Cropwell Bishop Village Parish Plan

Geoff keeps us amused - but not the pests! (16-11-09)

When this evening’s speaker, Geoff Hodge gradually filled the table at the front of the Memorial Hall with dozens of packets, tubs, sprays and powders we wondered what we had let ourselves in for. We knew he was here to talk about “Pests and Diseases” but, having got used to seeing people with a projector and a laptop packed with an endless supply of colour pictures, we doubted he would be able to hold our attention for the next hour.

We need not had worried. Geoff Hodge is was like the wonderful teacher who is also an entertainer than most of us never had at school. In no time he was telling us stories, tossing banned insecticides into a bin and warning us that all faced fines of £2000 for spraying washing up liquid onto our plants!

The thoroughly entertaining lecture reminded us that a good teacher can make a potentially dull subject interesting. And we did learn a lot on the way; the best sprays and techniques to use in our gardens and how the pests can take over our gardens if we let them: can one aphid really multiply into 8 tonnes in one year??

There were over 30 members of the Gardening Club at the meeting and no doubt they, and other members, are now looking forward to the Christmas Social Event on Monday 14th December. With a photo competition, quiz, and people bringing plates of food, there will be more fun and laughter than serious gardening advice.

Tony Jarrow

Doctor delights growers (19-10-09)

He was introduced as Martin Leadley, the gardener, but to most people in the room he was someone else: Doctor Leadley, the man who helped to look after the health of the village during much of the second half of the last century!

Dr Leadley was a doctor to the village between 1956 and 1991. In those days the surgery was the building opposite the Co-Op, the one with a small parking space in front.
Hard to imagine that such a small place served the same purpose as our new Health Centre.

Anyway, tonight Doctor, sorry, Martin Leadley was here to tell 44 members of the Gardening Club how sensible they were to be practicing gardeners.
Many will remember the houses that he once owned in Cropwell Bishop and then Cropwell Butler and the wonderful big gardens that he and his wife maintained and often opened up for visitors.

His personal knowledge of medical matters and interest in growing vegetables, flowers and trees enabled him to comment on the absence of obesity and many intestinal problems in the 1950s – a time when food was supplied by local growers without the application of a variety of chemicals and treatments on its journey to our tables.
He suggested that food grown in our own garden was likely to be healthier and far better tasting than that typically provided by supermarkets.

He believed that by growing and eating our own vegetables, we could improve our physical health and mental wellbeing. We could avoid obesity (which often leads to Type 2 Diabetes) by eating home grown food; reduce stress (in a garden you can buy your dreams from a seed catalogue, set achievable goals during the winter and make them come true in the summer) and get healthy exercise (which, unlike going to the gym, costs little and produces a useful end product – food.

He ended by lamenting the lack of allotments in the village: he remembered several sites being here 50 years ago.
When we reassured him that the village was well on the way to establishing 21st century allotments in the near future, he gave a grin, the same one that many remember from the Doctor’s surgery all those years ago.

Sue Ward is a regular helper on the stall at the back of the Club Meetings and it was nice to see her win the evening’s raffle prize.

Tony Jarrow

Preparing Old School for Spring (26-9-09)

Many hands make light work. Members of the Cropwell Bishop Gardening Club getting the flower displays at Old School ready for Spring.
On Thursday afternoon they planted tulips and pansies in the window boxes and wallflowers and forget-me-knots in the borders.
Over the next few weeks they will be at work in the gardens at Rawlings Court and the Pinfold.

A garden of interest - every day of the year (21-9-09)

When it comes to talking about herbaceous plants, Hazel Kaye know what she is talking. She should do because she runs her own garden nursery in Rearsby in Leicestershire.
However, her talk to over 40 members of the Cropwell Bishop Gardening Club this evening was not about the nursery itself, but about her own home garden. In creating it, her aim was to have a herbaceous garden with colour and interest during every month of the year. Surprisingly, her biggest challenges were May and August. Undaunted, she visited other people’s gardens at these times and eventually managed to makes these months colourful too.
All that was a few years ago and now her garden is mature. During the evening she shared her garden with us – using slides - and described the plants that give her garden the all-year-round interest that it undoubtedly now has.
Members used the tea break to collect/buy each other’s spare garden plums, jams, seeds and plants.

