Where :The Orchard, Jubilee Wood
When: Saturday 7th October 10.30am
Come and join us for the annual community apple pressing event alongside demonstrations of green wood craft.
Please bring along any apples and pears for a morning of peeling/chopping/crushing and make fresh juice.
You may want to bring along a seat/chair and a container to take juice home.
AND, in the evening there is the Harvest Festival, Supper and Auction in Winwick – see previous posts in Forthcoming Events
Bring alongs:
Photos from the 2012 Wassail!!
Offers of fruit or apple cakes most welcome. This is a family event so please join us.
Dressing up to suit a pagan festival is optional.
More details and reminders as we approach the event date.
Come along for a fun afternoon on Sunday 5th June for Picnic and Pétanque.
The play is open to teams of two, aged 12 or over. Alternative games for the under 12s.
Bring a picnic, play pétanque, or just relax and spectate. A tasty barbecue and local beer will be available for a non-profit contribution and there’ll be prizes and a coveted trophy for the winning team!
Where: Pétanque Court, next to the allotments in the Jubilee Wood, Great Gidding
What time: You are welcome to set up your chair/gazebo/picnic spot from 1pm. Play will start at 2pm (weather permitting).
So bring your family and friends, a picnic, and your boules sets if you have them and are happy to share with others (wipes will be available).
Everybody is very welcome as either player or spectator.
(paulcrank@thegiddings.org.uk)
Hope to see you there! 🤗🤓
The play is open to Giddings teams of two, aged 12 or over. Alternative games for the under 12s.
Bring a picnic, play pétanque, or just relax and spectate. A tasty barbecue and local beer will be available for a non-profit contribution and there’ll be prizes and a coveted trophy for the winning team!
Where: Petanque Court, next to the allotments in the Jubilee Wood, Great Gidding
When: Sunday 5th June 2022
What time: You are welcome to set up your chair/gazebo/picnic spot from 1pm. Play will start at 2pm (weather permitting).
So bring your family and friends, a picnic, and your boules sets if you have them and are happy to share with others (wipes will be available).
Everybody is very welcome as either player or spectator. If you’d like to play please let Paul or Krystyna know by 15th May.
(paulcrank@thegiddings.org.uk)
Hope to see you there! 🤗🤓
This coming Saturday, 5th February, there will be a working party in the Jubilee Wood, to tidy up the recently trimmed shrubs and trees. Michael will be there from 9.30AM, come along with heavy duty gloves as the main activity will be to add to the “dead hedge” (a structure made of the trimmings/prunings, to create a habitat for wildlife – come and see or take a look at the video below).
In addition, thanks to donations to the Great Gidding Charity, fruit trees have been purchased to be planted in the remaining spaces in the Orchard. These fruit trees have Royal associated names and will be planted to mark the Accession of Queen Elizabeth II to the throne, and the start of her Platinum Jubilee Year. At 11.00AM, there will be a rest from the activity, bring along a flask (you choose the contents), there will be cake, and we will drink a toast to Her Majesty.
Please spread the word to your neighbours, and join us at 9.30 AM or 11.00 AM.
WHEN:This coming Saturday, 23rd October from 10.30AM
WHERE: in the Orchard at Jubilee Wood, so wear appropriate clothing and footwear for the weather
(if it is too wet/windy/cold we will relocate to the Village Hall)
Bring along your apples and pears for a morning of peeling/chopping/crushing and make fresh juice. You may want to bring along a seat/chair and a container to take juice home
Other activities are planned (weather and venue dependent).
If you have apples or pears to spare, and can’t attend on the day, please drop them off at Manor Site Farm/87 Main Street.
Look forward to seeing you on Saturday.
This beautiful flowering cherry tree was planted in the Jubilee Wood in October 2014, firstly in memory of Lois Jordan and secondly to thank Lois for all her efforts to make life in the Giddings such a joy.
For twelve years Lois carried out the duties of Church Warden and her grave may be seen in the grounds of St Michael’s Church, Great Gidding. Her lovely smile and her kindness to all are missed by many residents.
Third in my Autumn Lights series, still more to finish. This was set near the bridle path that runs up to the gallops just past Alconbury Brook.
Gidding resident Geoff Goddard has recently finished the second stunning painting of Ashlea, part of a series called ‘Autumn Lights’ which endeavours to show the low autumn light and how this creates rich colours and shadows which in turn play on the face.
Keep an eye out for more of Geoff’s captivating work.
The painting is by artist Geoff Goddard, a resident of Great Gidding. Geoff retired six years ago from Head of Visual Arts at a secondary school in St Neots where he taught for 25 years.
In Geoff’s words:
“I have a small garden studio where I like to explore a range of styles and techniques but there is often a human element in my work, whether through digital, drawing or painting. My work ranges from conventional portraits or layered images to more narrative approaches. Realism is fundamental to all my work and I revel in details and subtle changes in colour and tone. I’m a Member of the Cambridge Drawing Society and Associate Member of the Institute of East Anglian (IEA), exhibiting work in Cambridge, Holt in Norfolk and Royal Birmingham Society of Artists (RBSA).
