Sunday 14th December 2014 – Christmas Party
Great fun and frivolity were had at our annual Christmas party for volunteers and members, held in the garden.
Richard provided coppiced firewood and we enjoyed Fran’s Mulled wine and mince pies, Jane and Anthony’s curried parsnip soup, Shamima’s lemon chicken rice and Margherita’s crostini. We had lots of help setting up and clearing up and even the weather was kind!
Sunday 30th November 2014 – Work Starts On Foundations For New Sculture
Patrick has been busy this week preparing the base for the new sculpture.
For photos see our Patrick’s Sculpture gallery and Facebook page.
Thursday 13th November 2014 – Grant Awarded For installation of Sculpture
We are very grateful to Norfolk County Council for awarding us £350 towards the installation in the garden of a sculpture created by Patrick Goodall.
The money has been awarded from the Arts Project Fund.
Saturday 20th September 2014 – Edible Gardens Open Day
We showcased some of our volunteer activities and gave tours of the garden this afternoon as part of the Edible Gardens Open Day. This was part of The Big Dig network co-ordinated by Sustain: the alliance for better food and farming.
We raised £47.52 by selling tea and homemade cakes and memberships as well as offering tours of the garden and explaining a bit about what we do and how people can apply to rent a raised bed for 2015.
You can hear Fran being interviewed about the garden in advance of the event on BBC Radio Norfolk’s garden party programme – about 30 minutes into this link for Saturday 20th September.
Sunday 21st August 2014 – Visit by NANSA
Rhiannon Bennet from NANSA brought a group of autistic young men to the garden as part of NANSA’s 18+ Work Skills Programme, which they run during the school holidays.
Thanks to Jo Rice for supporting the group by giving them a tour of the garden during which they enjoyed tasting the raspberries and smelling the herbs. They did a bit of weeding and watering and enjoyed looking at some interesting insects! We hope to welcome them back again in the future.
Sunday 17th August 2014 – Shakespeare in the Garden
About twenty people attended Norwich Poetry Group‘s ‘Shakespeare in the Garden’ event despite an unfavourable weather forecast.
They raised £46 from their auction of items, which they kindly donated to the garden group.
Thanks to GHCGG volunteers who attended to help tidy the garden before the event and help the poetry group set up and clear up.
Sunday 6th July 2014 – St Giles Street Fair
We made a total profit of £67 from the sale of plants, produce and jams etc. at the St Giles Street Fair, which after a soggy start turned out to be a great event with sun, a certain tennis final, and a carnival atmosphere. Ieuan’s homemade jams were a best seller!
Thanks to everyone who donated items for us to sell.
Thursday 3rd July 2014 – Crude Apache Theatre Company presents ‘Gammer Gurton’s Needle’
Crude Apache Theatre Company presented their ribald and farcical play following the misadventures of a group of larger-than-life rustic characters as they unravelled the mystery of the title character’s missing sewing needle. There was also a licensed bar to raise funds for the community garden, which raised £35 for our funds.
Sunday 29th June 2014 – Garden Task Cancelled
Today’s garden task was cancelled due to heavy rain, and has been replaced by an evening garden task on Wednesday 2nd July 2014.
Saturday 14th June 2014 – RSA East of England Conference at the Julian Study Centre, UEA
Richard and Fran represented the group at the RSA East of England Conference at the Julian Study Centre, UEA.
RSA members had been asked to recommend organisations in the East of England that they considered particularly innovative, exciting and socially minded. The Grapes Hill Community Garden was one of many groups invited and we enjoyed networking with other groups such as Visions for Change, the Common Room, Trade School Norwich, The Friends of Train Wood and many more from across the region. The RSA lectures and discussion groups were particularly inspiring and left us feeling both encouraged and wanting to do more.
The Keynote speech by Matthew Taylor, Chief executive of the RSA was entitled “The Power to Create”. He spoke about the need value every human individual and to help instil that sense of value. He explained that the RSA was about “unleashing potential and building a better society”.
The RSA stands for The Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce. It describes itself as “an enlightenment organisation committed to finding innovative practical solutions to today’s social challenges”. Through its ideas, research and 27,000-strong Fellowship it seeks to understand and enhance human capability so we can close the gap between today’s reality and people’s hopes for a better world. http://www.thersa.org/.
