Archive Past Events - 2010
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St Thomas's Christmas Tree Festival
Oct 16th - Concert by the Cross Keys Ensemble
July & August opening of Rose Cottage
Autumn Open Day Rose Cottage
Jun 12th - North Canonry Garden Event
Jun 9th - 19th AGM
Mar - Peter Stafford's Talk
Mar 29 - 'Art, Lunch and Garden'
St Thomas's Christmas Tree Festival
We had a tree in this Festival, which gets bigger every year. Once again our's was beautifully decorated by Pat Hellewell, with several Shaun the Sheeps, green and blue ribbons and cutouts of various birds. We are extremely grateful to Pat for doing such a marvellous job for us. |
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Oct 16th - Concert by the Cross Keys Ensemble
The Cross Keys Ensemble takes its name from Cross Keys House, Fovant and has nothing to do with the Shopping Mall of the same name in Salisbury. The members - Jessica Broad (soprano), Sarah Beales (flute), Helen Corlett (bassoon), Natalie Eacott (violin and viola), Sarah Pugh (oboe) and David Davies (piano) have been playing together for four years and all come from
villages to the west of the city.
It was really disappointing that only a select number of Friends and their guests came to hear a very varied and well thought out programme of music. Composers from the seventeenth to the twentieth century and from several countries and backgrounds provided pieces which enabled many different combinations of instruments to be featured.
All performed with great professionalism although they admitted having had a very limited time for rehearsing as they all have very busy lives. David Davies led the ensemble, announced the items and maintained continuity through his sensitive piano accompaniment. Special mention must be made of Jessica Broad's singing, her clear tones made the most of the Methodist Church's acoustic and her interpretation of two songs, one in German and the other in
French, were particularly pleasing.
Most sincere thanks go to the Ensemble who gave their services for free. It was a delightful evening much enjoyed by all who came. The Friends would indeed be fortunate to have a return visit from these talented musicians and it is to be hoped that if this happens they will be able to entertain a much larger audience.
Rosemary Allen
July & August opening of Rose Cottage
This was a great success. Numbers fluctuated but we had a good flow of visitors, and there were always people for the walk. The PR value was enormous and we also took around £350 in walk charges, donations, refreshment and publication sales. Our very grateful thanks to all the volunteers (4 per Saturday) and particularly to Jennifer Cowan who masterminded the Volunteer Rota and ensured plentiful supplies of cake, biscuits etc. (Is she regretting living so near Rose Cottage Iask myself!!! JB)
J. Bowen
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Autumn Open Day Rose Cottage
We had very few visitors this year, and believe this was due to it following so closely on the Saturday afternoon openings in July & August The Committee have therefore decided not to have an Autumn Open Day in 2011.
J. Bowen
Jun 12th North Canonry Garden Event
On Saturday June 12th the sun shone (most of the time) and a wonderful day was had in the garden of the north Canonry.
Our host and hostess, Geoff & Fiona Squire, went to incredible lengths to help us, putting out tables and chairs, producing paper tablecloths and pins, lending us their urn - and their kitchen - and many other details; not to mention running up a brochure listing all trees, shrubs etc. in the garden.
The garden itself is breathtaking, as are the wonderful sculptures, and the view over the meadows from the bottom of the garden was a splendid link to why we were having the event and what is was all in aid of.
The Friends Committee, and others, worked very hard producing tea, coffee, cake - and delicious ploughman’s Lunches - as well as acting as ‘gate keepers’, garden stewards and publication sellers. my very grateful thanks to them all.
But most of all our immense thanks to Geoff & Fiona for all their support and help, and for agreeing to open the garden for us. Approximately 200 people came, and the financial result was great - a profit of nearly £700. Certainly a day to remember.
