News in Brief
Humphry Repton
Sharing Repton
In a new exciting development, the Garden Trust is delighted to announce that it has been successful in winning a Heritage Lottery Fund grant for an additional Repton-based project. Running through to the end of 2019, Sharing Repton will firstly deliver five different activities at five different Repton sites around the country using local volunteers and aimed at including participation from local communities. It will additionally create an infrastructure of skill sharing, guidance materials and training workshops with a view to other groups being able to roll out this sort of local community event in the future. More information will inevitably follow, but in the meantime please email lindengroves@thegardenstrust.org if you would like to hear more or be involved.
A Gardening Project at CHANTRY PARK
Are you interested in supporting the Ipswich based charity ActivLives with their recently launched gardening project Branching Out - Growing Together that will enable elderly people who are wheelchair bound and/or with strokes and similar conditions to get involved in an outdoor community setting based at the Walled Garden at Chantry Park, Ipswich? If so, for further details please tel: 01473 345 350
Why not an ALLOTMENT?
For those of us who see exercise rather than abstinence as a possible answer to the excesses of the festive season, taking on an allotment might be the answer - and might also provide additional satisfaction from growing our own fruit and vegetables.
New Protective Pledges for ANCIENT TREES
Historic England is best known for its work with buildings and monuments, but it also cares about the natural environment. Hence the news of a firm commitment to the protection of ancient and other rare trees is welcome. The author of this initiative, Historic England’s Director Chris Smith, signed the Ancient Trees Forum’s concordat at a meeting with Russell Miller, its Director, and other trustees, setting out a vision for safeguarding such trees, and was joined by cosignatories including the National Trust and the Arboricultural Association.
GREEN FLAG AWARDS
Congratulations to all those gardeners and park rangers whose hard work has resulted in so many of Suffolk´s Public Parks achieving Green Flag Awards from the charity Keep Britain Tidy, notably the Abbey Gardens, Bury St Edmunds, Nowton Park, East Town Park Haverhill, and West Stow Country Park, Felixstowe Seafront Gardens, Nicholas Everitt Park Oulton Broad, and Elmhurst Park, Woodbridge
FRONT GARDENS
As a result of growing concern over the decline of front gardens in our towns and cities (See Newsletter No.42 Autumn 2015) the Royal Horticultural Society has launched its Front Gardens Guide, hoping to reverse the growing trends of paving over gardens, or neglecting them, spear heading a Greening Great Britain campaign to encourage general well- being, helping wildlife, and reducing the risk of flooding, with suggestions on planting that are particularly helpful. The Guide is aimed not only at homeowners, but estate agent, garden centres, housing associations and councils. Copies are available simply type in´ Royal Horticultural Society´ and take it from there.…
MAPPING THE UK´S ANCIENT AND SPECIAL TREES
In the last decade more than 110,000 such trees have been recorded by volunteers and partners, creating a living database covering the whole country, supporting biodiversity, giving trees protection, and collecting their seeds to enable propagation.. The Suffolk group of the Ancient Tree Forum was established in 2016.
The Threat to our Bees
There are 250 species of bee in the UK but 35 of them are under threat of extinction.
As one in three mouthfuls of our food depends on pollination, this is a real threat, to be taken seriously by everybody. So what can we do? As individuals, we can help by growing pollen rich plants in our gardens, especially those with a lengthy growing season. Or we can encourage or take part in community orchard schemes.
The British Beekeepers Association (1874), have a list of pollen rich plants on their website : BBKA or tel: 0871 811 2282 for additional information.
The Suffolk branch of the Beekeepers Association has six branches with 600 members, and may be contacted at Suffolk Beekeepers for further help and advice.
Crinkle Crankle Walls
A recent accident at Easton was responsible for severe damage to one of the longest crinkle crankle walls in Suffolk, leaving some 15 metres in need of repair at an estimated cost of £20,000. Such walls, also known as serpentine walls, usually built of brick have been a feature of the East Anglian countryside since the eighteenth century, noteworthy for their wavy plan - the waves helping to provide stability without the need for buttresses, and importantly giving shelter for the growth of fruit trees and other tender plants. Suffolk Archaeological Service (tel: 01284 765 210) would like to be informed. of any damage to such walls, an important element in the local landscape.