KIRTON AND FALKENHAM GARDENERS CLUB November meeting – Thursday 10th. November - Matthew Tanton Brown ‘ The Fragrant Garden Throughout the Year ‘ 7.30pm Village hall. October meeting Our talk was about Trees and the Law by David Mitchell, who has 25 years experience in local authority arboriculture and practical woodland management. He illustrated the talk with slides showing the kind of problems and disputes he has had to deal with, many of which are hard to work out the rights and wrongs of the case. When sorting out what might seem like a simple problem, there can be a clash of Common Law dating back centuries and Statute Law which is often brought in to follow fashion and social demand. He brought many notes and guidelines, which must have been his bibles during his working life, to cope with the different rules and regulations which have to be followed. If you have a problem with a tree or hedge – for which there is no definition in law- the outcome may not be the one that seems obvious or to make the most common sense! All in all these laws seem to need a thorough update and throwing out of ones that are not fit for purpose today. Although the talk sounds very serious we had many laughs at the anecdotes he told us and it was a very amusing evening. November meeting :- Thursday 10th. November, Village Hall, 7.30pm. For our penultimate meeting of the year we welcome back Matthew Tanton Brown whose talk is entitled ‘ The Fragrant Garden Throughout the Year’. Matthew is an entertaining speaker who we have also met up with on our visit to Place for Plants at East Bergholt. Come early for this one as Matthew is very popular and he will also be bringing plants with him for sale. Also Jenny will have guest tickets available for our Christmas meeting, £5 but numbers are limited. December meeting :- Thursday 8th. December, Christmas meeting, 7.30 pm Church Hall - ‘ The Perennial Mr. Potter’ , Bryan Thurlow. Time flies by and on 8th. December, note the date it is early in the month, we welcome Bryan Thurlow for our Christmas meeting which will be in the Church Hall at 7.30pm. There is no cost to members and no ticket is necessary but if you wish to bring a guest a few tickets are available from Jenny at £5, you can get them at the November meeting. Jo and Alma will be organising eats and they will come among you at the November meeting to sign you up for a sausage roll or mince pie! We also hope to be having seasonal punch and there will be a draw in aid of club funds. Prizes for the draw can be brought on the night or dropped off with committee members. So should be a great evening to close our 2016 programme , see you there. Tales from the Allotments: Because of holidays I am having to write these notes early in October and we still have some warm sunny days but nights are getting much colder. On the plots there is still plenty to harvest but the pressure is off and there is now time to start tidying things up ready for the onset of winter. But, of course, the plot itself is never dormant, there is always something in the ground such as carrots, leeks, beet, celeriac and brassicas, and in November we can sow garlic and broad beans and they will be showing green shoots before Christmas. One glorious , sunny Autumn evening I was on the plots, I thought alone, when I was confronted by what appeared to be an alien complete in moon landing kit. I know immigrants have been turning up recently but from out of space surely not. Shock over it was just Steve attending to his bees and for some reason I had never seen him before fully dressed so to speak. Roselea Express are planning to offer a new service just for gardeners, in particular allotment holders. In addition to all their usual goodies you will be able to order plug plants to order, check out their website or call in and see Stephen or Sally for more details. This month’s RHS Gold Medal goes to the Methodist Chapel ( and their lovely ladies) for again staging a traditional harvest lunch. The day was graced by the presence of the Kirton Light Railway’s Station Master and Chief Engineer ( as close as you get to royalty at this level I suppose), escaping the stress of persuading train guards to shut doors. Excellent three course meal with tea and coffee – well done! Roy Mallett 616