Remember! Great Gidding Village Show – Saturday 6th September.

Remember! Great Gidding Village Show – Saturday  6th September.

After such a wet start to the year it’s been good to see the sunshine and feel the soil warming up a bit.

There’s been lots of activity on the allotments and the annual anxieties of whether it’s too early or too late to sow or plant out have been occupying most of the conversations. Seeds are finally germinating in the warmer soil but many of us don’t fully trust the weather and have been starting seeds off in modules.

Vegetables and prize winning flowers

Hopefully there’s room in your gardens for some vegetables as well as prize winning flowers. This is a good time as hopes are high but don’t forget to prepare as best you can for all the pests and diseases which are waiting round the corner… use netting on brassicas against the cabbage white butterflies and put fine mesh over the carrot rows if you want to stop the pesky carrot root flies from laying their eggs in your beautiful prize winning exhibits.

Children too!

We’re really pleased that we’ve already had some requests for schedules from other areas and hope that we might get more entries from children this year, especially as the cup awarded for the winner of the Children’s section is worth having on display!

Who’s the best at cooking?

Remember, the baking section is open to all, so let’s have more men trying their cooking skills against those of the ladies. Go on, give it a try…

For schedules/queries please contact Sue Jarvis. E-mail: jartrap@aol.com or tel: 01832 293271.

'poached egg plant' Limnanthes douglasii] which the bees love and everyone should grow to encourage pollinators into their garden!

‘Poached egg plant’ (Limnanthes douglasii) which the bees love and everyone should grow to encourage pollinators into their garden!

Swing Night is a huge success

Swing Night is a huge success

Giddings teamwork is a marvellous thing and on Saturday night the ‘swing team’ had risen to the not undaunting challenge of transforming GG Village Hall into a spectacular night club redolent of the popular and vibrant era of big band swingtime. What a success! The room was transformed with swathes of translucent fabric delicately lit from behind with hundreds of tiny bulbs, with large circular tables adding to the nightclub feel.

Fortissimo played ‘BIG BAND’

But what’s a nightclub without music? And wowee – the 16 piece Fortissimo played ‘BIG BAND’ with such exhuberence that most folks took to the floor at some point during the evening. The beautiful voice of singer Lyn Jones – known to some of us through her GG pantomime days – took us through all of our swing favourites until sadly the evening was over far too quickly.

A big thanks to the organisers

So many people helped with decorating the hall, preparing a lovely meal and manning the bar but special thanks must go to the core organisers Mary Read, Sue Shepherd, Jane Edwards and Anthea Keck for helping to raise funds for St Michael’s Church. You all did a great job!

Photos of the ‘swingers’!

Great Gidding visit to two of Peterborough’s mosques

Great Gidding visit to two of Peterborough's mosques

Following the highly successful visit by Gidding residents to the Bharat Hindu Samaj Temple in June, the group visited two mosques in Peterborough last Wednesday evening.

The visit, arranged by Gidding residents, began with a tour of the Faizan e Madina Mosque guided by our very welcoming host Ansar Ali. The Faizan e Madina Mosque, purpose built in 2004, is the largest of the five mosques in Peterborough and accommodates up to 4000 people.

Faidhan-E-Madina Mosque Peterborough
Faizan e Madina Mosque

An opportunity to ask questions

We then moved on to visit the Khadijah Mosque Islamic Centre close by in Cromwell Road. Here we were invited to observe the mens evening prayer session before joining the members of the community in an evening meal. During the meal we chatted with our hosts and were able to ask many questions. The Centre welcomes visits from groups and individuals, as Ansar Ali explained, “These gatherings are designed to create mutual understanding. We also like to share a meal with our guests.”

Friendly welcome

The Giddings group found it a most interesting and rewarding evening and were all very touched by the warm and friendly welcome we received. Our thanks to Ansar Ali, his brothers and sisters.

Our hosts included: Saleha Zafar, Muzaffar Hussain, Nadeem Dar, Atiyyah Zafar, Tahir Masood, Zaheer Abbas, Ameir Usman, Ansar Ali and Fiaz Kausar.

Photographs of the evening’s event

Photos and report by Krystyna Wojcik

Great Gidding Aunt Sally Tournament 2013 – photos

Great Gidding Aunt Sally Tournament 2013 – photos

The 2013 Great Gidding Aunt Sally Tournament on August Bank Holiday was blessed with fine weather and a good crowd. Michael organised a well run event with six throws per person per round and six rounds in all. A good turnout meant there was plenty of time between throws for a chat and catching up with village gossip. And Chris at the Fox and Hounds ensured we were topped up with drinks and a selection of sandwiches. There was a real competitive spirit throughout the afternoon as most people didn’t want to take the ‘Marmite Challenge’ – an extra element added by Michael at several points during the tournament for the worst throw/silliest moment/hopeless cause!

