29/01/13 Millennium Arch

Yesterday Linda, Angela, Pauline, Susan and some of the parks department team met in Cross Flatts Park for the installation of our new Arch.

I aquired the photo from facebook where the accompanying text reads:

'The arch is part of a package of improvements that the group are installing in the area using funding from Community First and Aviva insurance. A pub style sign is to be put up on Dewsbury Road at the “Cardinal Triangle” welcoming motorists to Beeston. Information boards will join the arch in Cross Flatts Park’s Millennium Garden with details of the plants in the four raised beds.

Linda Stanley, Secretary of Beeston in Bloom said:

“We are delighted with this latest addition to Cross Flatts Park. We hope in future years that roses and other climbers will decorate the arch.”

The group are always looking for new volunteers. Contact them by email, or come along to their next Work Party on Tuesday 5th February on St Anthony’s Drive at 10:00am.'

Although it was quite wet and windy they all seem happy. The arch looks great don't you think?

Sara

12/01/13 working party

Finally I am something like caught up. We had our latest working party in the Millennium Garden, doing some tidying up and pruning so the new growth [which is just starting to peek through the soil] has room to flourish.

Angela and Susan sorting out the long border.

Vivienne hiding behind a raised bed.

Judith, with Angel's help, pruning one of the rose beds.

Jim [I have turned the photo, edited it and re-saved it and rotated it again and it still loads sideways - sorry] sweeping the paths.

And Linda collecting leaves to make leaf-mould. I did do something I'm sure - probably got in the way.

We were supposed to have a pruning lesson on the 19th but it was postponed due to the weather - it was re-postponed from the 26th for the same reason. It may be on the 9th of March if nothing else happens [given the way our weather is going we might have a drought by then].

Sara

08/12/12 Angela’s Party [catching up]

Angela had her 60th birthday party on the 8th at Holbeck Working Mens Club, as on her actual birthday she was busy selling jam at the Holbeck Gala.

We had a great time chatting and dancing [unfortunately as it is now the end of January I have forgotten most of the detail - sorry - I was a bad blogger].

I didn't take any photos but Vivienne sent me this one of our corner - not sure who took it as she is in the photo.

Sara

01/12/12 holbeck gala [catching up]

Linda, Judith and I had been busy making cards and boxes for our stall at Holbeck Gala. We only had a small table so it took some arranging. Vivienne also brought us some plants to sell. Christine had been making draught excluders for her stall and Angela had made loads of jams and chutneys for hers.

We had quite a good day and raised about £80 towards next years plants.

Vivienne even managed to sell one of our Beeston in Bloom calendars to our local MP Hillary Benn.

Sara

20/10/12 working party [catching up]

We had a working party in the yard near the Millennium Garden to plant up the troughs for the Tommy Wass barriers.

We tried to plant matching pairs of troughs and eventually [after quite a lot of 'negotiating'] we finished - it took quite a while even though lots of us turned up [you can't tell from the photos as I only managed to catch Linda, Angela and David on film] as there were a lot of troughs to do.

Sara

15/09/12 Working party [from the archives]

We met for our regular working party at Millennium Garden and did some weeding and pruning. I left the technical pruning to the better gardeners and I concentrated on pulling arms full of bindweed/morning glory out of the far border. There wasn't any point in taking photos of that as you couldn't see any real difference after I had done it. Pauline did a great job with the lavenders but I forgot to take a photo - Linda took some so she might send them to me.

Last night quite a few of us went to Vivienne’s 80th birthday party. She put on a great do, with good food and music and loads of friendly guests. Here are a few photos I took [although it was not strictly a Beeston in Bloom activity I don't like to do posts without photos].

Her cake was fantastic with a representation of Beeston in Bloom on one side and the Adel Players [her other great enthusiasm] on the other. She had also put an interesting photo album together of her life for us to look at.

Sara

03/09/12 Cardinal Triangle [from the archives]

Instead of having a meeting this month we decided to have an extra working party while the weather is still good and the evenings not too dark. The Cardinal Triangle looked fine from a distance but when we started weeding and pruning back we took an amazing amount out of the beds without making most of it look too bare [there are a few empty patches].