Tuesday 4th June 2014 – Volunteers Fair / Working Better Together
We took part in the Norwich Volunteers Fair at St Andrew’s Hall in Norwich, hosting an information table. All our flyers and plenty of postcards were taken away which we hope is a good sign! Fran also led a discussion group in Blackfriars Hall for the Norwich City Council’s Working Better Together event.
This was an amazing networking opportunity with scores of local volunteer groups represented. Fran gave a brief summary of our group’s experiences, the process of taking over the land that is now the community garden, what we learned, the challenges and how we worked with Norwich City Council who owns the land and other organisations.
Sunday 1st June 2014 – The Big Lunch
We hosted our second Big Lunch, part of a national event that brings neighbours together.
See Facebook for some photos of the event.
Saturday 31st May 2014 – Another Tree Sponsored
Thanks to Susan Lockley for sponsoring our ‘Adam’s Pearmain’ apple tree, in memory of Muriel Grace Oakes 1911 – 2014.
If you’d like to help us by sponsoring a tree (or offering other help) please get in touch.
Sunday 4th May 2014 – Nature In The Garden
Today we brought a little more of the natural world into the heart of the city, at our event ‘Nature in the Grapes Hill Community Garden’.
There was a great atmosphere with the right number of people coming and going throughout the day. Susan’s bird game was a great success as was the tea and homemade cake stall.
Thanks to Loke Herbs, Strangers Café, Tom and Ben Loudon (organic wine tasting), Norwich Community Choir and the RSPB for joining us. And a big thank you to Simon and the gang from Norfolk Owl Charity for bringing their amazing birds of prey and delighting so many people.
See Facebook for some photos of the event.
Thursday 1st May 2014 – Garden Receives £1000 Grant
We are pleased to announce that the Grapes Hill Community Garden Group has been awarded £1000 of community cash from this year’s Sport Relief fund.
We are very grateful to Norfolk Community Foundation for facilitating this award for the second year running.
The money will be used to pay for the materials and labour needed to construct a new wooden trellis and gate at the far end of the garden on the East side. This will enhance the beauty of the garden. It will also add extra security at night-time, a necessity that has arisen from the recent unexpected property development adjoining the garden.
Thursday 10th April 2014 – We Are Now A Registered Charity
Grapes Hill Community Garden Group has been granted charitable status and has been entered onto the Register of Charities with the Registered Charity Number 1156616.
Sunday 30th March – Another Garden Task
We had a successful garden task afternoon, many thanks to Tish for leading this.
A visitor to the garden had kindly donated some primulas which were planted behind the compost bins. A cornfield annual mix of wildflower seeds was sown in the semicircles prepared at the last garden task within each side of the mini-orchard / wild flower meadow. An area was prepared for the new trellis and any plants removed were replanted elsewhere in the garden. Some of the weeds were tackled and Patrick mowed the lawn.
Weeding will be the mainfocus of our next task day on the 13th April. All welcome experience not essential.
Sunday 16th March 2014 – First Spring Garden Task
We held our first garden task of spring 2014 and started the annual spring clear up / cut back of hardy perennials.
It was a lovely sunny afternoon. See photos on Facebook.
Thursday 6th March 2014 – Annual General Meeting
We held our AGM at The Reindeer Pub and Kitchen on Dereham Road.
This included a review of the year, a financial report, a discussion of upcoming events and the election of new and existing committee members.
We welcomed several new committee members, including our new Chairman, Richard Bearman. Richard replaces Jeremy Bartlett, who stood down after being Chairman for two years.
Many thanks to Jeremy for all his hard work over the past few years and for his central role in planting up the garden and leading garden tasks.
Sunday 9th February 2014 – Building a shed (part two)
Volunteers finished putting together the shed today, planted some wild flower plugs in the meadow on east side of garden and had a good tidy up.
Thanks to Kate, Fred, Marta and Patrick. Special thanks to Kate for taking a lead with the instruction manual and for making delicious stout and chocolate cake containing Fred’s home brewed stout.
See photos on Facebook.
Sunday 2nd February 2014 – Building a shed (part one)
Today we put together a flat pack metal shed in the south-west corner of the garden. Some finishing touches will be made next Sunday.
Many thanks to Richard Bearman, who led the task, and to Kev, Kate, Fred, Peter and Anne. We enjoyed the winter sunshine, the camaraderie, carrot cake, pea soup and lashings of tea and coffee! Once the door is fitted next week we will bless the shed with a celebratory bottle of fizz.
See photos on Facebook.