…We’d all like to say a BIG thank you to Michael for organising such a fun afternoon.

A message from the organiser…

Thank you everyone for your support. A worthy winner and runner up, Mathew and Adam. Thank you Calum and Patrick for keeping the scoreboard updated, Paul and Krystyna for the sponsorship fizz and Chris at the Fox and Hounds for some excellent sandwiches and finally thanks for the Met Office for a correct weather forecast.

Regards Michael.

Photos: Great Gidding Gala Exhibition

Photos: Great Gidding Gala Exhibition

Saturday 13th July saw the opening of a two day art exhibition in St Michael’s Church as part of the Great Gidding Gala Week festivities. There was a wide range of high quality work from numerous villagers and also displays by Great Gidding School and the After School Club.

Thank you to all who took part and to the organisers for putting on such a good show.

The Village Produce Show

The Village Produce Show

The Annual Produce Show will be on Saturday 7th September.

Latest posts first, scroll down for show schedule.

June 2013

Only 3 months to go and the pressure is on. The weather is at last trying to help and plants are in catch up mode.

Latest concept in bird detterents Veg in raised beds The allotments holders are setting the pace

 

April

 SHOW SCHEDULE

Vegetables and Fruit

1      Carrots                                 3

2      Potatoes (white)                     5 on a plate

3      Potatoes (coloured)                5 on a plate

4      Courgettes                            2

5      Shallots                                5

6      Onions                                  3 – each under 225 g

7      Onions                                  3 – each over 225 g

8      Runner Beans                        6

9      Longest Runner Bean              1

10    Leeks                                   3

11    Dwarf French Beans                6

12    Beetroot                               3

13    Sweetcorn                             2

14    Tomatoes                              5

15    Cherry Tomatoes                    8

16    Vegetable marrow                   1

17    Apples (dessert)                    5

18    Apples (cooking)                    5

19    Pears                                   5

20    Plums                                   5

21    Collection of cut herbs, 4 varieties in one container

22    Biggest Pumpkin

23    Largest Onion

24    Largest Marrow

25    Top Tray, collection of 3 kinds of vegetables on a tray, selected from the following, number as indicated in brackets.  Onions(3) Potatoes(3) Runner Beans(6) Tomatoes(6) Carrots with tops(6) Parsnips with tops (3)

 

Plants and Flowers

1       Three decorative Dahlias

2       Cut Chrysanthemum – single stem

3       Five cut Roses

4       Gladioloi – 3 stems of same variety

5       Gladioli -5 stems of any varieties

6       Vase of Crocosmia – 3 stems

7       Agapanthus single stem

8       Cactus or Succulent – 1 specimen

9       Best Pot-Plant

10     Top Vase – between 5 and 10 stems of at least 2 varieties

Jam and Chutney – made since 2012 Village Show

1      Jam              Any fruit

2      Jelly             Any fruit

3     Chutney        All ingredients to be listed on label

 

Baking

 

  1. 1.  Apple Cake
Ingredients

  • 225g butter, softened, plus extra for greasing
  • 450g cooking apples
  • Finely grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
  • 225g caster sugar, plus extra for dredging
  • 3 large eggs
  • 225g self-raising flour
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 25g ground almonds
  • 1 tbsp demerara sugar

 

 

METHOD

 

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/fan160°C/gas4. Grease a deep 23-24cm springform cake tin and line with baking paper. Peel, core and cut the apples into 1cm pieces, and toss with the lemon juice.

2. Using an electric hand whisk, cream together the butter, caster sugar and lemon zest in a bowl until pale and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, 1 at a time, adding a little flour with each addition to keep the mixture smooth.

3. Sift the remaining flour and the baking powder into the bowl and fold in with the ground almonds. Drain the apple pieces well, then stir into the mixture.

4. Spoon into the prepared cake tin, lightly level the top and sprinkle with the demerara sugar. Bake in the oven for 1 hour or until well-risen, brown and a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean. If the cake starts to look a little too brown, cover with a sheet of baking paper after about 45 minutes.

5. Leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes. Remove the cake from the tin and place on a serving plate. Dredge heavily with the extra caster sugar.

