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Garden Opening - May '05 |
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On the last weekend in May 2005, members of the gardening group opened their five very different gardens to the public under the National Gardens Scheme. Other members of the garden group, friends, and neighbours all helped to bake over 30 very tempting cakes, and then came along to help sell tickets and plants, as well as serving wine on the Saturday evening, and homemade cakes and tea on the Sunday afternoon. As it was the sixth successive year that the gardens had been opened, and it was a not very warm Bank Holiday weekend, there were some concerns that the number of visitors would be far fewer than on previous occasions. The arrival of a coach party on Saturday soon put paid to that particular worry! There was also a large group of gardening enthusiasts from Barnes, and a small group of ladies who had travelled from Upminster in Essex. It was especially nice to see people who had visited us several times before, but came back again to see how the gardens had developed. In all we had over three hundred visitors over the weekend and, as in each of the previous years, raised just under £2000 for charities such as Macmillan Cancer Relief and Help the Hospices, including St Christophers in Sydenham. Our thanks to everyone who worked to make the event such a success. And yes, we would love your help again next year - we have already signed up for the seventh garden opening! The Garden Group holds evening meetings on the first Wednesday of each month to exchange advice (and plants), organise bulk purchases of gardening materials, and arrange visits to flower shows and gardens open to the public. |
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| Pat Rae, seen here trying to screw the world's smallest wine bottle onto the world's largest corkscrew in an attempt to break the world corkscrewing record, | ||
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