The RHS judges visited the Fernery 12 months after their 2018 visit which resulted in the Friends of Danesbury Fernery winning the 2018 Anglia in Bloom Conservation Award.
Anglia in Bloom – Judging
Archives for July 2019
Welwyn Festival Award
The Friends of Danesbury Fernery were privileged to have been included as one of the chosen local charities to benefit from the 2019 Welwyn Festival.
I am sure you will all share the delight that Andrew and I felt last night when on behalf of the Friends of Danesbury Fernery we collected a cheque in the sum £1000 from the Welwyn Festival Committee at the 2019 Awards and Presentation evening. The award was presented as the ‘Andy Trotter Award‘, and presented by Andy himself.
We thanked the Festival Committee for their generous award, and for their recognition of the hard work and passionate contribution the volunteers had made since September 2015 when restoration of the Victorian Fernery in an old chalk pit started. Although work is still in progress, the Fernery has already reached a beautiful heritage state.
We are getting a huge amount of praise from the local community, and the pressure is now on to add to our team strengths and ensure that our success continues into the years to come.
We always welcome new volunteers, and have a range of work on the Local Nature Reserve and in the Fernery to suit all ages and strengths. We also need more support to operate our Facebook and Twitter pages, and assistance with the operation of this website.
If you are able to help, even on an occasional basis, please contact us at
Notice of Work Party – Thursday 18th July 2019
Long Range Weather Forecast
Light cloud and a moderate breeze
Objectives
As mentioned in previous Notices, we now plan to resume scrub-bashing tasks in the Park Field since the bird nesting season is past.
Depending on available volunteer resources, we therefore plan to operate two separate work parties on Thursday 18th July 2019 as follows.
The Fernery Gardening Group
Leader Andrew Beattie
Weeding and watering will always be on the menu, plus more planting.
North West Bank
Since the last scheduled work party, half of the North West bank has been dressed with mulch and planted-up with Jenny’s wild flowers.
This was accomplished in readiness for the visit of the Anglia in Bloom judging last Tuesday 9th July. But in Harry’s absence we might not have sufficient resource to complete this task until a later work party.
North East Bank
The newly profiled North East Bank was seeded with grass last week and now needs to be watered to give it a start.
Perimeter Area
We need to continue the task of strimming around the whips and small saplings in the perimeter area, to stop the growth of smothering weeds.
General Tidy up for Visitors
Extra tasks will include leaf blowing and general tidying up because on Saturday afternoon 20th July a group of visitors are expected from the East Anglia Section of BPS (The British Pteridological (Fern) Society). Andrew and Colin will act as leaders for this visit and support volunteers will not be needed.
Nature Reserve Maintenance Group
Leaders: Lucy Alexander and Richard Darby
From July 2019 round to March/April 2020 we plan to form a second working party.
Depending on the number of resources available, the Nature Reserve working party will, as a priority, return to the ancient track that was cleared last March. It has become overgrown once again, and a good general clear up is called for.
A priority task list will be drawn up for future work.
Meeting Place
All volunteers should meet at the Fernery at 9.30 am where the leaders will allocate tasks and distribute appropriate tools for both working parties.
How to find the Fernery
If you have not visited us before you will be made very welcome. Please read the directions to find us.
Bring a hot drink and refreshments with you, and wear strong boots or shoes and good quality gardening gloves.
On arrival, for Borough Council (the Owners) Public Liability Insurance purposes, you will be asked to Register with us before you start work.
The BPS Expect – Saturday 20th July 2019
Saturday 20th July 2019 – BRITISH PTERIDOLOGICAL SOCIETY- (BPS) Visit.
The East Anglia Group of the British Fern Society have been invited to visit the Danesbury Fernery on Saturday 20th July. Detailed plans are being drawn up and we will announce detailed timings as soon as they have been agreed. Some BPS visitors will be travelling from as far afield as Norfolk.
This is a return for the October 2018 visit that Andrew Beattie organised when a small group of the Friends of Danesbury travelled to Norwich to attend an East Anglian meeting organised by EA Representative Peter Blake and group members. We will need to be on our toes when they visit us!
Colin has been busy for months labelling many of our specimen ferns, or should that be ‘specimens of our ferns’?
We will see. We have a lot to learn from our BPS visitors.
We never closed – Anglia in Bloom – judging next week
Following close on the heels of the success of the Welwyn Festival Open Garden Evening in June we are busy preparing the site once again for judging on Tuesday morning 9th July, this time not by 170+ members of Welwyn’s community, but by the (RHS) judges of the Anglia in Bloom Competition 2019.
The Friends of Danesbury Fernery were very proud to have been awarded the Conservation Prize in 2018, but we are not resting on our laurels, nor our ferns, and we seek further success. This time the Borough Council have grouped our Entry with ‘Welwyn Village’, in a ‘special’ category which will include among other sites, the Parish Allotments, a private garden and Welwyn High Street.
These are exciting times and, just this week, we have been working hard with the help of the Borough Council’s contractors, to further improve planting beds, to re-profile the North East slope, and to contain the North West slope with a heavy membrane to stop further slippage of the chalky bank and allow more planting. Of great significance, particularly with the current run of dry weather, is that we have managed to bury hosepipe extensions so that watering at the North end of the Fernery will now be very much more practical.
The volunteers are putting in an extra Thursday work party on Thursday 4th July to prepare the site for the Anglia in Bloom judges.