The Garden Party!

You might have been expecting our Garden Party a while back. It was postponed from 5th July because everything was so behind due to the poor weather and it turned out to have been a good call, because we had fantastic weather today, and we were able to harvest lots of food for the event. It was brilliant when all the coleslaw disappeared to be able to just go and pick the ingredients for another batch! The roasted courghettes were also home grown - in fact Tracey is sure that they grew between the start and finish of the event...

Our many visitors had lots to do. We welcomed back Pulp Friction, who brought their famous smoothy bike and supplied everyone with delicious concoctions, all created with a bit of human-powered blending. They also brought their mini-tandem which uses child-labour to make bubbles - a huge hit!

Add caption

Spots vs. Stripes made another return visit, and soon had everyone taking part in skittles and giant jenga, whilst Rosy helped visitors to make a super bottle-top mosaic to decorate the fence. There were also trails to spot mice and teddies, which were a big hit.

Sarah from Walk on the Wildside came to show folk how to make dream-catchers, which were very popular, and Shona from Fig Local helped to make and serve a lot of the food. Tracey turned up with a carrot cake decorated by herself and Kath, the lovely lady who created our fabulous logo.

Jo Bradley, the Executive Director of Groundwork Greater Nottingham was on hand to present certificates to both our volunteers and those who have been giving up their free time to work with Sarah on the WoW project. We were also delighted to welcome back our local Councillors, Glyn Jenkins and Mohammed Saghir.

Our volunteers with Jo Bradley and our local councillors

With the well-earned certificates

We are also delighted to report that the event was a lot greener than last year! Dan inaugurated the new (well, new to us!) lawnmower which is push-powered, so our lawn didn't need any fossil fuel to get it in trim for the party. Then at the do itself, apart from having used quite a bit of our own produce for the food, we were also using charcoal made from locally coppiced wood by the Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust, so we reckon that made it a carbon neutral barbeque. We managed to get nearly all re-useable or compostable utensils and plates, and a lot of the guests walked or cycled to get there. Now we just need to finish off the clay oven, and we can be producing our own pizzas and breads as well!

It was great to see so many folk there, and to get so many positive comments afterwards.

Well done to everyone who helped on the day - you were all stars!