*** UPDATE – we have had to postpone the planned drop-in for Thu 6 Oct due to health concerns for the committee member due to host it ***
Well the summer has arrived at last, or some form close enough!
A top priority of the Committee this year has been to establish new channels of communication and engagement among all members of the Association.
At the core of this, also new ways to connect us all with our Management Committee.
As part of this drive, in our first newsletter, we shared our ambitions to set up a series of drop-in sessions in our gardens over this summer.
So now we can share those dates. We have endeavoured to mix things up; day and evening, weekday and weekend.
Sunday 31 July – noon to 1pm
Thursday 11 August – 7pm to 8pm
Sunday 28 August – 7pm to 8pm
Thursday 8 September – 7pm to 8pm
Sunday 25 September – noon to 1pm
A couple of Committee members will be in our gardens (weather permitting) for an hour on these dates over the course of the rest of our summer.
We would love to see you there. We especially want to hear your own ambitions for our gardens. These are OUR gardens, every one of US. Every one of YOU. Please come share your ideas, concerns, hopes, fears. We want to hear them.
And if you are happy to bring them along we would also love to hear from junior garden users too! We are keen that our gardens are truly for all of us to enjoy. We now have new tables sized especially for children. Garden games and nature activities coming soon. What other ideas do our youngest users have themselves we wonder?
Looking forward to seeing you there.
And of course all of the Committee will be attending this year’s CPGA Summer BBQ Garden Party on Saturday 20 August from 2pm, so plenty of opportunities to chat with you then too.
In our recent newsletter we let you know we were looking to begin clearing the bank behind the garden fence that runs parallel to Highburgh Road. This is the first stage in the work that addresses the restructuring of the garden perimeter.
We had hoped that work would have been underway before now but it has taken the committee a significant amount of time and effort to secure a contractor to complete the clearance.
Despite our best efforts and seeking 6 quotes, many businesses were extremely busy post pandemic and we are delighted to have been able to engage someone to complete this first phase.
As with any work there will be some disruption.
The initial phase of work is scheduled to begin on Monday 25th July (weather dependent) when the bank behind the fence will be treated with weed killer.
Please avoid the area during spraying. Although the weed killer is generally not harmful after a couple of hours, as a precaution please keep children and pets away from the bank.
It’s anticipated that this initial phase of ground clearance work will take a week to complete. The contractor aims to be on site from 08:00 but won’t begin work until 08:30 and hopes to finish each day around 16:00.
All waste from the work will be disposed of safely and along with the contractor we have identified plants and shrubs we’d like to retain in place at the east end of the lane.
Aside from this work we hope you have been able to enjoy the garden recently and we always welcome hearing from you at hello@crown.garden.
We are also looking forward to seeing many of you at the BBQ on the 20th of August.
Following on from the post of 25 May, the good news is that our supplier has fully confirmed that our new tables will be delivered and installed on Tue 28 Jun, come rain, hail, or shine!
We even forewarned them that the current forecast for that day IS grim! But we hear that, if push comes to shove, they build them on the back of their van! So this is definitely GREEN FOR GO.
It’s great timing as the hoped for highs of warm summer days are still ahead. Plenty of time to enjoy them.
Time to say goodbye…
Before welcoming in the “new” let’s first say goodbye to the “old”. In this case the VERY old. Sadly, nothing lasts forever, and the work of recent vandals sealed their fate. Their back story is an interesting one… they were skipped by The Rock well over TEN years ago. And yet still we have enjoyed them for all of that time as their second chance/ second life. Now we hope to guide them into their third life as we are looking for a wood recycler who will find some other woody existence for them somewhere. If you want to say your own fond farewells, or give them a little pat of gratitude, now is the time! We will update you again when we have their removal date.
… and bring in the new
So on to the new with lots to tell.
Natural woods…
We are returning the look of our picnic tables back to a more traditional all natural wood theme. These blend well with the colours of nature all around our beautiful gardens and are easier to maintain, with their annual bath and lick of wood preservative.
… with a splash of colour
However, some residents love the current colourful scheme, that’s clear. So we hope that the choice of parasols will gladden their colourful hearts! We have chosen a range that reflect our new brand; Miss Cherry herself, our signature blue benches, and our outstretching green lawns. So that splash of colour will remain in our gardens.
More solid, more sociable, more access
We also have taken the conscious decision to ensure that these new table and parasol assets for our gardens will stand the test of time. These are superior quality items, the same grade supplied to pubs and hotels across the land. We sourced this trade supplier at significant discount. So all good.
Their different construction also ensures a far more solid and secure structure, less prone to “the dreaded wobble” as they age. Also, their new features of circularly-social seating around a round table top, and easy walk in access will ensure that anyone, with or without mobility challenges, can enjoy sitting in the garden without the usual gymnastics of classic A-frame picnic tables.
A garden for all of the family
As you may also recall from the first blog post on this, for the first time we will be able to provide our children with a garden table that is sized for them. Lower table and seat heights, and also a hidden secret. (Who doesn’t love a hidden secret?!)
These children’s tables have a storage space underneath the top. A space crying out to be filled with goodies!
So we can now reveal that each children’s table will have its own theme; one NATURE and the other GAMES.
One of our Association members has donated a range of items designed to engage children and their families in a range of fun garden activities.
Our Children’s Nature Table will have a collection of child-friendly items designed to encourage them to embrace the nature all around them. To go exploring, to look closer at the magic in every corner. Kid-sized binoculars, magnifying glasses, bug inspectors, and a collection of small “activity” laminates with clipboards and pens that present a range of nature themes. Essentially each activity sheet presents a focus for a child to go nature hunting. Spot the flower, bird, or even creepy-crawly!
Our Children’s Games Table holds a range of very traditional all natural wood games, each intended for garden fun. We have perhaps the most traditional of all, quoits, a set of giant dominos, and a set of giant Jenga. All of these games are suitable for even smaller children, with no small pieces, just good solid chunky parts for their little hands!
Bring on summer!
We hope that all residents who enjoy being in our gardens, regularly, or even just now and again, will really enjoy all of the changes and here’s to a long hot summer to do so!
Last Sunday we asked for a volunteer to join us on the Committee to help shoulder the large volume of work during this peak time of garden use and beyond. This to bring us back up to a full complement of six active members, much needed at this busy time. And the good news is that, yesterday, we had a volunteer come forward.
We are delighted to welcome Lesley Motion back to the Committee on an interim basis, to take us through to the next AGM.
I know many of you will know Lesley well, as one of our “super-users” of our beautiful gardens. You will so often see her there with her husband Neil and little boy Jacob.
Many of you will also know her from her previous good service on this Committee, so a tried and tested pair of hands; incredibly resourceful, packed with ideas, and very sociable among our Association members. Her love and passion for the good of these gardens is well known.
So it’s great to have her back, even just for a time, and we look forward to working with her. I am sure everyone will join us in welcoming Lesley back onto our management Committee and wish her well.
Crown Pleasure Gardens 