall Garden and Arboretum, Coggeshall, subject to sufficient cars being available.
17 July 2010
Gardening Club plant and promotional stall at Great Leighs Fete, time to be arranged. NB: this is a Saturday afternoon.
7 August 2010
Charity Event at "Apple Tree Cottage", Chatham Green. On behalf of the Gardening Club, Marion & Peter Lawson are opening their lovely garden to host a fund raising event from 2.00pm. There will be plant, produce, book and bric a brac stalls. Games, raffle and homemade refreshments. The money raised will be shared between the Essex Deaf Children’s Society and the Gardening Club.
Open to all! Please come and join us for an enjoyable afternoon in delightful surroundings. We look forward to seeing you. For more information please phone 01245 360042.
1 September 2010
"Wildlife in the Garden", an illustrated talk by Barry Kaufmann–Wright BSc(Hons). Barry is an experienced naturalist and worked for 19 years as a Wildlife Crime Officer. See here for a report on Barry's presentation.
6 October 2010
"Bees & Beekeeping", an illustrated talk by Penny Learmonth. Penny will donate her fee to research into bee disorders. Honey will be on sale.
3 November 2010
Inter Society Quiz. The trophy will be competed for by teams from 6 local Gardening Clubs/Horticultural Societies who will bring some supporters with them. Members of the audience will be able to compete for prizes.
1 December 2010
Christmas Social.
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