Cropwell Bishop Village Parish Plan

Hamilton passion is much appreciated (21-2-11)

The Old School was just about packed to capacity for this evening's Gardening Club meeting. There were over 50 people already in their seats even before 7.30pm including visitors from Cropwell Butler and Radcliffe on Trent gardening clubs. They were all there to see the son of someone who was famous long before the days of reality TV, someone who cared little for money and cared not at all for fame.

If you were old enough to remember watching the late Geoff Hamilton on television, then you knew within minutes of the start, that you were in for a truly enjoyable hour. Nick Hamilton did not look especially like his father nor did he sound like him. What he did share with him was his enthusiasm for passing on dreams, digging tips and down to earth gardening advice.

He gave us an insight into life at Barnsdale during the years when the BBC would visit for weekly broadcasts of Gardeners World. Despite weekly TV audiences of 4 million and sometimes as high as 10 million, Geoff Hamilton was paid less than £100 for each programme and still had to pay for the plants on set. He wrote books and edited the Practical Gardening magazine to make ends meet. Nevertheless, money was merely a basic necessity—it was not a goal in his life. What drove him was the desire to get ordinary people to enjoy the space outside their back door—their garden.

Nick is an excellent speaker and using his careful selection of slides taken in the gardens of Barnsdale he took us on journey that celebrated the enthusiastic, down to earth approach of his father. Amazingly, after an hour of talking about the contribution that Geoff Hamilton had made to the vision of ordinary gardeners, he had told us little of himself. I feel sure that a follow-up talk telling us how he managed to take up the batten so suddenly dropped by his father, would be appreciated by all who heard him this evening.

It may have been cool outside, but inside the Old School it was warm and cosy with no trace of traffic noise. The many user groups who meet there will no doubt also appreciate the newly installed double-glazed windows.

Tony Jarrow

Growing lots and lots of herbs (17-1-11)

It is one thing to grow a bit of thyme in your back garden, but how do you go about growing enough herbs, flowers, beans and even weeds to produce a wide range of commercial products for the general public?

Michael Bate, who is head gardener for the Ilkeston company Weleda, was at the Old School this evening talking about the growing of homeopathic herbs on a large scale.

Not only did we get an insight into production, we got samples of the end results to take home.

Tony Jarrow

Christmas Garden Club Party! (13-12-10)

Mel Stanley

Have you got a garden pool? (15-11-10)

Been thinking about adding a little pool to your garden? Not sure how go about it?
At this evening's club meeting, visiting speaker, Hazel Kaye, showed us one way to get there and, in the light of expereince, what works and what doesn't.

I am sure that many of us listening would very much like to emulate her efforts. No problem; all we need is a few spare acres, a willing 6th-form student and £3000 for the pond liner. Then we can think about the planting and save up for the extra £50 on the water bill (to fill up the pond).

Then again we could just make use of all her experience and plan our own water feature on a rather smaller scale. Realise that leaf shapes are more important than flowers, avoid some of the bigger plants and appreciate that when people bring you plants to put in your pond, they may be giving you fish eggs too!

Another enjoyable evening for thirty or so members who appreciated the warm cosy atmosphere of the Old School on what was (outside) a frosty evening.

Tony Jarrow