WAGS NEWS
July 2003
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WAGS NEWS July 2003 |
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Inside This Issue
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Regular Items
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Chairman's Piece
Following on from the March committee meeting Peter, Doug, Bernard and myself met at the store, to discuss how we are able to impr ove the store for the benefit of our members. The provision of new shelving - free of course - decorating and new lighting - again free - would, it was agreed, help to improve the appearance of the trading store. Hopefully by the committee meeting on June 16th we will have positive proposals to present to members. (see next col. - Ed)
Les tells me that we are currently down on our membership for this year, have you inadvertently forgot to pay yours? For that £2.50 you are able to buy products at the store at very competitive prices, its well worth it.
Although our plant sale made a reasonable profit the number of plants available for sale was down compared to last year, perhaps I should do better myself next year, in other words two hundred plants instead of one hundred. The plant sale the previous day in the Regal Centre obviously drew some of our customers.
We are still seeking a replacement store manager, can you help if so, please speak to Peter at the store.
Last but not least, congratulations to our member Betty Atkins who has been elected Mayor of Wallingford for 2003/2004.
Denis Strange.
Helpers Required
We have been looking at ways to improve the Trading Store and make it more attractive to current and potential members of the society.
Obviously it would save a lot of money if we do not have to pay for a contractor to do the work so we are looking for volunteers to help with specific jobs:
1. Interior decoration, including making good
2. Exterior painting
3. Repairing and painting the roof
4. Replacing the main door frame
5. Fixing and wiring in additional lights
6. Replacing the shelving units
7. Laying a carpet
The external items can be treated in isolation, whereas the shop itself will require a team effort to transform and re-stock it over a short period.
We would like to carry this work out during August.
If anyone can help with any of the above, or would like more information on what a specific job is likely to entail, please have a word with Peter at the Store or call Bernard Novell (see printed edition for 'phone number).
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Show Time
You will have already found the Show Schedule attached to this newsletter. There are very few changes and the important ones were published in the April Newsletter. The Children's classes have had a few tweaks so hopefully you will be able to get your children and grand children to enter every class that they are eligible for. Try and get your friends to persuade their children to enter too. The classes are open to all including non members. Come on, give the judge a hard time!
On the subject of Trophies, please could the 2002 winners return them to the Store, in a clean state, no later than Saturday 26th July.
Help, help!!! I need assistance from able bodied members (and/or their offspring, friends, neighbours etc.) We need to help fetch and return tables and chairs from their various storage places, set up and dismantle the Show halls, patrol the halls as stewards both during judging and viewing, distribute the certificates after judging, collect tea cups and plates, wash up, keep an eye on the car park and numerous other tasks. If you can spare a few hours on Friday 12th, Saturday 13th or on the morning of Monday 15th September, please give me a call ('phone no. in printed edition), or call Iris ('phone no. in printed edition). I am not asking for cover for all three days (though I won't turn such an offer away), just part of one will be a great help and take the pressure off the 'regulars'. If you get the answer phone, please leave a message and we will call you back ASAP.
Bernard Novell.
Tickle it with a hoe and it will laugh into a harvest.
English Proverb
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Trips & Catering
Trips
By the time you receive your WAGS news, the trip to Wilton House will be a thing of the past. Thirty six members are hoping that the lovely weather we have been enjoying in early June, will be with us on 19th July for our day visiting this interesting house and beautiful gardens. Many of us will also be looking forward to the 7th August and another interesting day at the Ball Colegrave Trial grounds and gardens. There are still some places available so if you are interested please let me know ASAP as they will need to know numbers shortly. Cost of the trip will be around £14. Plenty of seats and things to interest members and very reasonably priced food available. The last trip of the year will be to Hatfield House, 2nd November.
This could well be the last trip unless someone comes forward to take over from me.
Catering
The Band Concert as you already know is booked for August. One or two members have offered help and/or cakes but there is still a need for more of both. Members usually 'come up trumps' but for various reasons our numbers are dwindling and I do like to know in advance that there will be sufficient food and help. The same applies to the Annual Show in September. We do need lots of help on this day and the evening before getting prepared for the show, and then clearing up afterwards. New recruits very welcome, many of us (like the younger ones) are getting older all the time. The spirit is willing but the flesh gets weaker! Please let the show secretary or myself know if you can offer an hour or two of your time for either of these events and what kind of things you are prepared or able to do. Looking forward to a deluge of offers. 'Phone numbers are in the printed edition of this newsletter - leave a message if we are not answering. We will get back to you.
Iris Novell.
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Recipe
Sausage & Tomato Bake
Serves: 2, preparation time 10 mins, cooking time 40 mins, oven temp: 350F/180C Gas mark 4. Serve with crusty bread or mashed potatoes.