I asked Ashlea if she would be willing to pose for a series of paintings called ‘Autumn Light’. She agreed and I took a range of reference photos in the Jubilee Wood and later in the field by the side of Alconbury brook. This portrait is the first in the series.”
We look forward to seeing more of Geoff’s work soon!
Sue Hebb and Val Warner collected Lottie & Pixie from Peterborough Hedgehog Hospital and are making sure that they have the right food and housing to keep them well looked after as the colder weather approaches.
Sue has kindly offered some hedgehog tips:
“There is so much happening at the moment that could affect hedgehogs – e.g. don’t leave pumpkins out for too many days after Halloween as it will give them upset tummies; if you’re having a bonfire, check underneath for any hedgehogs before lighting it and If you’re tidying up the garden be aware that hedgehogs might be sleeping in messy overgrown corners, under compact bushes or hedges, so be careful when you are digging in the spade or fork.”
And this link is a great source of information too:
https://www.spikesfood.co.uk/helping-hedgehogs/
Look out for Sue & Val’s hedgehog updates on the Giddings website!
A group of Oxfordshire villagers have devised a novel way of helping hedgehogs to move around freely away from the main road as they have created holes in their fences and walls so that hedgehogs can wander from garden to garden. Full article from the Observer dated 18th October:
Of course there is a practical reason for that rather than our avian friends having oracular powers, as on fine days insects are swept up high on warm thermal currents rising from the ground and that’s what the swallows feed on. No doubt we’ll all remember August as being hot and balmy which made it difficult to sleep at night but it was actually only a few days, followed by that spectacular thunder and rain which caught a few of us out as we forgot to close all the windows or was it only me?
One Sunday early on in the month, several of us ventured down to the wood to try our hand at being artistic. Thanks go to Julie Trolove for providing us with greenery and grasses to get us started and for making a large weaving frame out of hazel and string. All started well with the sun shining and enthusiastic helpers having a go but as the building clouds darkened and the first spots of rain fell, we gatherers ended up searching for cover under the trees rather than material for weaving! Unfortunately it wasn’t going to be a short shower that day, but more of a prolonged and heavy downpour, so drenched but still smiling, we decided that this was an activity for another, drier day!
Many of us are still lucky enough to hear some birdsong in our gardens at this time of year but might be disappointed not to see and hear them in the wood. The reason for their lack of appearance is very likely due to their seasonal moult. They are keeping out of sight in dense vegetation because they are moulting their feathers and are more susceptible to predators. Moulting is costly in terms of energy for birds so usually takes place when conditions are favourable for them, such as after breeding when there is an abundance of food and cover. A little research revealed some interesting facts about the time different species take to moult: a Blue Tit takes about 6 weeks, a Herring Gull can take 6 months and a Buzzard may take several years for a complete change of flight feathers. Keratin needed to make feathers is less abundant in vegetation than in insects, so seed eating birds like Chaffinches usually take a couple of weeks longer to moult than insect eating birds like Robins and Dunnocks. It would be good to know how long it takes the Red Kites who constantly soar over the wood to moult, but even they seem to have been less noisy this month. The dawn chorus is also much quieter, if heard at all, as summer draws on and most birds have attracted their mates and raised their chicks so have less need to sing and protect their territory. Some families of birds such as blue or long tailed tits can occasionally be sighted as they forage for food in and out of the trees and long grasses but others such as the swifts and swallows are already gathering together to fly back to Africa.
Swifts are one of the first species to migrate and will moult back in Africa but the swallows can be seen lining up on the telephone lines chittering away to each other in preparation for their long flight back. You can see them dip down for water as they glide over the Jubilee Wood pond (which is now at quite a low level) if you are lucky enough. W.H.Davies’ poem, Leisure, often comes to mind when watching them, ‘…A poor life this, if full of care, We have no time to stand and stare.’ We don’t even have to stand thanks to the lovely arbour we have by the pond!
The start of colder temperatures and the passing of the months is a reminder that there will soon be different migrants arriving at our shores as others leave us. This ever changing landscape has encouraged some of us to think about keeping a record of what species of flora, fauna and fungi can be found in the Jubilee Wood throughout the year.
If anyone is interested in helping with this task, please let us know by emailing: specieslist@thegiddings.org.uk.
No experience is necessary to send in sightings, via specieslist@thegiddings.org.uk, of things you’ve found in the wood. There will be fliers coming around for those who don’t have access to or like using a computer to explain the details but all that’s needed is your name, the name of the species seen, the date and time, and what part of the wood it was seen in. Contact details would be helpful and if two of you can verify the sighting that’s even better. Please send a message if you want further information about this but it’s very much an amateur attempt at record keeping which will hopefully involve as many of the community as possible and provide an interesting snapshot of the wood for the future. We’ll attempt to respond to any messages as soon as possible, but please be patient if you have to wait a Wandererday or two.
Hoping the weather stays favourable for many a wander in the Jubilee Wood as we head into Autumn…
The Wood Wanderer