www.storeygardens.org
THE FRIENDS NEWSLETTER
Issue No 16
June 2014
June in The Gardens
The main focus of work in The Gardens in June
was to make all as beautiful as possible for the
Open Day at the end of the month. The planting
in the long border was all beginning to look great
and the forget-me-nots which had filled in space
while other things were bushing out could now be
disposed of. The scaffolding came down from the
central wall, which stood revealed as the most
spectacular piece of craftsmanship, and a work of
art in its own right. The sad thing was to see the rubbly earth along the edge of the wall,
where last year grew redcurrants, blackcurrants and raspberries – but the best thing
about gardens is that next year they’ll come again. Indeed new currant bushes are
beginning to sprout along the wall, which will now provide a sun trap for them. There
are indeed some redcurrants, which Fiona has thoughtfully netted to keep off the birds
until such times as they can be turned into something
of profit for The Gardens. Sumptuous roses are
blooming and filling the air with heavy scent – it’s a
great time of year. Extra sessions during the month
allowed time for clearing up the remains of the ivy
from the wall and by the time of the Open Day we
were able to feel that The Gardens could make a
brave showing.
The Hollygon
One concentrated session of fierce attack on the bindweed and other undesirables left
the Hollygon ready for poppy seeds to be scattered – two packets of approx 2800 seeds
each, which you would think would be sufficient to re-sow Flanders Fields. They are so
tiny that one packet was almost emptied before we realised it, but Helen from the City
Council kindly gave us another couple of packets – so now about 10,000 poppy seeds
have been sown on the Hollygon, of course at the beginning of a dry spell, so as far as
we can see they have not yet germinated. The bindweed by contrast is starting off
again across the dry soil, so needs another blitzing. What we need is a really good
shower of rain and hope to see poppy seedlings appear as if by magic.
Open Day
Although the day was not as fine as earlier in the week at least it remained dry, a 100%
improvement on last year’s Open Day. We had timed the Open Day to coincide with the
Armed Forces Day events in the castle and advertised within the Castle courtyard, to
attract the crowds to saunter across the road and pay us a visit. It seemed to work – or
at least something did. People were already coming in at the gates on Castle Park
even before we had finished setting up, so that by the time of our official opening there
were quite a few gathered together to watch the small ceremony. We had asked Gina
Dowding, one of Lancaster’s County Councillors and a generous donor to FoSG, if she
would kindly cut an ivy garland bound with
H&S tape away from the door opening in the
central wall, which was closed off last year.
Gina did a magnificent job with a pair of
shears, watched by FoSG members, visitors
and representatives from Keepmoat, the
contractors who have done such a magnificent
job of the wall. Gina gave us a most apt quote
from Rudyard Kipling’s The Glory of the
Garden –
“…….. such gardens are not made
By singing:-‘ Oh, how beautiful,’ and sitting in the shade”
After the formal opening there was a steady tide of visitors – people staffing the main
gate to meet and greet and give out information were keeping a rough head count, but
gave up after 500; it seems likely that we attracted at least 600 visitors while we were
open, and heard again the delighted comments ranging from “I never even knew this
place existed” to “I’m so thrilled – I’m going to come and volunteer”. As well as the
stalls (plants, books, tombola and cakes) people were using The Gardens in the way we
hoped – sitting in little groups on the grass, wandering about from one garden to the
other, coming across hidden treasures and always wanting more information about the
history of the place and what was going to happen next.
New members have joined us and new people are interested in receiving more
information as it comes out and wish to be added to our mailing list. All of this is good
stuff and raises the profile of The Gardens more and more. And if we want to be
mercenary, we also raised quite a lot of money for our funds – c £750, with Fiona’s plant
stall making nearly £250, with the cakes the next highest earner with £151. Donations
into the collecting buckets totalled £241.
Many thanks to all the helpers who made the day such a success, from every point of
view.
All Publicity is Good Publicity
The Storey Gardens has been hitting the local headlines recently, starting off with a
small mention in the Lancaster Guardian just before the Open Day, so gave us a little
extra publicity. Just before that Annie, Michael and I were interviewed and
photographed in The Gardens for an entry in the Rural Life supplement which the
Lancaster Guardian publishes regularly – should be out in the Lancaster Guardian in
the next week or so. An article on The Gardens should be out in the July edition of the
free magazine @Lancaster, and a recent interview with a reporter from Lancashire Life
should result in an article probably in October. Most recently Annie gave an interview to
Radio Lancashire, which was to be broadcast Thursday 3rd July. We shall hope to keep
the impetus going and our profile high.
The Master Plan
We had hoped to have moved forward on the Master Plan by now as we were
anticipating that the development of The Storey Gardens was to have to have been an
item on the agenda for the City Council meeting at the end of June. As an agenda item
however it has been deferred and probably will not now come up before September,
which is disappointing. I know not much happens over the summer months – people go
away, assume a torpor brought on by the scorching UK weather, etc, etc, so September
will no doubt be upon us before we know it. In the meantime we can enjoy The
Gardens in their current state and make good some of the ravages of the building works
(not enormous I hasten to add).
Next Meetings
Sunday 6 July for the next gardening session – 2.00-4.00pm, entrance via the Castle
Park gateway
Tuesday 29 July for the next monthly meeting – 6.00pm in NICE
Sunday 3 August for the monthly gardening session – times as above
The next Newsletter will be out the weekend of 25 July and copy should be sent to Sue
on sue.widden@outlook.com by18 July.
PLANTS FOR SALE