8oz/225g pork sausages
½oz/15g margarine
1 onion, chopped
2 sticks celery, finely chopped
1 level tbls plain flour
Salt & pepper
1 (8oz/226g) can tomatoes
1 tbls Worcestershire sauce
Separate the sausages and fry them with the margarine in a frying pan until browned all over. Fry the onion until softened, then add the celery. Continue cooking, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes. Sprinkle in the flour and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes. Add salt & pepper, tomatoes and Worcestershire sauce. Bring to boil and pour over the sausages. Cook in moderate oven for 30 minutes.
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WAGS Web Site
A reminderthat the WAGS web site (www.cranfordcomputers.co.uk/wags) has pages reserved for contributions from Society members. In particular we would like items for the "Gardener’s Almanac" and "Q and A" pages (which are both currently empty), and pictures of your garden, or gardens visited on WAGS trips, for the Gallery. Please e-mail contributions to myron.edwards@virgin.net, or post them to me at Penny Green Cottage, Brightwell-cum-Sotwell, Wallingford, OX10 0RJ. Any suggestions for improvements or additions to the site will also be most welcome.
Myron Edwards.
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Answers to April 2003 Crossword
Apologies to those eagerly looking forward to another challenge, but there is no crossword this time. I have moved house recently and found it almost impossible to contemplate compiling a crossword amongst the boxes and packaging. Not least, I was without the computer for nearly a week. There were at least two clues that were interesting in their content or background besides their answers and these are given an airing on the next page.
Congratulations to Iris Novell who had the highest number of correct answers, but declined the prize. The £5 vouchers will be carried over to the October Crossword. Many thanks to all who submitted entries.
Across
1. Manorhouse
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Down
1. Matthias De L’Obel
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God made rainy days so gardeners could get the housework done.
Author Unknown
Crossword Clues - background information on two of the April 2003 clues. Did you know how lobelias came by their name? And what became of the cottage that featured on the Carters seed packets nearly 30 years ago?
"Botanist, and physician to King James 1"
Matthias de l’Obel, physician to King James 1 and also a keen botanist, has lobelias named after him. Those little blue flowers stuffed into hanging baskets every summer were named nearly four hundred years ago. The genus contains trees, shrubs, perennials and biennials, as well the annuals that we know so well.
Members of the lobelia tribe are found in most tropical and temperate areas of the world, but most species are found in North, Central and South America. They flower late, from midsummer to mid-autumn, so they can be used to inject colour into a tired border just when it needs it.
More information including cultivation notes, propagation details and where to buy lobelias, can be found in "The English Garden" August 2002.
Old Handkerchers was a famous landmark in the 1970s and not only graced the Carter’s seed packets but also the cover of the RHS Concise Encyclopaedia of Gardening Techniques. The new owners have largely restored it to its former glory with the help of neighbours and one in particular who recalled which plants used to grow where. The garden’s original architect, known only as Albert had passed on seeds, cuttings and surplus plants to all around him. So there were specimens in existence to re-populate the colourful borders.
Unfortunately, Old Handkerchers is not open to the public. More information can be found in "The English Garden" November 2002 from which this article has been taken. There are two spellings in the article - so apologies to those that had Old Hankerchers as the answer instead.
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Shop Talk
I do not have the Autumn bulbs catalogue at the time of going to press so I am unable to give you details. However, we will order similar to past years.
Dobies catalogues normally come in at the end of September. As soon as they are available I will put them in the Store. As in the past orders will be accepted up to the last available date for ordering. Remember, it is only the large orders which attract the 35% discount. These are normally those orders processed up to the middle of December. Late orders get 20% discount.
On the day of Autumn Show, the Store will not be open in the morning but will open from 2pm until the show finishes.
I am currently trying to get a list of the latest pesticide withdrawals. As soon as I have the information I will put it on a newssheet which will be available in the Store.
Finally, we said that Jeyes Fluid was going off the market. It turns out this was not true and I am pleased to say we now have stocks.
Peter Hallet.
Plant Sale
The Plant Sale took place on 17th May with takings down on last year, probably not helped by the plant sale in Regal Centre the day before.
Thank you to all who provided plants for the stall and the helpers that manned the stall on the day.
Doug Sears.
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Trip Reports
WAGS trip to Bournemouth
Two views of an outstanding trip.
On Sunday 13th April a large contingent of WAGS, including myself, set forth in Tappins coach, driven by our favourite driver for Bournemouth. We were bound for the Purbeck Hall to attend the last day of the Royal Horticultural Society’s Roadshow. I was not too sure what made up a horticultural roadshow but should, of course, have realised it was a Floweer show and this one, being under the aegis of the RHS, was a good one.
There were two competitions - The RHS Ornamental Plant Competition and the RHS Main Camellia Competition. Both were well supported and a number of exhibits received RHS Medals.
