16th April 2023

 

Dear All,

Mary-Ann, Amḗlie & Albert stayed until Wednesday morning but Andy had a work commitment and caught the train back on Tuesday. Sunday there was a 20 clue Easter Egg hunt planned and executed by Mary-Ann and Andy resulting in considerable loot! In the afternoon we walked round Knapwell Woods which incorporated “Hide & Seek” and spotting a surprising number of oxlips.

  

Easter Egg Hunt

 

Loot

  

Oxlips

 

Monday morning, I employed happy? Volunteers to sort, count and catalogue 758 packets of flower seed which had been donated for Moldova by Mr Fothergill’s. We then travelled to Wyton to engage with “Inflatabounce” a vast barn full of bouncing inflatables which kept the children amused and exercised for some time.

 

 

Seed Sorting Army

 

 

Inflatabounce

  

Fearless Adventurers

 

On Tuesday it was Linton Zoo which is a reasonable small outfit with a decent array of animals.

 

 

Giant Tortoises

  

Stripey Horse

 

 

 Tapirs

 

Mary-Ann left early on Wednesday as Amḗlie had an “Escape the Room” party to attend.

John Lane and I marked out the cricket square aided by a junior apprentice who is taking a coaching course.

Our Thursday walk started at Ousden south of Newmarket and took in Hargrave, Denham and Dalham. We didn’t get too wet or muddy this week but the wind was keen and cowslips were prominent.

 

 

The Fox, Ousden

 

 

 

Leipsic Wood, Dalham

 

We had a Men’s Breakfast on Saturday with the guest speaker from the Sally Army. Otherwise, I have been preparing talks and collecting items for Moldova. Three of us are due to travel on Friday so no letter for next 2 weeks.

Love

Mike & Kate

 

 

 

2^nd April 2023

 

Dear All,

We managed a swim early Monday before driving down to Hutton to help Esther & Emma sort their post builder’s garden. I took our rotovator with us and it helped make an impression on what looked an initial daunting task! I think you can see the difference?

 

 

Before

 

 

After

 

 

Before

  

After

 

 

Before

 

 

After

 

 

Part of Work Force

 

On Tuesday we went to St Ives to start collecting gifts for Moldova then in the afternoon I drove to Kentford to pick up a couple of boxes of seeds donated by Mr Fothergill’s and I have spent a few hours since sorting, cataloguing and entering them on a PowerPoint ready for a Seminar in Moldova.

 

 

Box 1 Flowers & herbs

  

Box 2 Vegetables

 

I unloaded the rotovator at Adrian’s Monday night and spent Wednesday morning helping finish his winter cultivations! In the afternoon I was invited to give a talk to the pensioners at the Over Day Centre. It was an interesting challenge to engage the audience and keep them all awake, and although some closed their eyes, I am sure they were listening! I showed photos of RHS gardens and presented a vegetable quiz.

So far the rainfall figures for 2023 are rather uneven: January 31.5mm, February 8.5mm and March 92.5mm (3x the March average!). The March figure accounts for another muddy walk on Thursday starting at Chrishall and circling via Upper Green and Duddenhoe End. We saw another herd of 50 deer including an albino. It remained nearly dry with just a slight shower but there was a serious wind for most of the journey.

 

 

The Red Cow, Chrishall

 

 

Chrishall Church

 

 

Muddy Stretch

 

 

Under Water Section

 

In the evening I was at a committee meeting for the Over Produce Show – our secretary as usual managed a 20-item agenda and the conversation was largely dominated by how to fix photos to the display boards!

U3A has finished for the term so Friday was free for a change. After Tesco’s the weather did not encourage outdoor activity so I spent a few hours on the seed.

Both Over teams lost 2 v 0 yesterday but the main topic of conversation revolved around Dave Boothroyd’s son who had just moved house to St Ives. Unfortunately, the previous owners were the couple involved in the local murders at Somersham and Sutton. The police raided the house at 4am thinking the couple were still resident and had John prostrate on the pavement at gun point in his underpants – quite a nasty shock!

Love

Mike & Kate