• 2025 Best Kept Front Garden Competition

Peter Jackson from Scotsdales very kindly did the final judging on June 24th, he was very impressed with the gardens he judged:

First place: Hilary Mungovan, 55 Station Rd
Joint Second place: Katie Hayward, 9 St Laurence Rd and Rachel Kirby, 3 Mortimers Lane

Many congratulations to them and to all who won their area. As usual the cup will be presented at the village show.

• Village Show, Saturday September 13th 2025

Every house in the village will receive a copy of the show schedule this month. A copy of the programme is also available to view here. Do enter (if only one item), come along in the afternoon to see the exhibits, have some refreshments, enter the raffle and enjoy a “catch up” with friends and neighbours. In recent years we have been blessed with lovely weather for the show but whatever the weather the show is a great celebration of life in our lovely village.

• Photography workshop

Many thanks to everyone who joined our photography workshop on Sunday 20th July 2025. The morning began with Catherine Cairns and Rachel Macintyre giving an enlightening overview of the history and conservation activities in the Dovecot Meadow. This was followed by local photographer André Neves giving a introduction to flower and insect photography taking us through the concepts, equipment and methods. He then lead our group out into the meadow for some practical photography experience. In the afternoon, we held an exhibition of André’s wildlife photography from the local area and also from his travels.

The gallery below shows some of our photographers in action in the meadow and also some fantastic shots of flowers and insects taken on the day by Torrie Smith, Theresa Penfound and Rebecca Rajendra.

You can find out more about André’s photography here and on his website.

• Help our bees!

The recent hot and dry spells have left meadows parched and the impact on wildlife is considerable. Although some insects such as butterflies, wasps and ladybirds have thrived, bee populations have been heavily affected.

Wild About Gardens, which is linked to the RHS and The Wildlife Trust, has produced helpful information focusing on a different wildlife conservation theme every year. These action packs  provide a guide on how we can help and encourage a range of creatures such as hedgehogs, beetles, worms, bees and bats. A link to their guide on how we can help bees, which have been particularly impacted by the heatwaves, can be found here and more information is on their website. Thanks to André Neves for the link!

• Sign up for our wildlife photography workshop, Sunday 20th July 2025

Please get in touch  as soon as possible using the website contact form if you would like to book a place on our wildlife and flower practical photography workshop in the Dovecot Meadow run by local photographer André Neves. This will be a great opportunity to learn, improve or advance your skills photographing our local flora and fauna. The morning workshop will be open to all levels of experience and equipment but limited to 20 participants (minimum age 16) and cost £5. In the afternoon, there will be a free to attend print exhibition and sale in the hall of some of André’s local wildlife images.

Tentative schedule:
09:30 – 09:40 Greetings and brief introduction of programme and speakers
09:40 – 10:00 Introduction to conservation activities in the Dovecot Meadow
10:00 – 10:20 Introduction to flower and insect photography
10:30 – 12:00 Practical session in the Meadow
12:00 – 13:00 Review w/ refreshments and exhibition browse
13:00 End of practical workshop
14:00 – 16:00 Local Wildlife Photography: exhibition and print sale by André

• Village Show, Saturday September 13th 2025

Every house will receive a copy of the show schedule in August so don’t forget to put the date in your diary! The categories for the Photography and Craft categories at the Village Show to be held on Saturday, September 13th 2024, are as follows:

Photos:

1. 1. 1. Wildlife
      2. Village life
      3. Urban life
      4. Night life
      5. Home life

Craft, and an example of:

1. 1. 1. Painting
      2. Embroidery or tapestry
      3. Knitting or crochet
      4. Sewing
      5. Greetings card in any medium
      6. Mosaic in any medium

• Return of the 2024 cups

Cup holders from last year’s Village Show are asked to return them for engraving to IAN CONSTABLE, 11 Illingworth Way. tel 871508 (ian.constable1@ntlworld.com) as soon as possible and certainly by the end of July.

• Open gardens

Our Open Gardens event was a great success! We would like to thank everyone who joined in, whether you opened you own garden, visited the gardens in the village, enjoyed tea and cake in the church (thanks to all our cake-makers and to Catherine Cairns in particular for her selection of homemade jams!) or made donations.  More than £400 was raised for this year’s chosen charity Help for Heroes!