St Catherine’s Gardening Club

I’m afraid there is not a great deal to report this year so far!

Chris and Richard have taken care of the car parks, sweeping up leaves and rubbish.

They also spent some time with me, clearing twigs, acorns and leaves from the lawns to enable the first cut of the year to be less arduous. This is all in addition, of course, to any maintenance jobs they have needed to carry out inside the church building.

I have to confess I did not appear on the scene until the weather became a little warmer this year, enabling me to cut back the dead fuchsias, prune the roses and weed the rose beds. It’s good to see the bulbs emerging in so many places, with their promise of bright spring colours to come.

They have weeded between and relayed the slabs, top dressed with white stone chips and generally upgraded a very tatty area alongside the top car park, as well as smartening up the parking area outside the vicarage.

As the weather warms and things start to grow, we will need more help to maintain the church grounds. Please do think about joining us.

Maybe you could take responsibility for one of the beds between the buttresses, or the rose beds either side of the north entrance.

We also need someone to keep cutting back the persistent brambles which keep growing out of the perimeter hedge across the path, causing a hazard to passers-by, especially small children. You could pop round for an hour or so at a convenient time for you.

It need not be on a Saturday morning, although that is always an enjoyable time to be at the church, to have time to chat and have a coffee together as well as getting the jobs done.

Hazel has buried some logs around the mini wild flower meadow at one end of the North lawn. While they rot these will hopefully provide good places for insects and other small creatures. Hazel and Chris have plans to make a second insect hotel making good use of a small wooden unit discarded by the Preschool.

We are grateful to two wonderful people who prefer not to be named, but who deserve credit for their hard work.

Please contact Jo Day 942 1481 or Chris Addison 07966 105056 if you would like to get involved. We would be so pleased to welcome you.