n AROUND THE SOCIETIES

From page 43

Foe, with a programme of talks arranged each month until April.

Another group worth joining Wells u3a for is the MOTO (members on their own) group, especially at this time of the year when life is a bit quiet after Christmas and it is easy to feel low if you live on your own. The group has speakers on a very wide variety of subjects, members talk about their backgrounds and they also organise quizzes and beetle drives, meeting twice a month at the Methodist Church Hall.

If any of these groups appeal to you and to discover many more groups and to find out how to join Wells u3a go to https:// u3asites.org.uk/wells/home or just Google Wells u3a. New members always welcome.

Ann Brown, John King, Maureen Boylan

ST THOMAS WOMEN’S FELLOWSHIP

OUR January meeting was attended by 16 members who enjoyed the talk given by Pamela Egan on the areas of Cathedral Green and The Liberty. She had us enthralled with her vast knowledge of the history of Wells and laughing at amusing stories she had to tell.

We meet again on February 1 at 7pm in St Thomas’ Church Hall when the Free Wheelers who do blood deliveries will be sharing their experiences with us. It promises to be very interesting to learn how these people start in this business and the scope of their duties.

We would welcome any visitors/prospective new members to join us.

Pat Dyer

WELLS & DISTRICT WILDLIFE GROUP

AFTER becoming independent from the Somerset Wildlife Trust, the new year brought a new start for our group and I am encouraged by the support that we have received. We are currently putting together a programme of events and details will be available shortly.

As I write this there is still a lot of flooding on the Levels and the Taunton road remains closed past Burrowbridge. We are lucky in the city of Wells that we are relatively unaffected in this regard. But, although there is plenty of sunshine outside, birds are singing and the rooks on the A361 outside what used to be the Three Wells pub are busy nest-building, there is talk of snow in the weather forecast and so clearly winter hasn’t finished with us yet.

Unless you are unlucky enough to have your home affected, the flooding may only be a minor inconvenience to those of us in town and it can be amusing to see swans swimming serenely over what only a few days ago was green pasture. But spare a thought for all the creatures – invertebrates and small mammals such as field mice and voles – who can no more escape from the rising water than they could from the wild fires that occurred back in the summer.

One of these is of course the hedgehog and our second event of 2023 will be a presentation by Laura Batt from the Prickles Hedgehog Rescue centre in Cheddar. Every year they care for scores of hedgehogs that have been attacked or injured and try to nurse them back to health before releasing them back into the wild.

Hedgehog numbers in the countryside have fallen dramatically since the Nineties. This is attributed to a number of factors, probably the most significant of which is habitat loss due to changing farming practices. Numbers in urban environments don’t seem to have suffered in the same way, but when did you last see a hedgehog, even a squashed one? They are the gardener’s friends and will eat invertebrates especially worms, beetles, slugs, caterpillars, millipedes and earwigs.

We can help them by putting out drinking water (not milk) in dry weather and ensuring that our garden fences do not block their foraging routes so that they become isolated.

Hedgehogs are inoffensive little creatures, but even if you care little about them, we should all care about the environment that supports them (and ourselves). Gradually, we are coming to understand the essential value of our natural world and how we depend upon it for our very survival.

This presentation will be on Tuesday, February 28, at 7.30pm in the Wells Museum. Details of this and other events (arranged so far) are on our new website www.wdwg.org.uk, or phone Jean on 01749 677600

We ask for a donation of £5 per adult – under 16s are free.

Eric Lewis

WELLS & DISTRICT GARDENING CLUB

WE have been forced to make a change to February’s event through unforeseen circumstances. Luckily, Jane Moore, Head Gardener of The Bath Priory Garden, will be returning to Wells to give another of her excellent talks, this time on growing vegetables. Her presentation entitled Crops for Small Plots gives you an idea of what to expect especially in these days when we need all the help we can get.

Jane is a formidable gardener, a former TV presenter, journalist and Chelsea winner and she is the author of a number of books, the latest being on growing vegetables on a small but productive scale.

Planning the vegetable plot in the back garden or on the allotment is not the only activity at this time of year. The body needs non-physical refreshment as well.

January has filled and frozen the dykes but February ushers in Snowdrop Time. A few daffodils may have jumped the springtime gun, especially along the road to Somerton, but the season belongs to the snowdrop. An early bloom seems to provoke feelings of optimistic delight.

The humorist and writer K R G Browne once wrote: “The first snowdrop, timidly thrusting its rather silly head through the earth’s crust, is a sight to melt the heart of the toughest thug that ever throttled his aged grandmother for the insurance money.”

A little on the excessive side, it has to be said, but we catch the drift. Swathes of snowdrops attract swathes of Galanthophiles, as the real enthusiasts are called. And they are great stoopers. Most of us are content to wander around upright and both parties have much to enjoy in and around Wells.

Shepton Mallet celebrate their own Snowdrop King, the breeder and hybridiser, James Allen (1830-1906), in a snowdrop festival with events and open snowdrop gardens.

In Wells, The Bishop’s Palace Gardens always give a fine display.

Everyone is welcome to come along to Wells Town Hall on Thursday, February 9, at 7.30pm to hear Jane Moore on Crops for Small Plots. Members £1, visitors £3. Refreshments.

More at wellsgarden.club or tel: 01749 679182. Pip Harwood