Autumn Inspiration at Harlow Carr (13-9-09)

On Sunday 13th September thirty four members of the Cropwell Bishop Gardening Club , along with friends and family took advantage of the Clubs affiliation with the RHS for a free entry to the gardens at Harlow Carr.

Situated near Harrogate in Yorkshire, this was the longest distance the club has traveled to a garden, and it didn't disappoint. Ablaze with vibrant shrubs and berries along with late summer colour in the borders, the garden was a perfect setting for a stroll in the cool autumn air.

Harlow Carr seeks to push the boundaries of design and planting styles, creating displays that are beautiful but on occasion, also provocative. "Gardens through Time","Scented Gardens","Kitchen Gardens" and more including woodland walks, beautiful meadows and borders there was something for everyone and always a warm welcome in Betty's Tea Rooms!

We left feeling relaxed yet inspired, de-stressed but invigorated and ready to help improve our gardens back home.We are planning a June/July visit for 2010 so watch out for the diary dates and book early.

Blooming Marvelous Bishop (7-7-09)

It's difficult to believe that it's hardly a year since the Gardening Club became involved in village planting.

Do you remember all that we did? Clearing the Pinfold, Rawlings Court and creating flower beds, borders and window boxes an the Old School.

Now look at us!

Blooming Marvelous Bishop!

Easton Walled Gardens- Sweet Pea Week (1-7-09)

Sun hats in all designs were the order of the day on Tuesday 30th June when 18 members of Cropwell Bishop Gardening Club visited Easton Walled Gardens near Grantham.

With a temperature of over 30 degrees, protection from the sun was essential to enjoy these stunning gardens.There were over 50 varieties of sweet peas in full flower.They ranged from heritage, modern,scented, striped, flake and bicolour displayed on canes,drums and wigwams.The sweet peas were surrounded by beds of roses,cut flowers and vegetables.

Inside there were floral displays with information on how to sow and look after sweet peas. You can just imagine the heavenly scent on a perfect warm June day.

What it is like to be a farmer today (18-5-09)

Tonight’s meeting of the Gardening Club attracted over 30 people who were eager to find out what it is like to be a farmer in the 21st Century. Roger Pykett proved to be the ideal person to tell us. With a farm at Hawton near Newark, he has learned to do more than survive in the modern world.

If you thought that all a farmer had to do to thrive was buy the latest farm tractor and plant the most popular crops, then think again. Roger described, with the aid of numerous pictures, how he managed to first farm, then buy, his farm. But that was just the start. On his land he has tried just about everything to ensure that he earns an adequate income to not only survive but also invest in a range of wildlife projects.

He described the machines and techniques he uses to grow crops on land that was first mined for gypsum then left without topsoil – just like Cropwell Bishop land. He went on to explain how does much more than farm to maximise the earning potential of his land.

Today he lets land to a haulage firm with several lorries, allows oil tankers to use land as a depot, stores caravans and motor-homes in large buildings behind security fencing, grows flowers and trees to attract wildlife, maintains paths for walkers, lets anglers fish in purpose built lakes and still grows rape seed oil in 100+ acre fields.

He clearly loves his life as a farmer/business man. His talk will have changed the views of many who thought they knew what the job of a farmer entails. A real eye-opener. To find our more about his farm, go to the website: www.hawtonwaters.co.uk

Spring Open Gardens (26-4-09)

Another fine sunny April afternoon and members of the Cropwell Bishop Gardening Club, along with family and friends had an opportunity to look at some of the very varied gardens in Cropwell Bishop.
Fern displays and giant koi carp, immaculate spring borders and lawns, a seat made out of box hedging and contented chickens in “Cluckingham Palace” were all on show. This was also an opportunity to see that members of this thriving club don’t always pick up their plants from the garden centre ready made: the green houses were overflowing with small vegetable and flower plants waiting for summer planting.
After visiting the seven gardens a treat was in store at the end of the trial with delicious home made cakes and scones for afternoon tea at the Old School.
And it rained on Monday………..