Merry Christmas!

Over thirty members and friends met on the evening of Thursday 19th December for the Garden Club Christmas party. We enjoyed food, drink and good company. Tony provided a festive quiz to entertain us. He also announced that the carol singing round Bicker, which a number of our members had taken part in, had raised over £190 for the Butterfly Hospice.

2014 Programme

All meetings are at 7:30pm at Bicker Village Hall

January 16th
"Flowers and Photography"  Tony Boughen

February 20th
"Growing Vegetables Organically"  Nicholas Watts

March  20th
"Clematis"  Jackie Sturgess

April 17th
"Doddington Hall:the House & Gardens"  David Logan: Head Gardener
   
May 15th
"Cottage Favourites"  Andrew Sankey

June 19th
"Ornamental Grasses"  Gail Summerfield

Monday 7th July
Coach trip to Bressingham Gardens, Norfolk

July 17th
Members' Evening

Sunday 27th July
Summer Event at Peter and Ronnie's house

August 21st
Flower and Produce Show

September 18th
"Fuchsias"  David Chatters
*"Drought-resistant Gardening"  Tony Boughen*
October 16th
"Pruning, with the emphasis on trees and bushes"  Trevor Rogers

November 20th
AGM Plus

December 18th
Christmas Event 

Heckington Windmill, Past, Present and Future

For our November meeting we were pleased to welcome Jim Bailey, of Heckington Windmill, as our speaker. Jim is the Mill Manager, one of the Trustees and a Director of the company/charity and has been involved with the mill for nearly 5 years. He entertained us with a very enjoyable history of the mill - from its early days right up to the present. Jim was able to tell us that The Heritage Lottery Fund has awarded the Trust £1m for them to carry on their good work. It is hoped that they will be milling again by next year. At present their grain is milled at Sibsey Trader Mill. Jim brought some of the flour for people to buy. He also brought a freshly baked loaf for us to sample.
The Flower of the Month Competition was won by Fien with a penstemon.
Copies of our 2014 Programme were available at the meeting.

AGM and Pumpkin Surprise!

Our Annual General Meeting was held on the evening of Thursday 17th October. All the officers were re-elected. The finances were reported to be healthy. The chairman commented that we continue to attract new members. He also reported that for the first time ever we had a meeting in the village hall every month of the preceding year.
Once the official business was over we began to make our pumpkin lanterns. Thanks go to Penny for the organisation and practicalities of that part of the evening.To start with Penny told us how she had been involved in the planting of the pumpkin seeds on the farm next to where she lives. Also there had been problems with black beetles. Then our pumpkins had to be ripened early because of when we wanted them. Anyway it all turned out well in the end and we had a lovely evening which everyone enjoyed.
The Flower of the Month Competition was slightly surreal - being won by Clive with a weird potato.

English Roses and the Like

For our September meeting on Thursday 19th we were pleased to welcome as our speaker, Brian Schofield, a real rose expert. Brian is a judge and exhibitor with the Royal National Rose Society and has also bred some of his own roses. He explained some of the history and development of the roses that we regard as "English". Brian mentioned breeders that we might not have come across, such as Henry Bennett (1823-1890). Bennett was one of the first people to systematically breed roses using selected, known parents. He developed what became known as Hybrid Teas. Brian also told us about Cants of Colchester who are the oldest firm of commercial rose growers in the UK. I think we had all heard of David Austin, who has bred so many English roses. Brian's talk was illustrated with many photographs of roses and was very enjoyable.
The Flower of the Month Competition was won by Pauline Ranson, fittingly, with a beautiful miniature rose called "Fairy".

Annual Flower and Produce Show

Around thirty members attended our annual Flower and Produce show on August 15th. There were plenty of entries and we all enjoyed sampling the cakes and preserves. The results were as follows:

Best 3 tomatoes   Winner and Second  John B
Best 3 onions or shallots   Winner  Ann   Second  Clive
Best 3 bean or pea pods  Winner  Clive  Second  John B
Best 3 root vegetables  Winner John B  Second  Clive
Best 3 potatoes  Winner  Lois  Second  Kathleen
Best single flower  Winner Linda and John  Second  Lily
Best vase of flowers  Winner Kathleen  Second  Ann
Best fruit cake  Winner and Second  Pauline B
Best vegetable cake  Winner  Janet  Second  Kathleen
Best sweet preserve  Winner  Kathleen  Second  Ann
Best savoury preserve  Winner  Ann  Second  Gill
Novelty category - Best face on a plate  First  Lyn  Second  Janet

Grand Barbecue

Unlike last year when our summer event was rained off, this year we were able to have a very enjoyable barbecue. Peter and Ronnie Windmill kindly hosted the event in their garden and Peter was assisted on the barbecue by David Webster. Our members brought some delicious desserts and salads for us to share.There was plenty of Pimms as well as soft drinks. The only crisis - no bread rolls because we each thought someone else was getting them - was swiftly averted by Janet and Clive with a mercy dash to Donington. We also had plenty of raffle prizes donated, raising over £40 for club funds.