We had 3 car boots and back seats full of black bags containing weeds etc which we took back to compost at Cross Flatts Park.

Sara

18/08/12 Barkley Road Planter [from the archives]

Today we had our regular 3rd Saturday of the month working party, this time at the Barkley Road Planter. It was a very warm day and the planter was absolutely full of weeds, fortunately lots of us turned up and many hands make light work [well lighter anyway]. In just two hours we managed a remarkable transformation.

We replaced all the thistles, nettles, dandelions etc with some hebe, hypericum, vinca, conifers and other plants recycled from our gardens [or in my case from my mums garden].

It was Leeds United's first league match of the season and apparently we were parked where some supporters usually park - one of them told us it would be our fault if Leeds lost as we had caused them to have to find another parking space [not totally clear on their logic - however Leeds managed to win one nil against Wolves so clearly it was faulty].

Sara

Eversheds Day [from the archives]

This was the volunteer day - I think it was last Thursday. Shelley arranged for volunteers to weed the city veg project and Judith has sent me these photos.

This is before

during

and after.

Judith reports "I only stayed the morning but the group were friendly and weeded willingly. The weather and the fact the bed was in the shade helped but as the pics show, they didn't half make a difference -thanks to Shelley and the park rangers as well as the park keepers for providing the tea, the gear and a trailer to fill with weeds."

Thanks Judith.

Sara

06/08/12 Meeting

We had our first meeting in quite a while on Monday night. The June meeting was turned into a working party because summer judging was fast approaching and the July one was actually judgement day.

Apart from everything else we are trying to decide what sort of marker we want to put up to welcome people to Beeston. It's quite complicated as firstly where does Beeston start, there are several main roads through it [separate argument which areas actually qualify as Beeston], do we want a carved stone marker [very posh looking but we haven't really got a spot where it will stand out], a finger post [as it's taller, so more visible above planting but being metal more likely to be a target for metal thieves and also confusing when people might be expecting directions to be on it] or an arch [which was originally an idea for the millennium garden but if it gets put at the cardinal triangle - current favourite place to put any sign - it needs to be double sided so it's legible from both roads coming up from the white rose, and cut out words will only work from the front, and it would also be metal] and the final trauma of making decisions by committee, where everybody seems to understand that you said something different from what you meant. [I've read that lot back several times and it's as clear as mud but after several tweaks it's not getting any better !!!]

Anyway I don't like to do a post without a photo, so here is one of the Lodge Lane Planter taken as I came home from work. After being a bit of a rubbish tip at the beginning of July [I don't think we moved it, but there was a lot of junk including a smashed double glazed window frame there, so somebody did - thank you] it looked really colourful and I've kept meaning to take a photo - and at last I've got 'a round tuit'.

Sara

28/07/12 - Working Party [from the archives]

As there were very few of us available for last weeks scheduled working party it was postponed until this week.

Linda, Christine and Angela were manning [womanning ?] stalls at the Holbeck Gala. I visited with two of my grandchildren and took this photo of Linda on Holbeck in Bloom's plant stall [because the members of Holbeck in Bloom were also on the Holbeck Gala committee].

This week the people who could make it assembled at the Millenium Garden [I was late having stayed up late to watch the opening ceremony of the olympics and then I slept in!]. We did a bit of pruning and lots of weeding. There were at least 3 barrow loads of bindweed pulled out and some grasses, that had gone mad, removed so that the plants underneath had a better chance. As I arrived Linda was grappling with a grass that was bigger than she was.

This was during our tea break. As you can see we were a select few. Angel came with Judith but had wandered out of shot.

We have a meeting at the Watsonia on Monday 6th August - which will be our first for quite a while as the last few were turned into working parties or were on summer judging day.

Sara

14/07/12 Beeston Hill Planters [from the archives]

I had to drop a letter in the post box on my way to Sainsburys [other supermarkets are available] this morning so I grabbed the opportunity to take some photos of the planters nearest the post box.

This planter is full of heucheras and pansies and looks delicious.

This is the planter outside the bakery - very colourful.

The wildflower planters are a bit windblown [in opposite directions!] - they could have done with something shorter round the edges - but still interesting.

