Topping, chipping, weeding, mulching – tidying up at Longney
by | posted in: GOT Events, Longney, orchard, pruning | 0

It’s the middle of our working weekend at Longney – which aims to clear away all the piles of prunings from the last year or so, get the orchards mown, weeding around the new plantings and mulching them with chippings (made from the prunings).

Topping is well underway, as local contractor Richard Dyer has already mown what can be reached in between the pruning piles.  So today, Saturday, the main task for our volunteers was clearing those prunings:  Extracting the cut branches from their piles (some overgrown with nettles), cutting them up where necessary and then feeding them to the chipper, hired for the weekend and paid for by our friends at Trust Juice (thanks Trust Juice).

Plus weeding around some of the new plantings in preparation to using some of the chippings as a mulch.  And some burning of material too difficult to chip. And retention of some larger wood for habitat creation.

How did it go today? Very well indeed. A good turn-out, a lot of effort, and a definitely obvious result – Long Tyning (the orchard we were in today) already looks very different.  And there’ll be more action tomorrow (Sunday 1st October) – turn up from 10am if you want to help…

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Orchard Exhibition at Gloucester Life Museum
by | posted in: exhibition, GOT Events, Longney, orchard, schools | 0

Today we launched our Orchards Exhibition at Gloucester Life Museum, where it will stay until just before Christmas. The launch party was a modest affair, but was attended by many of our most enthusiastic supporters! This is the first time we have created an exhibition of this sort and we are hopeful this approach will enthuse an even wider audience than usual.

We are very grateful to Three Counties Traditional Orchard Project and the Heritage Lottery Fund for supporting the exhibition and to Gloucester Life Museum for hosting it.  You can see it at the Museum until mid-December, and after that some of the panels will transfer to the barn at our orchards in Longney. Some pictures from today’s launch follow below as a slide show.

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Creative Camping at Longney
by | posted in: disability, Longney, orchard, schools | 0

Our Longney Orchards were host this month to Creative Camping, run by a Gloucestershire-based project running innovative children’s services projects.

The camping project enables disabled and non-disabled teenagers to spend the weekend together under canvas, encouraging self agency, positive risk taking, cooperation, friendship and inclusion. And, in this location, also helping build understanding and appreciation of traditional orchards! Here are a few pictures of the camp this month – more are planned.

You can find out more about Creative Camping and Creative Sustainability CIC (who run the camps) on their website here: http://www.cscic.org/info/

‘Creative Camping is not just an event is a place close to my heart. Before going to creative camping I was a shy a non-confident person who was too sacred to talk to new people …’

AGM 2017 and Longney Orchards
by | posted in: GOT Events, Longney, orchard | 0
The Severn Bore from the Anchor Inn. Picture borrowed from Karen Humphries of TCTOP.
The Severn Bore from the Anchor Inn. Picture borrowed from Karen Humphries of TCTOP.

Our AGM on 29 April at the Anchor Inn in Epney was enjoyed by all, starting off with a wonderful view of a 3 Star Severn Bore conveniently coinciding with the meeting’s opening time.

John Iles on Wyre Forest orchards photo by Jim Chapman.jpg
John Iles on Wyre Forest orchards. Photo by Jim Chapman

The business of day – reports, elections and updates on variety research – was then quickly finished and followed by a fascinating and very inspiring presentation by John Iles on cherry orchards in the Wyre Forest.

The Wyre Community Land Trust have restored many orchards in the area, where many feature within the assarts (clearings) of the forest. They have had both HLF and Higher Level Stewardship funding though they are concerned about the future, particular what will replace the HLS scheme. They also have some commercial enterprise including a juicing business on a farm in the area.
Members and guests staying until the afternoon had lunch at the pub before travelling just up the road to our orchards at Longney.

Here we held a walkabout around the 18 acres of traditional orchards, showing members and visitors all the work in progress, thanks to the hard work of our volunteers. This includes new plantings of national, regional and local heritage collections of plum & cherry with the entire Gloucestershire apple collection being planted at the end of this year.

Some pictures of the walkabout are posted below (click to enlarge any photo):

Longney Walkabout after AGM 2017 photo by Juliet Bailey
Longney Walkabout after AGM 2017. Photo by Juliet Bailey
Longney Walkabout after AGM2017 photo by Juliet Bailey
Longney Walkabout after AGM 2017. Photo by Juliet Bailey

Welcome to our News pages
by | posted in: AGM, apple day, apples, audio, bees, biodiversity, blossom, cider apples, conference, Dawn Chorus, Days Cottage, disability, dna, exhibition, GOT Events, grafting, Hartpury, harvest, Henley, identification, Juice, Longney, orchard, orchard history, pears, perry pears, plums, pomona, pruning, rockness, rootstock, schools, stone fruit, varieties, video, volunteers, wassail, wildlife, workshop | 0

Hi, this page lists all our news posts, including events past and future. To see just the upcoming events click here.  You can search for particular news categories by clicking on the category listings above this text.

GOT’s new YouTube channel is now live!
by | posted in: Longney, orchard, video | 0

As part of our new website project we are planning to do a lot more with social and interactive media, including video, and so we are pleased to announce that our new YouTube channel is now live and available to visit at: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwhbZYL3QnP2kTZ61exoQJg

So far we have 4 videos, all made for us by by Sarah Pitt and David Parkinson last year, and all starring our chairman Keith Turner talking about specific orchard issues including maintenance, choosing the right root stock, and orchard biodiversity, Here he is explaining why orchards are magic places:

 

Coming soon (29th April): AGM , plus talk on Wyre Forest Orchards and walkabout at Longney
by | posted in: GOT Events, Longney, orchard | 0

Saturday 29 April 2017 at The Anchor Inn, Epney. 10am-1pm, with walkabout after lunch.

AGM plus Guest speaker John Iles, Founder and a Director of the Wyre Community Land Trust, who will be talking about ‘The orchards of the Wyre Forest; a new chapter’.

John says “with Heritage Lottery Fund money and Higher Level Stewardship, we have restored many orchards which need careful maintenance to come to maturity and production. The HLF scheme is now over and we will have HLS schemes coming to an end over the next few years with uncertainty as to what will come next. Many of the sites are SSSI so will be protected. We have helped set up a commercial juicing business on a farm in the area and so many of us are now using that service to juice our fruit.”

Lunch available at the pub, and we will follow the meeting and talk, at 2 to 2.30-4pm, with a walkabout at GOT’s Longney Orchards, a short distance from the pub.

About the venue and the AGM:

The function room upstairs for meetings has a superb river view. Plenty of parking. Attendees to place food orders on arrival. For pub details and map http://whatpub.com/pubs/GLO/0213/anchor-epney Nominations Any nominations for officers (chairman, vice-chairman and treasurer) and other items for discussion should be submitted to me, Ann Smith (coordinator/secretary) at least 10 days prior to the AGM. Please note that we are especially looking for a new Chairman as Keith Turner would like to retire. We are also looking for Membership Secretary, Publicity/Exhibition Officer and Online Coordinator. Ann will continue as Company Secretary. Can you help please? ann@smithcovell.co.uk 109 Orchard Way, Churchdown, Gloucester GL3 2AP

Free for GOT members (and their household) and £2 for non members (waived if you join on the night).

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