Open gardens a great success with no rain!By Tim Hart
At times it seemed that the long hard winter would never end and this had an impact on the progress in the garden in the spring.
Indeed the weekend before the gardens were open it was cold and wet and there was a lack of colour in the garden. However, thereafter we were blessed with a week of sun and a scorcher of a day on Sunday 23rd May when Kingswood House and 2 Kingswood Cottages opened for the National Gardens Scheme (NGS). What a pleasure it was not to worry about how cars would get out – it was the first day of open gardens without a drop of rain since 2003.
Despite the heat we had 536 paying visitors (children are free) who enjoyed the horticultural and social experience. 300 were served teas by Charlotte Reynolds and her hard working team. The ice cream, plant and home produce stalls were also busy. Over £3,200 was raised for the NGS and £1,100 for The Lee Church. The main charities that benefit from NGS support are Macmillan Cancer Support and Marie Curie Nurses. In the last 10 years the NGS has raised over £25 million for charities – all raised by people like you visiting gardens throughout the year.
On behalf of Jon, Trish, Judy, myself and all the benefiting charities a huge thank you to all who came, and especially to those who helped with teas, stalls and parking – we couldn’t do it without you.
Charlotte Reynolds is taking a well earned break in 2011 from organising the teas, so we are looking for a volunteer to take over from her. If you would like to take on this rewarding job or learn more about it please contact Judy Hart on 837328. We have to commit to what we are going to do in early September for the following May, as the NGS Yellow Book of all gardens open is published at the beginning of each year.