Yesterday was a busy day. In the morning we had a meeting to see whether we wanted to get the Parish Meeting going, so 8 sat round the dining table and discussed the ins and outs and it seems the newcomer to the village is raring to go as a chairman You cannot call a proper meeting without several officers (that is stretching it a bit but you know what I mean). So things such as accounts, signing off accounts, precepts and a secretary have to be arrived at.
We discussed the laying of a membrane as a footpath along the road from the pub to the bridge, and interestingly it turned out that Nelson (our hobo who lives in a caravan with his animals on a smallholding) says that a large chunk of the verge belongs to him. I would question this as a boundary ditch between his land (if it is) separates him from this bit of land. A couple at the meeting had walked the parish boundaries, such an old time medieval action.... Jo still wants a defibrillator, an expensive addition to most villages around here, but it will take up a lot of money in the bank account, and our local nurse says that it is not needed.
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| "The Strode House, built in 1674, seen from the Lily Garden at Barrington Court, Somerset. Gertrude Jekyll's influence can be seen in the planting here." |
In the afternoon we went to the gardening club, after the AGM, I am beginning to feel that officialdom is a 'bad thing', especially as no one wants to take on roles on committees, we had a talk on 'Cutting gardens'. The rather luxurious thought of devoting part of your garden for cutting flowers for the house.
Now there is good reason to do this, because we only raise 10% of our own cut flowers, the rest come from places like Holland and Africa, and according to the speaker we are depriving people of water on the African continent. The female who gave the lecture was a very enthusiastic gardener, and as well as her own garden, had acquired parts of other people's garden in the village. But this was not enough, so she now travels down to the road to the manor house and has acquired the long walled border, so beloved of Gertrude Jekyll, to also raise cutting flowers. At this stage, she is selling flowers for weddings. Her domain now includes part of the local garden centre as well.
And perhaps the true worth of gardening, the boots of Gertrud Jekyll, which adorns my book of the subject...
Your description of the village meeting reminds me of "The Vicar of Dibley". I'm with Nelson and I wonder if there is a Nelson support group to which I can subscribe? "Justice for Nelson!" By the way, is Nelson American? I only ask because you said he was a "hobo".
ReplyDeleteNo Nelson is English and we do protect him from the 'posh' villagers who probably see his smallholding as a 'Blott on the Landscape' which was a wicked spoof on the English. He gets his water from the stag pipe across the road, and can always be found wandering around Asda in Malton according to Paul. Eccentrics should always be allowed their small part of the countryside.
DeleteI was talking to a medicalman at a coffee morning recently and he said that most defibrillators were not necessary - don't know what to think on that score.
ReplyDeleteBut I love the Jekyll style of planting and you photograph shows it to perfection. If I remember there is a lovely small walled Gertrude Jekyll garden on Holy Island.
As for village groups and getting officers - oh dear, the eternal problem. Nobody wants to do them. Many years ago I was President of a local W I for years because nobody else wanted the job. Finally I was able to 'escape' because I had served the maximum term allowed. So good luck with all that.
It is funny as YP says. Before the need for a defibrillator, we had one of those solar signs that light up and says 'slow down' which cost a bomb annually, but we only get it for three weeks and then it goes off somewhere else. Though we did have it for 6 weeks over Xmas due to Paul sending a cross email to the council saying that it wasn't working, so we were allowed extra time on it.. Alison, chair of the gardening club had a 'rant' yesterday about how people do not step up the mark as far as committees are concerned. It is a problem everywhere.
DeleteI must admit that like the younger generations I would rather pitch in help when a particular project warrants it (witness the Student Climate Strikes) than sign up for regular ongoing roles. Should be possible to turn up to talk about gardens, even initiate things together, without those official roles?
ReplyDeleteGreat point about the need to grow flowers not import them. Means we need to learn to love the local varieties I guess. I know florists here now who grow or gather almost all their own flowers.
I suppose it is called delegation, and to make it more appetising we have to give names to the various jobs that need doing. Know my friend said she would not be on the committee this year because all she did was dry the cups and saucers up. The older generation still formalise most things, especially the men.
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