J. Bowen
Mar - Peter Stafford's Talk
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A large and enthusiastic audience greeted Peter Stafford, managing Director of the Lost gardens of Heligan, on his return visit. It had been two years since he had first spoken to the Friends and he explained that as he had spent a great deal of time recently reconstructing a wetland in Devon he felt a strong connection with watermeadows. He emphasised that his anecdotes told people about the bits notnormally made known to the public.
This year Heligan is celebrating 20 years of opening and he has been there for 16 of them. How was it that if the average annual number of visitors to other well-known gardens in Cornwall is between 30 and 80 thousand, Heligan has 250,000? |
Peter started his career as a Department of trade and industry consultant and gave a very entertaining description of getting the job at Heligan, a private Limited Company which is very different, enabling quick decision making and not being beholden to others. Heligan must generate its own income and can only break even at around 200,000 visitors. people are undoubtedly attracted by its ambience, its history and its atmosphere, not its horticultural credentials. their productive Victorian Kitchen garden has been hugely successful as it reconnects the current generation, who are far removed from the soil, with the sources of their food.
By renegotiating the length of their lease they have been able to take in a further 200 acres to be managed for both productivity and wildlife and offering a huge diversity of habitat. this has helped satisfy peter’s lifelong interest in this field and he has been rewarded by such things as a £30,000 legacy which arrived just at the right moment to pay for a hide they had just ordered. During this time he had survived a ‘run in’ with DeFRA (Department of Fruitless Activities in his words) over “SoD” sudden oak death. His innovative pruning of rhododendrons and putting benches beneath them also raised some eyebrows as did leaving fallen trees lying across a lawn. However the visitors and the wildlife found both enjoyable. the death of trees and plants should be celebrated as they produced new habitats and new uses for the timber.
“A Year in the Life of Heligan” wildlife programme for tV has been commissioned. Another venture is resulting from giving a
home to an X-ray machine which will be used on fungus in wood, insects and much more. these will then be reproduced in large scale colour pictures and to illustrate this he showed the audience a poster size human flea. there is also their involvement with the BBC’s Spring/Autumn watch so it is easy to see that they are very busy. everyone present thoroughly enjoyed peter’s talk and hoped that he could be persuaded to come back again so that they could hear the next chapter in this exciting story.
Rosemary Allen
Mar 29 - 'Art, Lunch and Garden'
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‘Art, Lunch and garden’, what a treat was in store for the many visitors who were not put off by the wet start to the day. Art that you would expect to find in a top gallery exhibition, a baked potato lunch and the chance to explore the secrets of a wonderful garden!
The opportunity to set up an easel on the Harnham water meadows in advance of the exhibition and capture the peace and beauty was grasped by many local artists. |
Pen, paints, pastels, these were the mediums used resulting in a varied collection of sights and scenes on the meadows. A wonderful exhibition of 76 pictures was the result of many cold but dedicated hours by the river. They were expertly hung on large ‘flats’ lent by Leadenhall School.
Martin wright, a successful artist and sculptor, worked tirelessly to achieve this wonderful exhibition, from accompanying the artists on the meadows on several occasions, to arranging the loan of the large exhibition stands and the heavy work of fetch and return. Amazingly, he found time, using pastels, to exhibit a beautiful picture of the famous triple hatch (no 7) and this, along with another picture, was featured in the Salisbury Journal to promote the day. Lesley wright did an excellent marketing job distributing leaflets and by word of mouth, as well as encouraging and supporting Martin.
The visit to ‘the Killick’ garden, lovingly cared for by Bill and Jenny Collings, began with a secret hidden by a high clipped beech hedge; a garden filled with the promise of freshly picked vegetables throughout the summer, the envy of many visitors! Beyond the house there was a marvellous view across the terraces, lawn and river to the meadows. Another surprise, a large Victorian boathouse, not dank or damp, but a beautiful furnished garden room, a room to sit in and enjoy the peace of the river and watch ducks dabbling, elegant swans and the grazing sheep - a ‘wind in the willows’ moment!
Finally a great success too - with a profit of over £600.
J. Fitzjohn
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