One thing that struck me on arrival was that Purbeck Hall was circular. Without exception all Flower Shows I have attended have been held in rectangular rooms with exhibits on long tables. To see them all meant walking for miles. If one stood in the middle of Purbeck Hall the farthest exhibit was only the radius of the Hall away.
As far as I could make out, all the Exhibitors were professional. It was not possible to examine each of the stands of the 39 Exhibitors so, I only went to those which interested me most. Taking them in alphabetical; order, Broadleigh Gardens from Taunton had a large and excellent display of miniature daffodils and other spring flowering bulbs. Dibleys Nurseries from North Wales had their usual splendid show of streptocarpi. I was also impressed by the plants and ferns from around the world shown by Hampshire Carnivorous Plants. Then there was the spring flowering alpines of W.E. Th Ingersen which were lovely. As far as I was concerned the exhibits I liked best were the glorious carnations shown by Steven Bailey Ltd of Sway near Lymington and the majestic camellias of Trehane Nursery from nearby Wimborne. I bought a couple of fushias from White Veil Fushias, also from Wimborne, and also an excellent book on camellias published by Batsford which had been reduced from £30 to £10!
It is inevitable that the above account is entirely biased to that which interests me. I am sure everyone will agree that it was a great day, a really good exhibition in a really good hall. There were alternative things to do e.g. visit the nearby aquarium. (I am not sure if anybody paddled in the sea).
But we must all be most grateful to Iris for taking us on such a delightful trip - yet another of her triumphs.
Gilbert Talbot.
Yet once again we had an enjoyable day’s outing on Sunday - thanks to Iris - when we went to Bournemouth to a new venue for the RHS which they called a "road show". Although I would have liked to have seen more flower displays, what were there were specialist growers with their wonderful arrays and we had time to share our problems (garden ones, of course) with the people on the stands. I have never seen such huge peonies and at first we did not think they were real.
We even had time to sit on a wall outside the BIC to enjoy an ice cream - although we had left the sunshine behind us in Oxfordshire it was indeed a very pleasant day. Thank you Iris.
June Knight.
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W.A.G.S Programme of Events 2003
| Tue Aug 5th | Colegrave Open day either by Coach or Car depending on numbers |
| Sun Aug 10th | Band Concert |
| Sat Sep 13th | Annual Show |
| Sun Nov 2nd | Hatfield House Gardens open for Autumn Colour. |
| Fri Feb 13th 2004 | A.G.M. & Cheese & wine 8 p.m. |
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Discounts
Discounts are currently available at the following businesses (if you ask first), on the production of your CURRENT WAGS Membership Card, which must be shown before the transaction is started.
1. Newington Garden Nursery, Warborough to Stadhampton Road 10%
(Shrubs, herbaceous plants, pot plants, composts, bark, fertilisers)
2. Woodcote Garden Centre, Reading Road, Woodcote 10%
(Shrubs and plants, use with existing promotions)
3. Toad Hall, Marlow Road, Henley (Weekdays only) 5%
(Shrubs and herbaceous plants, NOT with any other offers)
4. Norman Cox & Partners, Scotts Common, Checkendon 10%
(All items except Fence & Trellis panels)
5. Turner Groundscare contact 07740 279471 up to 20%
(discount on new machinery only)
6. Wears Nursery, Brightwell-cum-Sotwell 10%
(Shrubs, plants, trees, alpines, composts, bark and fertilisers)
Other businesses are under review. Please ask if discount is available and show your card. If you find a business which offers discount that is not listed, please let us know so that we can obtain terms in writing and publish details in the next Newsletter.
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Editorial
The Last Word
HELP!! This newsletter has HELP as its theme, with requests for HELP in almostevery article; from the Chairman's piece, through HELPING with the store refurbishment, HELPING with trip organising, along with HELPING the catering for the Band Concert and Autumn Show and finally, but no means least, HELPING over three days at the show itself.
The Society is very fortunate in having a small band of volunteers that turn up for most occasions. However this band is getting SMALLER, and OLDER as the years go by, and very little new blood has come forward.
The highlight of the year is undoubtedly the Autumn Show, where the RHS judges have always been extremely impressed by the very high standard of entries year on year. Exhibitors can be justly proud of their efforts. We needsome more helpers to assist at all the functions throughout the year, not just the Band Concert and Autumn Show. Your efforts will be appreciated, by your fellow HELPERS and the members that are participating in the events.
We still need to find a Store Manager. We also need a trips organiser. The more HELPERS we have, the less onerous the tasks. So please become a HELPER this summer.
Articles, trip reports, recipes are always welcome. Drop them into the store - they will get to me, or for those connected to the internet, email me at tim@tpking.fsnet.co.uk
Tim King.
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