News and Events

Gardening Tasks – Sept 2022

After such a baking hot and dry August, we have now seen a little rain so our gardens are not quite as parched as they were! The dry heat has accelerated the flowering season of many perennials so the Autumn clear-up may have already started in your garden.

There should still be plenty of warm September days to enjoy and hopefully we will get a lot more rain.

Lawns

When your grass has greened-up again, resume mowing and apply a general lawn feed which will boost your grass if needed. If you have dead patches or thatch in your lawn this can be scarified or raked out and you can spike the lawn with a garden fork to let more air to the roots of the grass. Regular mowing will also help collect the early Autumnal leaf fall.

Roses

Continue to dead-head as flowers fade and tie in new shoots on climbers.

Seed collecting

If you wish to, collect seeds from your summer-flowering plants, storing them in labelled paper envelopes or small paper bags.

Water features

If you have a water feature or pond, you can cover it with netting to prevent Autumnal leaves collecting and clogging the water.

Harvesting

Continue to enjoy the rewards of your hard work, pick your vegetables and late-fruiting raspberries and blackberries. Dig up any remaining potatoes, otherwise they may be destroyed by slugs.

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Bulb Planting

If we have some more rain soon, the soil will be damp and warm so now is the time to start planting up your spring bulbs (except tulips, which should be planted later – in November).

Tidying up

Fallen leaves are an important organic resource, so try not to put them all in your brown bin. You can put them in black bin bags or create a separate pile next to the compost heap to make leaf mould which will be perfect for conditioning your soil next October.

Dance lessons available from a professional Ukrainian ballet teacher

We’re pleased to help promote this great opportunity from Aleksandra a professional ballet teacher who arrived in the UK a few weeks ago.

The idea here is that she’s checking who is interested, and then she’ll book the appropriate venue nearby where the most demand is. So please make contact if you or your family might be interested!

Hello everyone!

I’m а professional ballet teacher and I came from Ukraine а few weeks ago.

I would love to set up ballet classes in area:
Bergh Apton Village Hall
Poringland Community Centre
Norwich “Garage”
Trowse

Classes for
3 – 6 year old
7 – 11 year old
Over 16
Over 50

Would you be interested join me?

Contact details on the flyer downloadable here:

Ukrainian ballet lessons flyer:Download

South Norfolk’s Queen’s Treasure Trail

For the Queens Platinum Jubilee, South Norfolk Council have created a free treasure trail that takes adventurers across the district to explore different areas and put together puzzle pieces to find the Queens Treasure!

This is a great activity to do as a family over the summer holidays. You can download a free online copy of the trail here

Until 30th October, we have a wonderful competition available for those that complete the trail with two different prizes up for grabs, including:

  • Bressingham – a fun family day out for two adults and three children
  • Whitlingham Country Park – day out with the ranger, learning about conservation and getting involved, followed with lunch with an open fire and a guided walk.

South Norfolk council also have some Queen’s Treasure Trail booklets available, please get in touch to find out more.

Alpington and Yelverton Celebrations of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee

Over the long weekend of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee at the beginning of June, Alpington and Yelverton villagers enjoyed a variety of events to celebrate this unique occasion.

The Jubilee Quiz at the Wheel of Fortune pub was a well attended and fun opening to the events and the following evening’s Wine Tasting held at the Village Hall was both informative and a great social occasion.

The traditional Village Fete on the Saturday afternoon was blessed with good weather and very well attended.  Mr Sam greatly entertained both children and adults with his Punch and Judy and magic shows and Splat the Rat and Bowling for the Pig were a hit too!  

We were also treated to a performance by the Alpington and Bergh Apton Primary School choir.  The Tombola stalls had a successful afternoon raising funds for local groups.  The TWIG refreshments marquee served delicious cakes which were much appreciated.

During the afternoon, Mrs Jenny Purple was presented with a bouquet of flowers in recognition of her being the longest living resident of the Village, having been born in and lived her whole life in Alpington and Yelverton.

Mrs Jenny Purple was presented with a bouquet of flowers

Sunday’s Big Picnic had to be moved into the Village Hall due to the inclement weather, but those who attended were treated to a performance of great sing-a-long tunes by Ukulele Group Jelly and the Biscuits.  This culminated in the National Anthem followed by Deputy Lieutenant of Norfolk, Bryony Falkus cutting the magnificent Jubilee Celebration Cake made by Leo Smith.  This delicious cake was then shared out to all who attended.

The magnificent Jubilee Celebration Cake made by Leo Smith.

These celebrations were a success due to the volunteers who planned this over the year, and helped either on the days or beforehand putting up bunting, creating the flyers and banners, erecting the marquee and baking cakes.  

A big thank you to all the volunteers and also local people and businesses who loaned the marquee, straw bales, games, made banners, donated prizes and supported the events.