Let the Tree Tending Season begin…

Can’t help myself, I feel very excited about the start of Tree Tending Evenings every year. So much to look forward to; It means Spring is here, and we will be able to stay out and enjoy the evenings in the orchards.

We hope to see many of you this year. Remember, there are many tasks (big and small) you can do in an orchard. You will learn on the job. And if you don’t feel like working… it’s perfectly alright to join us for a chat or just for the company. We are a friendly, international bunch and always happy to meet new people.

Dates for the diary

Upcoming Tree Tending Evenings. We alternate between Mondays and Wednesdays to give as many people, as possible, an opportunity to join. If you want to receive a weekly -email- reminder, please register here. We collect tools from the allotment next to The Piggeries Orchard at 19:00 and work till dark. Most of us will go to The Fox after, but there’s no obligation to do so.

Wednesday 26th April

Monday 1st May

Wednesday 10th May

Saturday 13th May (start 10:30)

Monday 15th May

Wednesday 24th May

_{Pictures Dagmar Gauweiler / Mirjam van Bentum}

Annual General Meeting

INVITATION & FORMAL NOTICE

Notice is hereby given of the Annual General Meeting of the Hanwell & Norwood Green Orchard Trail, which will be held on

Wednesday 2nd November, 2022
72, St Margaret’s Road, Hanwell W7 2HF.
Start-time 19:30

All members of the Hanwell & Norwood Green Orchard Trail are entitled to attend and vote at the AGM. Please email hanwellorchard@gmail.com to confirm your attendance. There is no charge for attendance at the AGM.

By order of the Management Committee
Mirjam van Bentum Chair
Hanwell & Norwood Green Orchard Trail
2022

Annual Summer Picnic

Please come and join us for our

Annual Summer Picnic at Jubilee Meadow (by the sheep)

28^th August 2021 from 13:00 -16:00

Jubilee Meadow (by the sheep)

Bring you own food and drink to the sharing table, bring your own children and friends. Bring your own smile, a kite, a blanket or camping chair.

Please be mindful of plastic waste and food waste though: bring only as much as your own company would consume, avoiding plastic where possible. Please be prepared to take back leftovers. Please bring your own glass or cup so that we can avoid plastic cups – or drink straight from the bottle 😉

Going Nuts Workshops!

Do you remember the plan for planting lots of new nutty trees in Elthorne Park?

Right behind our Elthorne Triangles orchard, 43 new trees including Hazel, Pecan, Sweet Chestnut, Walnut and Beech further up the slope will make a wonderful display and habitat in years to come.

Originally scheduled for April 4th, the big planting extravaganza was cancelled due to the ongoing pandemic along with everything else.

They are now back!

Trees for Cities organizes socially distanced tree planting workshops at Elthorne Park. These workshops are running for the next 2 weeks and are open for small groups (ideally household units) of up to 5 people to come and plant a tree.

You can register your interest and sign up for helping on their dedicated web site at www.treesforcities.org/elthornepark 

Orchard In Isolation

With huge regret and for the now well-known reasons, this is to confirm that all volunteer activities and gatherings with Hanwell and Norwood Green Orchard Trail are cancelled until further notice. Maintaining proper hygiene, distancing and other precautions is generally impossible while “out and about,” and we would violate the “no gatherings” rule.

We are happy to help coordinate individuals or people from the same household who wish to perform their daily exercise in orchard maintenance. For example, you could exercise with our popular self-guided walk and get in touch if you discover any issues that might need addressing. You could also seek a more vigorous exercise as we still hope to deal with bramble, nettle and hemlock growth and other essential orchard maintenance tasks over the coming weeks.

Get in touch through our volunteer email system if you are able and interested to help, but remember that you must observe official COVID-19 guidance and rules at all times. Most of all, you must stay safe and healthy!

We also recommend that you check out Ealing’s volunteer coordinating site if you are looking for more opportunities to help locally at https://ealingtogether.org/.

Orchard Lock Orchard Management

Thank you all for lending us a hand with last week’s Osterley Lock Orchard spring clean! We were very happy to see an excellent turnout of volunteer, even including assistance spontaneously given after learning about the project. Between many hands and with the help of the park rangers, we accomplished quite a lot in little time:

We coppiced overgrown hawthorn trees (remnants of a former hedge) to bring light and a clear lines-of -sight to the orchard.

We recyled the branches to make enough woodchip to mulch the fruit trees, and stacked the rest into a ‘dead hedge’ to create nesting habitat for hedgehogs, small mammals and birds.

Thanks to great teamwork from local volunteers backed up with some ranger technical support we’ve significantly improved the orchard for fruit trees, visitors and wildlife in one go.

Going Nuts!

Our friends at Trees for Cities will be planting 40 new nut trees in Elthorne Waterside just beyond our existing Elthorne Triangles orchard on Saturday April 4th, 2020.

We think it a wonderful idea although we shared our concern about the abundant population of nettles and hemlock on the planting site. Trees for Cities is busy working out a plan for ongoing maintenance to stay on top of those and give the new Hazels, Pecan, Sweet Chestnut, Walnut and Beeches a chance.

They will have some machinery assistance to dig the holes as the site is notorious for difficult digging. Also, they plan to plant fairly mature trees to boost their survival chances.

But first things first: the planting!

Please join them if you can on Saturday April 4th, 2020. For details please see https://www.treesforcities.org/elthornepark

Free Anger Management

Come and join us next

Saturday March 14th, 2020 at
Osterley Lock Orchard from 11 o’clock

for a thorough spring clean. The park rangers will come help with their big toys: there’ll be chopping, pruning and coppicing. There’ll be chipping to be done and those premium artisan woodchips will want distributing on site.

There’s some general TL&C work for those seeking lighter duties, and we have a supply of bramble and nettle roots to pull for those seeking to release all that stored-up anger.

Come join us! It’ll be fun!

We start at 11 o’clock and hope to be done around 2 in the afternoon, seeking refreshments in the Fox thereafter.

Please be sure to dress appropriately: your second-best pair of trousers and last season’s coat will be good enough. Sturdy shoes are very highly recommended due to the uneven ground. Remember the ground will still be soaked and just a little bit muddy. Also bring some gardening gloves to protect your delicate digits.

We’ll have all the big tools, but a pair of secateurs or a handsaw always come handy.

See you on Saturday March 14th at Osterley Lock!

Snip Snap

2

We’ll be pruning the apple trees

Tomorrow, Saturday February 8th
11 o’clock, Blackberry Corner

(Earlybirds meet 10:30 at the Piggeries Orchard for tools collection.)

We’ll take care of apples, quinces and pears starting in the Blackberry Corner Orchard at 11 o’clock. We’ll be moving across the Hanwell Meadows, pruning and applying general orchard care in the process, with a view of warming up with hot or cold refreshments from approximately 2 pm at the Fox.

Anyone is welcome to come along to learn, to show how it should be done, or simply to come along. No experience necessary! Ignorance and inexperience has never stopped us so far.

Please be sure to wear sturdy shoes and suitable clothing. A pair of gardening gloves is highly recommended.

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.