We Have Taken Off!

Our warmest thanks got to everyone who came to last week’s hedge planting event. 16 new and old volunteers made light work of 150 mixed variety hedge whips and 30 soft fruit plants to fill in the hedges at the St Margaret’s and Piggeries orchards, and to create a new wind shielding hedge in the Blackberry Orchard.

More rubble and other scrap was also removed and recycled where possible.

A perfect start into the new year indeed!

We have now set the tasks for our monthly Saturday Orchard Love events for February to May and tentatively set the re-start of the popular weekly Tree Tending Tuesday for light orchard and meadow maintenance to Tuesday, 7th April.

The full list of tasks and dates is available on our status and schedule page. Please join our volunteer email notification system for up-to-date information about all those events.

Starting The New Year

We start the new year by wishing you a very happy, healthy and fruitful one!

Come join us

Saturday January 11th, 2020
11 o’clock, St Margaret’s Orchard

We’ll be planting more fruiting and edible hedges in St. Margaret’s Orchard and Blackberry Corner. The perfect way to start the year, meet old friends again and make new ones!

We might also plant a few additional fruit trees which were donated recently, time, weather and resources permitting. Undoubtedly, we’ll end up taking refreshments in the Fox from approximately 14:00.

Please wear appropriate clothing and sturdy shoes. A pair of gardening gloves is recommended.

Can't Get Enough?

For those of you who just can’t get enough, here’s another excellent opportunity to get your fingers cold, get your feet wet and get yourself involved:

Our friends from Thames 21 call for help with the Perivale Park Planting Sessions Friday December 13th and Saturday December 14th in Perivale Park, Greenford. There’s really valuable work to be done around the new lakes and scrapes in the area between Perivale Park and Gurnell, even though you may need to wrap yourself in an extra layer against the cold weather.

All details on their web site for events on Friday December 13th and Saturday December 14th.

Have a Fruity Christmas

We wish you all a very happy, healthy, merry and fruity Christmas, whichever you faith!

(And yes, no faith counts as one!)

We are winding down towards Christmas and speeding-up with all those Christmas preparations at the same time, just as much as you are! We’ll go and take a break from Ye Olde Interweb for a few weeks.

Dates to look forward too:

Friday December 20th from 19:30
Members’ Christmas Party – check member and volunteer email for detail!

Wednesday December 25th, all-day event
Christmas. Celebrate as you like, but celebrate.

Saturday January 11th, 2020, from 11:00 o’clock
Get back together for the winter pruning and, undoubtedly, a pint.

National Tree Week

The Tree Council declares 23rd November to 1st December National Tree Week 2019.

Why not mark the occasion with a self-guided walk along the Hanwell and Norwood Green Orchard Trail? Download our walk brochure here.

The walk takes you along the orchard trail and its more than 160 fruit trees, but it also showcases some of the finest local nature spots. Ancient oak trees line the old raised lane just east of the Osterley Lock Orchard. Elthorne Waterside, the open park land behind the formal Elthorne Park, has an abundance of wild cherries, apples, pears and plums (in addition to those which we added over the years), and the Hanwell Meadows between the railway line and the canal are always worth a visit, featuring a large variety of mature and younger trees worth looking at.

Even if you don’t want to take a look at these trees and beauty spots in person, you might at least take a look at the Tree Council’s official 1975 press release. Doesn’t it make you feel nostalgic?

More Ways to Come Play With Us

We have been advised that our brand new and shiny Piggeries banner has become a pokestop, a landmark worth visiting by those who play Pokemon Go.

Pokemon Go or not, the new sign is definitely worth a visit and a great excuse for taking a walk!

We installed the new banner last week and think it looks fantastic. Many thanks to our designer in residence, Leo!

Come Play With Us

You thought it’s all over, didn’t you? Far from it!

We’ll be meeting

Today, Saturday December 9th at 11:00 o’clock at the
Piggeries Orchard

We’ll fill some gaps in the hedges at the Piggeries and St Margaret’s Orchard (if the in-fill plants arrive on time). We also have Yellow Rattle seed to sow, willow whips to cut and plant and a number of similar tasks suitable for people of all ages and abilities.

We’ll have all the tools, but please wear sturdy shoes and suitable clothing. A pair of gardening gloves and a pair of secateurs is always useful.

We’ll probably be done and headed to the Fox for refreshments at 13:00, with luck just before the rain arrives.

2019 Annual General Meeting

All members are invited to attend the fifth Annual General Meeting of the Hanwell and Norwood Green Orchard Trial, which will be held at 19:30 on Tuesday 19th November 2019 at 72, St Margaret’s Road, Hanwell W7 2HF.

All members are invited and encouraged to attend and vote at the AGM. It’s free of charge.

There’ll be refreshments and we look forward to an informal chat once we conducted the formal business.

Please notify us to confirm your attendance.

You can download the complete notice, which includes the full agenda, here: HANGOT AGM 2019 Notice and Agenda.

Our constitution is also available for download: HANGOT Constitution.

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday, Hanwell and Norwood Green Orchard Trail!

HANGOT turned five this week!

Sorry this is a tiny post with a large photo gallery, but really! Just looking through the media archives makes me feel proud. There are so many good photos, so many excellent memories, so many superb friendships born from those five years, it’s just amazing.

Not to speak of 160-something trees along several miles, all managed and maintained, looked after and cared for. Well done you, HANGOT, and thanks for everyone who supported the project in spirit, in the flesh, in sweat, rain and shine!

And we are still going strongly and with a passion! It is never too late to join.

A Seasonal Delight

The apples are ripe and the weather’s got a chill. What can be better than a baked apple?

Wash and dry the apple, remove the core with a sharp spoon or a small knife from the to, leaving the bottom intact. Insert a hazelnut-sized piece of butter, half a teaspoon of chopped toasted hazelnuts or foraged cob nuts, half a teaspoon of brown sugar.

Bake at 180 C for 20 minutes and enjoy by itself, with custard or ice cream, or as a companion to a savoury meal such as a seared duck breast or a grilled goats cheese.

It couldn’t be easier and as heart-warming comfort food goes, it could hardly get any better!

Traditionalists will prefer a proper cooking apple but I find that Russet or Braeburn are good versatile all rounders.