26th June 2011

26th June 2011.

Dear All,

Esther has been up for the weekend buying curtain and other materials for her redecoration after the flooding. She had a poor week a fortnight ago but seems to be recovering. She is off to Brighton for a conference next week.
I had a trip to Wisley on Wednesday and as my usual travel companions were elsewhere, I took one of my walking colleagues who had never visited before. For once the M25 was fairly clear but it started to rain while we were in the middle of the trial grounds and continued most of the way back. We were judging Broad Beans – 37 varieties but do to RHS cutbacks we do not have many more visits this year.

Broad BeanTrial

Having been deluged for half the day it was a surprise that it was dry enough to play cricket in the evening. We thrashed St Neots Free Church dismissing them for 35 and just finished before the rain started.
We had an excellent walk on Thursday starting at Elton west of Peterborough. It was an area of stone houses not unlike the Cotswolds. The Elton Estate had a large area of raspberry tunnels and a large area of grass for sheep as well as the usual arable crops. We crossed the River Nene several times and only got slightly wet.





Elton Walk

The last batch of plants for the Gardening Which project arrived on Tuesday so I have been able complete the report. It has been very interesting with large differences between the quality of plants and packaging.
The garden has responded to the rain and most things look reasonable now. It is just a matter of swapping watering for weeding and grass mowing.

Garden June 26th

I have been diagnosed with a prostate infection which is a bit uncomfortable and Kate just split a tooth – the joys of mature years!

love


Mike & Kate

19th June 2011

19th June 2011.

Dear All,

Kate had to go to work yesterday so I went with her and then we went on to Saffron Walden and did the “Town Walk” in sunshine and showers. According to a man we chatted to in the coffee shop there are more millionaires in Saffron Walden than any other town in the UK. I am unable to verify this fact but there is little evidence of poverty. Apart from the tour we also visited the church which is the largest parish church in Essex and the Museum. The museum was not large but well stocked and clearly labelled.

Saffron Walden “Town Tour”

Being a zealous groundsman I had cancelled the 2ndXI match on the Green by 8.30 am but the 1sts were playing Audley End in front of the stately home – a very impressive setting. They nearly finished but were eventually rained off.

Cricket at Audley End

I was in our greenhouse when the heavens opened with accompanying thunder and lightening – easily the most rain we have seen this year.
Our walk on Thursday was in the flat fens starting at Haddenham via Witchford and Wilburton. There was the usual mixture of crops: mostly thin, some normal height and a linseed crop with a few rows on flower and the rest just emerging.
Otherwise in the evenings I have written a Gardening article, attended an Events committee, a youth committee and listened to a man talking about outreach to Muslims in Bradford. Day time has been taken up with preparing cricket pitches and gardening.
love


Mike & Kate

12th June 2011

12th June 2011.

Dear All,

Not too much to report this week as I have been writing up the Garden Which project for quite a bit of the week. I have finished assessments and written up the initial 10 targets but Which have now added another so I cannot finish it off just yet.
Rain at last, so the garden is beginning to pull round and we do not have to spent large sections of each evening watering. I have also sown some late crops including fennel, cauliflowers, lettuce and leeks and harvested early onions and garlic.
I opted for the shorter walk on Thursday as the longer one was 12 miles and I had a cricket pitch to prepare that evening. We started at Arrington via Croydon and through the Wimpole Hall estate. It was a decent walk; numbers were down as Philip is leading an expedition to the Western Isles for 18 of our number.


The Hardwicke Arms, Arrington

12” Wheat crop



Warning Sign

Wimpole Hall


Kate and I helped with the Youth club on Friday night. It was “Superstars” and a bit like rolling back the years: pegs on a line, golf target, darts challenge, crisp idents, horn blowing, wooden puzzle, peas on a straw and bucket ball.
We had a fund raising CEEM Strawberry Tea and Concert at Buckden last night at the home of Angela Single who heads the MOLD – Medical team. The concert was given by the “Spiritual Concept band” who were set up by Jimmy Mac a coloured guy who acts on TV and visited Moldova last year causing a mild sensation as most folk in the villages had not seen a coloured man before!
We received some encouraging photos of the new tunnel for which left money to set up on our recent visit – somethings get sorted quickly if you get the right person and the right project.


New Moldovan Tunnel

We have “Pentecost Praise” today a “Christians in Over” joint event in the Community Centre, so it will be interesting to see how many turn up as it is pouring with rain at present.
love


Mike & Kate

5th June 2011

5th June 2011.

Dear All,

It was good to see most of you last week in Cumbria and to have experienced at least one decent rain shower since we returned. Ben had an eventful journey back as all trains were cancelled from Kings Cross due to an overhead line being down, so following the cancelled train going up he was not too impressed with public transport.
The Howgills were an interesting area and a few photos demonstrate this:

Sedbergh

Ruskins view Kirkby Langdale


Ribblehead viaduct

Our House

Near Ravenstonedale

Fell End


A lot of serious catching up in the garden since we returned planting squash, courgettes, pumpkins, gourds, leeks, water melons, cabbage, fennel, carrots, radish, lettuce and cauliflowers. Strawberries, peas, broad beans, cabbage and new potatoes all being harvested so a good time to tuck in.
I have been writing reports on Moldova and continuing the Which plant assessment project – just one further batch to come now and huge differences between suppliers.
My car which was dented when Kate parked outside the chapel a couple of weeks ago has been repaired and it looks very good - but so it ought for the money.
Our walk on Thursday turned out to be an epic billed as 9.5 miles but in fact it was 13.8 miles and I was not too frisky afterwards! Our leader claimed to have only gone astray once but had moved the starting venue and not built this into the calculations. The walk was fairly local starting at Stow cum Quy, Teversham, Cherry Hinton, Cambridge, Fen Ditton. Amazingly several of the crops we saw looked good even spring sown peas but equally others were awful.

Lepers Chapel, Newmarket Road, Cambridge

I played a friendly 20:20 match yesterday and got a wicket first ball and amassed 12 not out! Kate and I were invited to a BBQ afterwards at John and Sally Lane’s with Les Cook our local farmer and stock breeder who had just won reserve champion with a Hereford bull at the Suffolk Show. He says he has not enough grass to even contemplate cutting any hay so far.

love


Mike & Kate