 2       Fruit cake – any size /type of fruit3      Plain Scones      5 on a plate4      Cheese Scones   5 on a plate

5      Sausage Rolls    5 on a plate – shortcrust pastry

6      Bread –  5 White rolls,made by hand

7      Bread – Wholemeal loaf made by machine

8      Shortcake              5 on a plate

 

Craft Section

1      Knitted  handicraft item completed since last year

2      Hard handicraft item completed since last year[woodwork/pottery/metal]

3       An item of patchwork or quilting

4      A hand-made greetings card.

5       Any sewn item, including clothes

 

Miscellaneous

1      Six Brown eggs

2      Six White eggs

3       Bottle of Home made wine

4       Bottle of home made sloe gin. Made in last 2 years

 

 

Children’s Section (under 15)

 

1a    Tallest sunflower                              Age up to and including 10 years

1b    Tallest sunflower                              Age 11 and over

2      Animal made from vegetables and/or flowers

3      A scarecrow (as big as you like)

4      A decorated cup cake    Age up to and including 10 years

5      A decorated cup cake made by entrant   Age 11 and over

6      A decorated hard boiled eg

7      Something made from a kit eg. Woodwork,models,

Soft toy

 

 

March
All the details to follow.

Hopefully the protracted winter will relent soon so that we can get seeds and plants under-way but heading up to Easter 2013 it doesn’t look promising especially for those new potato planters who use Easter as a calendar reference for sowing

Web links that may or may not help you in your quest for produce perfection

Don’t despair take a look at this website for inspiration on how to grow show veg and here for everyday veg

Not to be left out for the cooks amongst you, some baking tips from down under and a taster from Jam World

Gala week visit to Peterborough Hindu Temple

Morning tour of Bharat Hindu Samaj Temple

A good number of Gidding residents spent a delightful morning attending the joyous ceremony of Aarti at the Bharat Hindu Samaj in Peterborough. Following the ceremony – in which we were all invited to take part – our very knowledgeable guide for the morning, Gita, explained the Hindu philosophy and gave us a brief introduction to the role of Brahma and the nine, so far, reincarnations of Vishnu.

Spicelands for lunch

Following drinks the party then departed to Spicelands for lunch (unfortunately I can’t report on that because we had to go back to work! But I bet it was lovely).

Krystyna

Photos: Great Gidding School Summer Fete 2013

Photos: Great Gidding School Summer Fete 2013

What a cracking day for the school fete! Scorching sun brought lots of parents, children and village residents along to Great Gidding School on Saturday 6th July for the annual school fete.

This year a very special guest, Warwick Davis, kindly opened the fete and made us all laugh with his warmth and wit – along with some very unpretentious name-dropping! Lots of stalls displaying everything from temporary tattoos to tempting cupcakes kept everyone happy and the afternoon was a great success.

Photos: Great Gidding Gala July 2013 – History Walk

The first Giddings event of Gala Week kicked off with a wonderful tour yesterday evening of Anglo Saxon Great Gidding, led by archaeology historian Josie Barnacle and ably aided by Patrick Ellis.

Instead of peering over the gates, it was a delight to be able to walk across fields that had been opened especially for the event and to see the location of the old windmill, hollow ways and indications of Anglo Saxon housing platforms. The sun shone as we wandered along the old road, sloping down from the site of the windmill to where the open marketplace had once bustled.

Further round and we saw part of the moat that possibly once encircled an old manor house, from there leading on to St Michael’s Church via Church Lane – now commonly known to all as ‘the jitty’ (or should we spell that with a ‘g’ as we’re in GG).

Josie had handed out maps at the start of the walk – some dating from 1641 and others from a later date, so it was very interesting to follow our track and see how the settlement had expanded away from the original location. Many facts, stories and anecdotes were imparted throughout the walk and many thanks to the Gala committee and Michael & Julie for tip top refreshments at the end of the walk.

Photos: An Evening in the Garden June 22nd

Photos: An Evening in the Garden June 22nd

‘An Evening in the Garden’ (in support of Emily Read’s expedition to the Arctic) took place at Crown Cottage, Great Gidding on Saturday 22nd June and featured the Peter Shepherd Jazz Trio and King’s School Swing Band.

A note from Emily:

Thank you hugely to everybody who supported the summer garden party on the 22nd of June in aid of my BES trip to the arctic this summer, sitting in the blustery wind, listening to the Peter Sheppard Jazz Trio and King’s School Swing Band. Thanks also the Bill the horse and his assistants behind the bar, everybody who helped massively behind the scenes with marquee assemble/dissemble team, all involved in the provision of food, decoration and generally keeping the night running! I will think of you all warmly as I’m trekking across a glacier.

Emily Read

We all wish her a great time and a safe journey.