And finally, I was too lazy to walk over the road so these are the Sunnyview planters from a distance. They could maybe do with a bit more height in them next year - but it is difficult to know what to plant as we can't have too much height in them, or we risk reducing the visibility splay, and also things like cordylines tend to 'walk' - but they are very colourful and add interest to an otherwise boring space.

Sara

01/07/12 The Night Before Judging [from the archives]

Linda and I met at the Tommy Wass planters at 9am Sunday morning to try and deadhead the petunias - it had to be early as the judges will see most of them from the road side and we needed to start before the traffic got heavy. Most cars and, to my surprise, buses left us extra room [I was wearing my hi-viz jacket] but the nearest to collision I came was with a cyclist [who you would expect to be more thoughful].

I didn't get any photos I'm afraid as I then had to dash off to see my Nan who's 95th birthday it was.

I collected Linda again at 6pm and we went to the Watsonia Pavilion to start setting up the display boards for tomorrow. After that we had a quick look round the Millenium Garden

Blogger was playing up yesterday when I was trying to add a photo of the new fern, so it is now the day after judging, but as I forgot to take any photos of that I will continue with this post. The borders and beds were looking good.

This is the new fern [blogger is playing nicely today!]also looking good.

Anyway judging seemed to go ok, the rain started as the judges arrived for lunch but stopped just after we left to start on the route. There had been quite a lot of rubbish on Gypsy Lane when Linda & I checked on Sunday night so after dropping Linda at Coburn and Adam at the Chelsea Garden, Susan and I went back and did a quick litter pick - talk about last minute, I was just putting my bag of rubbish in the boot of my car when the mini bus drove past and Susan had to hide round a corner.

The rain held off until everyone got back to the Watsonia for afternoon tea, so that was pretty good timing and the judges seemed quite happy - although you can't really tell so we'll have to wait until we get the results.

There was some debate over when the next meeting should be - there might be one in August but we're not sure yet. I think we deserve a breather after the last two weeks but we might be recovered by the 6th.

Sara

30/06/12 Working Party [from the archives]

As judging day is looming we split into different parties to try and do as much as possible. Unfortunately I only have pictures of where I was - but Vivienne and Jim put up Beeston in Bloom signs on the planters that had 'lost' them as well as helping Susan and Pauline at the Millenium Garden.

Meanwhile I was with Linda, Edna, David and our new recruit Elaine [above] at the Cardinal Triangle pulling up more weeds and planting the salvias and verbenas we bought on Monday. I think it is looking great, the plants are getting more established and the colour scheme of purple and silver is pulling everything together nicely.

After some debate we planted the salvias to form a ribbon of purple through the centre of the end bed and filled in with the verbenas. It's a good job we had a 'shower' [read cloudburst] later in the day as we have no access to water when we are at the Cardinal Triangle unless we fill up containers and that it with us [and I forgot again]. We also transplanted a large plant whose identity remained a mystery. It was pulled up because we thought it might be a weed but the roots were plant pot shaped so we decided it might not be a weed and replanted it near two smaller specimens of the same plant [forgot to take a photo so can't ask if anyone knows what it might be - I'll try and get one later].

The alliums have come up and seem to be about to flower [not sure if they'll manage it before Monday Judith].

I was trying to put in another photo of the foxgloves, which looked amazing in the sunshine, but blogger won't let me [tried three times now so I'm giving up]. Again we had 6 bags of weeds but I don't seem to have re-homed anymore wildlife this time.

Sara

27/06/12 more weeding [from the archives]

Because we ran out of time on Monday, but we'd seen a real eyesore near the bus terminus, Linda arranged an evening session to clear the raised bed near Beeston Primary School [well it's some primary school in Beeston anyway].

These were some of the bags of weeds and rubbish from Monday afternoon

and this is on Wednesday evening [it was quite warm even at 8pm when we finished] when we had collected 4 more bags of weeds and filled 2 brown wheelie bins [one was Susan's that she brought with her and the other was 'volunteered' by a passing member of the public desperate not to be press ganged into helping us and wishing he'd never made a comment on what we were doing in the first place]. When I got home with my share of the rubbish I discovered that I'd also relocated some ants [there were loads on the wall] in the boot of my car.

I hope the judges appreciate all this effort but the sad thing about removing weeds is that unless you saw the before picture you can't realise how much of an improvement has been made. I must take more before pictures!