Members' Evening

We held our second annual members' evening on Thursday 18th July. This is an opportunity for our members to tell us about interests, hobbies, experiences or anything else that they would like to share with the club. On this occasion we had two members with two very different topics.
Peter Windmill gave us a really interesting presentation about Scuba Diving. As well as many photos he brought along a lot of his equipment. He told us where he had enjoyed diving and something about the safety aspects. I imagine that we had all heard about "the bends" but not how easily it can happen and such a short distance from the surface. Peter is obviously quite passionate about his hobby and we all thoroughly enjoyed his talk.
In complete contrast John Stainton told us about his days in the Royal Army Medical Corps - entertaining us with some of the facts and fallacies of Army drill procedures. He demonstrated these as he spoke, asking plenty of questions as he did so, showing that he had forgotton  none of the finer points of parade-ground practice.
The Flower of the Month Competition was won by Lily with an alstromeria.

Companion Planting

We were pleased to welcome back Andrew Sankey as our speaker for our June meeting, on the evening of Thursday 20th. Andrew gave us a very interesting and informative talk about companion planting. He is really enthusiastic about the subject and suggested many ways of using plants in situations that will be beneficial to other plants. Just a couple of examples are growing lavender with roses and marigolds with tomatoes. Andrew illustrated his talk with photos of companion planting in various gardens, including his own. He also entertained us with some garden-related anecdotes. Andrew had brought copies of his "Companion Planting" booklet for people to buy, as well as quite a few plants.
We are again pleased to welcome two more new members to the Club - Wendy and Michael.
The Flower of the Month Competition was won by Lily with a clematis.

Evening visit to Brickyard Farm, Wrangle

On the evening of Thursday 13th June, after torrential rain in the afternoon, a group of hardy members of Bicker and District Garden Club visited Brickyard Farm, Wrangle. Despite the downpour the conditions underfoot were fine and the evening sun shone on a fascinating visit.
George Danby, who runs the farm with his brother, had spoken to the Club in February about how the farm manages to combine organic meat, vegetable and cereal production with provision for wildlife. On a walk around the farm the members saw what this means in practice. Several large areas of water have been created to provide habitats for a wide variety of birds and insects. Corners of fields and larger areas have been planted with trees and much of the route we walked was through or alongside woodland. Hares and rabbits as well as partridges, geese, shelduck, a buzzard, reed warblers, woodpeckers and many other birds were seen as we made our way round. George explained how grants for the encouragement of wildlife were available and how the farm added to these through their own provision. A large area of seed plants was growing, having been specifically sown for wild birds to feed on. The farm is a fine demonstration of how productive farming can co-exist with space set aside for wildlife: an example that many would wish was more widely followed.

Report and photo by Tony Boughen

Bring and Buy Evening

For our May meeting on Thursday 16th we had invited our members to bring plants, cakes and seeds. These were to be sold for club funds. Naturally we had a great response with a variety of indoor and outdoor plants plus plenty of cakes and seeds. Everyone was very generous and we took over £65 to add to the funds. As well as the "Bring and Buy" we were pleased to welcome Chris Renn who spoke to us on the topic of "Medication without the Doctor". Chris told us about the various herbal and folk remedies that were used by poor people who lived in the Fens, in the 19th century. The talk was illustrated with photos of many of the plants discussed and we found it most entertaining.

We are also pleased to welcome two new members to the Club - Linda and John.
The Flower of the Month competition was won by Ann Massingham with a very pretty aquilegia that she had grown from seed.

Primula Auriculas

We were pleased to welcome back Trevor Rogers for our April meeting. Trevor told us all about the history of Primula Auriculas plus how to grow them He explained about the different types and how they have been bred - also which are exhibition plants and which ones can be grown in the garden.. He brought along a few of his plants to show us but said that he has very few in flower because the spring has been so cold this year. Fortunately Trevor was able to show us plenty of photos of plants from years with more favourable weather.
As gardeners we are all glad that the weather has at last improved. We had a good selection of flowers for the Flower of the Month competition, which was won by Pauline Ranson with a white hyacinth.

Woodland Gems

Andrew Ward of Norwell Nurseries, near Newark, was our speaker for our March meeting. This was held on the 21st but there was very little sign of spring - in fact it was an exceptionally cold evening. Andrew introduced us to many out of the ordinary plants which thrive in shade, a good number of which flower during the winter months. His Nurseries specialise in unusual herbaceous perennials and alpines and his talk was illustrated with photos of many of them. He also brought plants for us to buy. People enjoyed the talk and a number expressed a desire to visit the Nurseries.
We were pleased to welcome three new members. The Flower of the Month Competition was won by Kathleen with a pulmonaria.

Conservation on the Farm

At our February meeting, on Thursday 21st, we were very pleased to welcome George Danby of Brickyard Farm in Wrangle. George gave us an interesting and informative talk which was well illustrated by his photographic slides. He told us about the history of the farm, the day to day work and all about his interest in nature and conservation.The farm is fully organic and supplies beef to Waitrose and vegetables to Abel & Cole for their veg boxes.In addition to well-managed trees and hedges there are lakes with wild fish. George demonstrated that efficient and profitable farming is not incompatible with creating and maintaining attractive countryside. We are intending to arrange a visit to Brickyard Farm, probably in the early summer.
The Flower of the Month Competition was won by Pauline Ranson with an iris.

Happy New Year!

Nineteen hardy souls braved the arctic weather to take part in our first meeting of 2013. We met at the new time of 7:30pm.Tony introduced four short films from the British Council Film Collection that were all made in the 1940s. The films aimed to promote the idea of "British" and "Britishness" and to counteract the Nazi propaganda of the time. 85 of the 120 films produced are digitised and available free online. The four that Tony showed us were about gardens, agriculture, Kew Gardens and Boston. The last was entitled "A Country Town"; since it was made during the war its location was not revealed. It brought back memories for some of our members.