We had a stall at the Neville's Cross Easter Egg hunt last weekend, I hope that those of you who attended enjoyed the activity of planting a sunflower seed.
Please do keep us updated with the height of your sunflower seeds! To view more pictures of the egg hunt please visit our webpage https://nxeasteregghunt.weebly.com/gallery.html
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In a desperate attempt to get grab your interest and make you read on... I'll leave the bit about the idea of the Harry Potter themed garden/trail towards the end of the update so you have to read this post about a seemingly uninteresting subject.
When it comes to resident associations, Neville's Cross is quite different because the people who are involved in them are quite friendly and genuine with their intentions. They are fantastic people giving up their spare time to improve our surroundings for the benefit of our community. I had the great pleasure of meeting Michael Mason who volunteers for Sheraton Park Resident's Association and what a very pleasent and charming man he was! Michael showed me the pathways that run behind Sheraton Park and towards Observatory hill, a truly beautiful walk indeed! I am very keen to work with Mike to increase the local people's awareness of the pathways and hopefully create a bit of interest. My initial thoughts was to created an enchanted pathway with fairies hidden with the tree and beautiful knitted characters (I have created a knitting group called Neville's Cross Knit Club and we can be found on Facebook, who hopefully will be contributing their creations towards the community projects on-going). Now, I am planning very far ahead but Halloween would be a great time to unveil a Harry Potter themed trail. If you would like to get involved and help with these projects do get in touch! Especially of you have access to owls, that would be pretty awesome to have an owl display just before Halloween. Today neighbours Mark Ruddell, Jan Hutchinson (both from Transition Durham) and myself knocked on people's doors throughout Redhills Lane and surrounding streets to introduce ourselves and promote our idea of a community garden on Redhills Lane. The feedback we recieved was overwhelmingly positive!! We found that there was a mix of elderly people. families and people who have relocated from outside of the North East and outside of the country too! What was striking was that pople who currently do not have an active interest in gardening would still very much like to benefit from being near an attractive garden, especially if they can pick fresh herbs, fruit and vegetables. There was a great interest from parents who stated that having their children be involved and learn about gardening, wildlife and healthy eating. A lovely surprise was to hear that a couple who now have a family and lived nearby had originally met at the site of our proposed community garden (thye are still together after 15 years and now have three children!). It was wonderful to hear people's stories , perhaps we should create a romantic monument for them (ok, ok, perhaps a nice rose bush instead might be more likely on a shoe string budget!) A Neville's Cross based group called the North East Humanist's are holding a fundraising plant sale.
Neville's Cross plant swap member Susan Walker writes, 'We are hosting be a plant sale to raise funds for our charity of the year, Equal Arts and to share our surplus or unwanted plants. If you have some spare plants, or just ones you are tired of bring them along and donate them, if you would like some cheap plants come along and see what’s available, or just come along for a natter and some cake'. I don't know about you. but ...where you find cake... you'll find me for sure!! Hope that you can attend also! Time: 14:00 - 16:00 Date: April 8th Location: 86 Hastings Avenue, DH1 3QQ For more information please click on the links: The Equal Arts webpage :- https://www.equalarts.org.uk The North East Humanists:- https://www.northeast-humanists.org.uk Message from group member Michael Scorer:
May Street Allotments Durham City Allotment Details:- I have seven allotments, at May Street in Durham City, which are available to rent. May Street Allotments now feature on the Durham Local Food Network(DLFN):- http://www.durhamlocalfood.org.uk/?q=node/810 The DLFN Map shows the location accurately:- http://www.durhamlocalfood.org.uk/?q=map/node Street Map also shows the location accurately:- http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map.srf… The simplest way to access May Street Allotments is to go down the backlane adjacent to No32 May Street and through the door with a silver bolt directly ahead. Recently this door has been padlocked, but it is possible to see the allotments by looking over the fence some way down the back lane. Email:- [email protected] I had a great meeting last week with Stacey Porter (Volunteer and Engagement officer) and Jane Dunn (Staff Volunteering Officer) from Durham University's Staff Volunteering and Outreach group.
Durham University offers all staff members the opportunity to volunteer for up to 5-days a year during work time, subject to line manager approval (pro-rata for part-time members of staff) It comes with great pleasure to announce that we will be working in partnership once the permissions have been granted to start with our community garden. So, when the time comes staff can volunteer 5 days towards the Community Gardens (if and when they are approved) The Neville's Cross Christmas Festival or next years Neville's Cross Easter Egg hunt! What a great way to contribute to our community, have a change of scenery and still get paid! The outreach group already have many community projects on the go and they are also looking for businesses to come to them to volunteer their time. You can find out more information on their webpage:- https://www.dur.ac.uk/volunteer/ The last week has been trying for us all, cabin fever, shortage of bread and milk!
We are not the only ones who are facing distribution, our local wildlife have been effected too, please do remember to keep the bird feeders topped up and have water available to help our local birds survive. It has been recommended food that has high fat content would be especially helpful, including small chunks of fresh hard cheese (such as cheddar). Claire Thomas, RSPB Wildlife Advisor, said: “After enjoying the warmer conditions throughout January many of our favourite garden birds such as starlings, house sparrows, blue tits and blackbirds will be shocked by the sudden cold snap. Birds will be desperately searching for food, water and shelter to survive. “You can make a real difference to birds in your garden and improve their chances of surviving the harsh weather the Beast from the East will bring and successfully making it to breeding season. Birds don’t need much but by providing food, a supply of unfrozen water and somewhere to shelter from the elements, you will be rewarded with great views of wildlife in your back garden.” |
AuthorMandeep Smith, novice gardener! Archives
July 2018
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