Sara

25/06/12 Olympic Torch [from the archives]

We decided to take our Beeston in Bloom banner to part of the torch route and see what photos we could get. Angela managed to find out where the handover on Beeston Hill was going to be and we managed to get a photo with Paul Smith [from Doncaster] before his torch was lit

there was a good turn out and a brass band playing at Sunnyview Manor - the atmosphere was really good but unfortunately it was all over for us by 9am. We took a few more pictures with our banner

this would have been really good if I had noticed that Susan was standing in front of the B on the raised bed - I still quite like it though.

After breakfast at St Mary's we went to look at the new troughs at Tommy Wass crossroads. They had suffered in the high winds at the weekend but we have our fingers crossed that they will perk up a bit if we get some more decent weather.

Then we collected the planter Linda had been storing for almost a year and took it along with soil and plants and positioned it outside the vets on Dewsbury Road. We were really please with the way it turned out.

We did a lot of weeding as well [4 big bin bags of weeds and rubbish] - judging is next Monday and there are a lot of jobs to do in very little time.

Sara

09/06/12 Beeston Festival [from the archives]

I was AWOL again [it's getting to be a bad habit] for Beeston Festival so Linda has once again obliged with some photos she took.

Although the weather was mixed [showery and windy but not torrential rain] the stall looks very cheerful and Vivienne and Edna look happy. They took over £200 but there will be the cost of the stall and the plants to be deducted from that.

Our local MP, Hilary Benn stopped by to say hello. Angela and Christine were on different stalls.

And this is the recycled greenhouse made from empty pop bottles. They did try to build one last year but the ground was so hard that they had trouble getting the wooden supports in the ground. It looks like the ground was softer this year as they managed to finish it.

Sara

05/05/12 Plant Sale [from the archives]

Well I got two things [at least] wrong in my last post - the title should have said April not March and the plant sale started at 11am not 10am. I did turn up for 10am but live so close I could walk home again for a while [I actually got some blocks moved from my front to back garden that I had been putting off for about a month so it was a productive half hour for me].

Whilst we were setting up we noticed drumming getting louder as it came towards us and then.

a group of men appeared accompanying a bridegroom on a horse [quite normal for Beeston] although we never saw any sign of a bride.

The plant sale went quite well - we were very busy for about half an hour and then not so busy and we planted a few of the unsold plants in the Lodge Lane Planter to fill in some gaps and hopefully reduce future weeding - and we managed to raise about £70 towards summer bedding plants for various projects. [still having a problem getting blogger to leave spaces]

Sara

28/03/12 Trip to Redhall [from the archives]

A few of us had a trip on Saturday to Leeds City Council's Redhall Nursery for their latest open day. They mainly grow plants for their own displays and also the hanging baskets and bedding plants ordered by local in bloom groups - however they have to plant 10% extra to allow for poor germination etc so they usually have some excess plants to sell. This year we were slightly too early for the trays of petunias etc but I still managed to buy a few plants - even though I didn't intend to. Linda was more restrained.

There were a few more in my trolley by the time I went to pay. The hanging baskets were a bargain at £5, you planted your own and could put as many plants as you wanted in it. I wish I'd done two but that didn't occur to me until after I got home.

After the planting demonstration and shopping we stopped for refreshments at the cafe. The plant sale on Saturday 05/05/12 is at the Lodge Lane Planter at 10am.

Sara

Aviva Awards 19/04/12 [from the archives]

Last year a group of volunteers from Giles Insurance Company helped us plant up the Herbs and Dragonflies borders and this year they kindly nominated us for the Aviva Awards. The award ceremony was held yesterday at a very glitzy venue, Arise, in Leeds and was attended by voluntary groups from all over the UK. There were over 300 nominees in the 5 categories for prizes and we had been entered in the 'enhancing the local environment' category. A brochure and short video had been produced showing all nominees. Each category had 5 shortlisted finalists and ours included a group who attend medical emergencies in their area, and another who had taken over a community farm when council funding was withdrawn - a hard act to follow! Following a fabulous lunch and speeches from an Aviva director and Steve Backley (a retired Olympic javelin thrower) the presentations were made. We were one of the 3 runners up who was presented with a plaque and a cheque for a £1,000 - well done us!!

