15th October 2023
Dear All,
Major
events this week have been a trip to Lincolnshire to visit the Seed Company
trials and Friday nights Quiz to raise funds for Over Day Care Centre.
Fellow
walkers Lawrie Gray and David Cook accompanied me to Lincolnshire on Wednesday
under rather grey skies. We had a serous downpour on the way but once in
Lincolnshire we only encountered drizzle at the last stop. In all we visited
plots for six seed companies: Seminis, Clause, Hazera, Sakata, Syngenta and Elsom’s.
Seminis have the leading Broccoli varieties in Ironman and Steel and “super
white” cauliflowers. Clause have excellent Romanesco and Hazera the leading
pointed Sweetheart cabbage. Hazera in an Israeli company and they had heard
that six of the staff in Israel had been killed in the Hamas attacks. Sakata
had a fine display of Squash and always have the most decorative exhibits;
Syngenta have the best Brussels Sprouts and Elsom’s the most comprehensive
display of a wide range of vegetables. Kate is always delighted when I come
home with a fresh range of hats and pens!
Seminis Whitex Cauliflower
Hazera Sweetheart
Cabbage
Sakata Display
Sakata Pumpkin
& Squash
Syngenta Brussels
Sprout Cryptus
Elsom’s Trial
Ground
On
Friday night Kate and I presented the annual Quiz which is part of the Baptist
chapel’s support for the Day Care Centre. When I say annual, this was actually
the 15th year that it has taken place. Kate thinks up all the
questions and I am quizmaster. The major difference this year was the venue. Usually,
we have held it in the Day Care Centre but the capacity there is limited to
about 60 and last year several teams were turned away. The new venue allowed
127 to book in making up 16 teams. The scale seemed a little daunting to start
with but it actually worked very well and the event raised over £1000.
The
U3A term started again this week and Biographies kicked off with a presentation
on “The Virgin Mary” by Jim Henry our Australian non believing historian, so he
produced a talk which The Friends Meeting House (our venue) had probably never
heard before!
I
have had several good digging sessions this week and have broken the back of
both the allotment and garden cultivations.
We
have had a rather damp week with 12 mm, 12,5 mm and 26 mm of rain on Thursday,
Friday and Saturday. We arrived at our Thursday walk destination Brinkley in an
absolute deluge which discouraged anyone getting out of their vehicles for half
an hour. It was then decided to give folk the option of a shorter walk or going
home. Seven faint hearts departed leaving 15 hardy souls to complete a not very
short walk of 7.25 miles. It actually stopped raining after an hour or so but
walking in waterproofs tends to leave you fairly damp from sweating.
Gathering at
Brinkley
Emma
had a nasty experience on Wednesday when a tractor towing a heavy load of bales
parted company with the trailer and it rolled back into a small car which was
pushed back into Emma’s car. Both car drivers had to go the A & E for
whiplash and shock. Meanwhile the tractor driver ran away from the scene but
was apprehended by the police later.
On
Saturday we had a Men’s Breakfast at chapel and the speaker was our retired
doctor Larry Amure. He is of Nigerian stock and had a tough upbringing but he
made it to Cambridge University and gained a blue for boxing. He is a larger-than-life
character and over 30 attended.
In
the afternoon Over new young football squad beat Milton 7 v 0.
Mike
& Kate
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