Thorpe Salvin Garden Trail 2016

As we write, the Thorpe Salvin Garden Trail 2016 started just a week and five minutes ago. Or should have done. We have to assume it was the threat of another scorcher that ensured that Ron had taken £75 on the gate before we had even ‘opened for business’. But that doesn’t matter, as the event was in full swing so early, the weather was faultless and the atmosphere so perfect that no-one could possibly complain.

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This year, we had 18 gardens open, which is the highest total we have had for many years and as ever, the comments from the visitors were complimentary from beginning to end. For once, we hadn’t been stressing about the threat of torrential rain for the week beforehand, and if anything, our concerns were about the high temperatures rather than rain – what a brilliant problem to have.

Kelsey and Mark Pearson had generously volunteered to host the Castle Café, serving afternoon teas and cakes – and boy did the cakes look good. (I didn’t get one sadly!) The Parish Oven was open for business and included afternoon tea in their offering and Manfredi’s did a roaring trade in ice cream. No-one went hungry or thirsty.

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This article is primarily a ‘thank you’ to all those who helped make the weekend such a success, and the list below will hopefully include all those concerned. To:

  • The garden openers
  • The organisers
  • The café organisers
  • The car parkers
  • The field owners and cutters
  • The sign and flier distributers
  • The sweepers
  • The money takers
  • The plant and bric-a-brac sellers
  • The church flower arrangers

As ever, we are grateful to Parkgate Mobility for not only loaning us the scooters, but for delivering them to us, and our thanks again go to RMBC for a timely and comprehensive street sweep that made such a difference to the village. It is always a turning point when the village has been swept, and people start to comment on how nice everything looks.

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So the reason for everyone’s hard work during the Thorpe Salvin Garden Trail 2016… the weekend is a fund raiser, ensuring that we have sufficient funds to keep the village looking beautiful and well maintained, and this year, we have raised a bumper £3,500. This will be used to maintain the churchyard and the village and to pay for labour where it is required.. The week before the Garden Trail, the bank balance was down to a few hundred pounds, so this is a much welcome top-up to keep us going for another year.

As well as raising money for the village, there were a number of people working for various charities – selling plants, bric-a-brac or raffling a chocolate explosion. We’ve no idea how much was raised but well done to all those hard working and generous volunteers.

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There will be a meeting to review the weekend, and see if anything needs to be changed for next year – this will be advertised in our e-bulletin and on the notice boards. Everyone is welcome… there is always a lot to do, and many hands do make light work.

And by the way – if we have missed anyone off, we apologise.

Johnathan Cobb

Chair, Thorpe in Bloom

 

Lesley Hayes

Secretary, Thorpe in Bloom

Thanks to Barbara Foster and to Mark and Kelsey Pearson for the photos

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