Angela couldn't resist getting her picture taken with the athlete and here she is flirting shamelessly with him!

Sara

Table Top Sale 14/04/12 [from the archives]

Linda and Vivienne both had tables at the Beeston Village Community Centre Table Top Sale on Saturday [I was A.W.O.L.] to try and raise funds for Beeston in Bloom.

Vivienne was selling plants. We try to grow extra plants through the year for our plant sales and then we sell them at prices designed to encourage local residents to have a go at gardening. Well we are supposed to try and grow them but my seedlings usually give up and I resort to getting my Mum or brother to dig things up from their gardens for me or to buying trays of plants from B&Q or Morrisons and re-potting them.

She seems to have had quite a good selection for sale given how early in the year it is.

And Linda was selling cards, jewellery and scarves. After paying for the table and accounting for stolen stock [!!!] she still managed to make over £20 for our funds. I don't know how much Vivienne made but I'm sure she did well.

Angela and Christine also had tables raising funds for other groups they are involved with. Well done all of you.

Sara

Spring Judging 03/04/12 [from the archives]

Well it was a miserable day, cold and wet, but it could have been worse, the snow held off until after the judges had left. We didn't seem to get much feedback from the judges, so we'll just have to wait and see what we get awarded. I can't help but think everything we showed them would have looked that much better if the sun had been shining.

We gave the judges lunch at the Ingram Gardens Community Room, which is a lovely space full of character, with the volunteers from Holbeck in Bloom who had their judging in the morning. Susan M. didn't manage to come to the lunch as she was litter picking along Beeston Road, which was in a terrible state. She lost count after collecting 20 bags of rubbish. Not sure what happened to the official litter patrol that was supposed to sort it out.

Linda and Angela then gave the presentation to the judges in the Parks Dept meeting room at Cross Flatts Park [well done Linda] before taking the judges on a coach trip round our route. They visited the allotments, drove past our Planters on Dewsbury Road, the Barrier Troughs at the Tommy Wass junction, the Cardinal Triangle bed, through the White Rose Shopping Centre and Office Park, the gardens at Evans, past the Co-op Planter, Old Lane Planters, the Miners Memorial at Beeston Cemetery and our new Beeston Road Planters before visiting Holbeck Cemetery, Herbs and Dragon Flies and finally the Millenium Gardens [or some variation on that theme].

Several people from other organisations [Friends of Cross Flatts Park and Holbeck Cemetery] helped along the way and we ended back at the Parks Dept meeting room where we had a final cup of tea, scone and natter where I took a couple of photos.

And we have it all to do again for Summer Judging on 02/07/12. Let’s hope the weather is better on the day - although we could do with some regular rain between now and then to get everything looking its best, otherwise we are going to have to start planting more drought tolerant plants - which means more fund raising!

Sara

Working Party 02/04/12 [from the archives]

Instead of our usual meeting we had yet another working party - because spring judging day is tomorrow!

We met at the Millenium Garden to do a final bit of weeding and tidying. A few bare patches got planted up. We had to leave it until the last minute as we sometimes have a problem with plants being removed or trampled by kids and dogs.

Somewhere in the shrubbery Vivienne is wielding her secateurs - be afraid, be very afraid. There are apparently lots of things that need cutting back but they are going to have to wait until after the judges have been or we won't have a lot to show them.

Angela and Christine having a tea break and discussing the plan for tomorrows judging. We [well mostly Linda] had a problem this year as the Watsonia was already booked for the judging date we were given. Instead of having lunch, the presentation and the round up in the same place, we are in three different locations, which means we have to be more co-ordinated. Synchronise watches everyone!

Then, as there was so much to do, we split up. Susan and Vivienne went litter picking, Angela and Christine finished off in the Millenium Garden and I went with Linda, Edna and David to the Cardinal Triangle - where we pulled up three black bags full of weeds [mostly dandelions and I can recognise those].

Hopefully the weather will be better than the forecast. It was supposed to rain all day today but we have only had a few spots so maybe tomorrow’s snow will not materialise either. Fingers crossed for both the weather and that the judges give us good marks.

Sara