The weather hasn’t been on the side of gardeners lately and most of our our forays outside have been to knock snow off weighed-down evergreens or cut back sodden perennials where we could reach without trampling the ground. However our walks in the local neighbourhood or even peering out at the the winter wonderland have lifted our spirits and we’ve been sent some stunning photographs by Anita, Sophie & Rosalie this month to share with you all – many thanks. There are plenty more on our Gallery , please do take a look.

We have some good news that our members now have the opportunity to join Zoom gardening club meetings and a list of is available on our Programme 2021 page. We know that not everybody can join in but it’s something that we can offer to keep us going 
until we’re able to meet up again in person, which is of course what we all look forward to!   

There are many things to be cheerful about when you’re a gardener, even during a third lockdown – bulbs poking through, buds waiting to burst open, the days lengthening, the sparkle of snow! And a fabulous sunrise from your garden if you’re very lucky.. 

Our regular meetings are still on hold due to the current situation so in the meantime we are pleased to bring you a very seasonal http://www.cwggc.co.uk/gallery/ of photos shared from our member’s gardens and the local area, here are a few samples. Onwards and upwards as the GQT saying goes!   

…….and a very much better 2021! We are looking forward to when we will all be able to meet up again at some point next year and we thank you all for your continued support. In the meantime we will continue to update our members via email, and please do have a look at http://www.cwggc.co.uk/gallery/ for more Christmas photos plus some great snaps of our members’ gardens. Thank you to our contributors this month: Amy, Lesley, Rosalie, Sylvia, Wendy & Derek. Wishing everybody a peaceful Christmas and healthy New Year.     

This month, instead of Ron Rock’s fascinating talk on the Secret Lives Of Solitary Bees, we invite you to look through two new galleries of our members’ photographs http://www.cwggc.co.uk/gallery/ and see more of Sophie’s wonderful photos of fungi and a very autumnal Cannock Chase, how lucky we are to live here! The other gallery is of members’ gardens, including two examples of cloud pruning plus “before & afters” to show what a good sort out in the garden can do! Thank you to June, Lesley & Sophie for all of those. 

It looks as if we won’t be able to meet up again as a large group just yet although hope is on the horizon for sometime next year………in the meantime, happy gardening! 

 

Next Tuesday, if things had gone as originally planned, we would all have been meeting up for Graham & Jane Wagstaffe’s “And Now for Something Completely Different” presentation…but in the absence of that, we hope that you enjoy looking through our 2nd members’ gallery by clicking here http://www.cwggc.co.uk/gallery/ .

Thank you this time to our contributors Chris (shown here with her giant Echium), Ivy, Lesley, Lora, Pam, Rosalie & Val. Ivy’s beautiful Streptocarpus was given to her by Ann and has flowered all summer! Our new canine star is Frida, basking in her favourite outdoor spot. Please keep sending in your photos so that we can keep in touch this way.

At this time of year we would normally be posting photos of our annual produce show so in the sad absence of that, thank you to Mark & Elizabeth, Pam, Rosalie and Sylvia, who responded to our request for photos to keep us all in touch until we can hold our meetings again. Here are a few to start, and you can see them all by clicking on http://www.cwggc.co.uk/gallery/  

We hope that you enjoy looking at these, and will be encouraged to send in photos of your own garden, veg, fruit or wildlife during the coming months, especially as we move into the next season, and we will create more galleries to share them all. 

We have recently contacted all of our 90 members (some via their “email  buddies”) to advise that we have taken the reluctant decision that the sensible way forward in the current circumstances, with a club of our size & demographic, and with some of our planned autumn speakers unable to attend, is to cancel all our meetings for the rest of this year and review the situation in January.

We have already had some positive feedback on this decision and some suggestions which we are currently considering. We are truly sorry that we cannot all meet up at present and we look forward to the time when it will be possible. In the meantime, we hope that everybody continues to enjoy their gardens and stay safe.

Whilst we are unable to meet in person we have invited all our club members to share photographs of their gardens, favourite plants, vegetables or wildlife to keep us all connected. We gave three different ways that photos could be sent to our coordinator and we will post a few every month on our website blog, hopefully with enough for a gallery page too. To start us off, here are are a few favourites from my own garden: 

We hope that you are all keeping well and have been able to take full advantage of the good weather that’s been with us for a while to enjoy your gardens. And we did need this recent rain!

We know that many of our members are shielding, and others are busy helping family, friends & their community during these challenging times. We’ve heard some heartwarming tales from those of you who have put out spare plants for free collection by passers-by, and been unexpectedly rewarded by thank you notes and small gifts from the grateful recipients!

Lockdown is gradually easing but we appreciate that most of you will not relish the prospect of being in a room for a couple of hours with a large group of people even when permitted. As the health and safety of our members is our priority we have reluctantly taken the decision to cancel our July and August club meetings plus our August produce show. Val our programme secretary is working hard to rearrange all the speakers for the future as she had such an excellent programme for us. We’ll be contacting all members by email or phone call about this as we know that not everybody has access to the website.

 Our club has been thriving, with membership numbers at their highest, regular meetings and all events well supported. We’ve missed out on our cheese and wine evening after the AGM, coach trips, a summer social event that was in the planning and of course last weekend we were going to support Val & Steve Wroe’s garden opening in aid of the Gentleshaw Wildlife Centre  https://gf.me/u/x3mq3w 

But we look forward to brighter times – onwards and upwards as the saying goes!