Full On Autumn Maintenance!
1st November 2025 Newsletter
It has all been a bit frantic over the past couple of months as we tidied up after the dry summer and prepared everything for next year.
First, we had a visit from Rory Hart in early September, to spray the annual strip, before preparation and re-seeding for next year’s annuals.
Albanwise brought their efficient grass cutting machine a couple of weeks later, and young Finn carried out the essential cut & lift to make sure as many nutrients as possible are kept off the land.
Then Amanda Crown, from Bluestone Farm, came to rotavate the annual strip, plus the triangle area where the Barcham trees are planted. This area is being seeded with perennials.
A Big Thank You to our Volunteers!
A huge thank you to our team of volunteers who turned out over the last two weekends, firstly to plant hundreds of Spring flowering bulbs, and secondly to seed the annual strip and parts of the perennial meadow area. This should provide a more vigorius display next Spring, and might be the last time for a while that we have to do any extra seeding.
Robert, Judy, Angela,Sue,Chris, Janet, Marcus, Billy and Antony on seed sowing duties.
Autumn Bulb Planting
We bought a large quantity of native daffodil, bluebell, snowdrop and winter aconite bulbs, which volunteers planted in the triangle at the entrance to the field from the Village Hall direction. We look forward to seeing how these look come the Spring. Many thanks Billy & Judy, Janet & Antony, Marcus & Colin.
Memorial Trees
A special thank you to all of you who have donated a tree in memory of a loved friend or member of the family. We have just reached the total of 50 sponsored trees which has covered more than 50% of the total costs. The trees have survived more or less everything the English weather can throw at them, and we look forward to watching them grow.
General Maintenance
Thankfully we can now put away our water tank and hosepipes, after watering throughout the summer, and hope that the trees can make it through the winter by themselves.
Janek, who supervised the planting of the trees, is carrying out an inspection to review how they have survived the long summer draught. He will replace a couple of the trees which have died, as well as moving some trees from the western boundary and generally making sure that all the trees have an environment in which they can thrive.
Lewis English has done a great job throughout the year maintaining the meadow and, in particular, clearing the western boundary, which, this time last year, was just a thicket of brambles. Well done, Lewis and Jacob!
The above is a factual account of what has been achieved on Jubilee Meadow over the past year. What it does not show, is the enthusiasm, commitment, hard work, and pure enjoyment which the Trustees, and many of the volunteers have had from working together on this project. It is still very much a work in progress for the whole village and its visitors. Next year will be our third year and things are slowly beginning to come together. You are welcome to join in, as little or as much as you like. Just get in touch.