Lights, Camera.....Let's bake!
We were pleased to welcome students from the University of Creative Arts (UCA) who are making a series of short films about space2grow as part of their coursework. This week they were filming our fantastic Cookery Club in action with Coral as they prepared scones for a tea time treat! Next week it will be the turn of our Men in Sheds to take a bow in front of the cameras, whilst one of our volunteers will be doing a piece about his "journey" and how space2grow has been helping him in recovery. When the films have been completed we will put them on our website and additionally use them to raise awareness of some of the work we do on the acre. A big thank you to all of the participants - especially the children for their great contribution to a successful shoot!
Next week our Cookery Club starts up again and we are pleased to be offering this not only to our local primary schools but also to residents from Transform Housing and Support, a Farnham based charity. Under the guidance of our expert cook, participants will learn how to cook a healthy nutritional meal from scratch with the added benefit of taking it home at the end of the session. Courses will run for five weeks and are free for those taking part.
Wet & Wild
We are making great progress in getting the garden prepared for winter, despite battling with rain for much of the week. The Friday team have been busy finishing their composter and their next project is to build a leaf mould container which will be very handy given the amount of leaves that have fallen in the past week. Our volunteers have continued bulbing and we hope to complete a section of bank opposite the Talking Shed by next week with daffodils and narcissi; it should look a picture in the spring! A special thank you to our young volunteers who joined us this week and braved the rain!
On Monday we welcomed the Dempster Trust who presented us with a generous donation and joining them were the Rotary Club who have also pledged a generous amount towards our next Men in Sheds project. Both charity's wonderful generosity, together with a sizeable donation we received from the Farnham Institute this week, have allowed us to fund projects straight away and will ensure we have a busy run up to Christmas. A big thank you from all of us!
Walks & Talks
Libby from the Thursday Gardening group is kindly heading up the next walk planned for Monday 9th November. The walk will be to Waverley Abbey, which is about 6 miles and approximately 3 hours with a break. Unlike the last mountainous walk, the route is flat - no hills or stiles.The walk will take in part of the North Downs Way, Moor Park and blog a path through the woods past a very interesting and historic cave....and on to Waverley Abbey ruins.
If you would like to take part in the walk please email info@space2grow.space and more details will be sent nearer the time about start time and meeting place. We look forward to you joining us!
If there's something strange, in your neighbourhood...From time to time I've tried to research the history of Betts Meadow, better known to us 'The Acre', but with not a great amount of success. However last summer I was in conversation with a visitor who casually remarked that the acre was once a burial ground, either for those who couldn't afford to be buried in the churchyard that adjoins us or, even further back, for pagans.
Into this mix we can also throw in the Romans as artefacts of theirs have been found within striking distance of our gate and at this time of year Christians, Romans and Pagans would all be celebrating the end of summer and the beginning of winter with festivals - All Saints Day (All Hallows), Feralia and Pomona, and Samhain (pronounced sow-in).
Over time Halloween became the dominant festival but why do we dress up, bob apples and build fires? The answer to many of the traditions we observe today is that parts from each festival were added to the next, dates moved to coincide with existing gatherings and eventually to one celebration - Halloween. The pagan festival of Samhain heralded the end of harvest and the start of the dark days and on Saturday they believed the boundaries between the living and dead became blurred and ghosts of the dead returned to earth. Pagans would dress up in animal furs, wear skulls and make offerings of crops and beasts which they burnt on fires. The Romans also celebrated the dead with their festival of Feralia which they moved to the same date as the pagan festival and in time moved the festival of Pomona, the goddess of fruit and trees, to that day too. It is believed that is where apple bobbing originated! Finally the Christians placed their hand on the table with a church sanctioned holiday to replace the Celtic Pagan festival of the dead with All Saints day. They kept the fires but their parades saw people dressing up as saints, angels and devils - a tradition very much alive today.
The thought that over the years all forms of this weekend's festival might have been celebrated on our acre is enticing and yet so very possible. Indeed as you leave the churchyard on your way towards the acre look out for the gravestone against the facing wall - a Celtic, pagan cross that indicates that old traditions die hard....a bit like the restless souls that might be wandering over our acre this weekend!......Sleep well!
Finally we are putting ideas together for an Outdoor Sculpture Project. Come along next Friday 6th November at 2.30pm if you have any ideas for a new sculpture project that we hope to be running on the acre, please contact info@space2grow.space if you would like to pop along and join in.
And as always, we are trying to ensure that space2grow remains a Covid safe site so please email info@space2grow.space prior to your visits, bring your own food and drink, take any rubbish home and please adhere to social distancing.
Thank you and see you soon!
