King Pins Crochet Project
Some King Pin members have been busy with their crochet hooks, creating this colourful blanket which the Hope and Aid Direct Charity will send to Ukraine. A big thank you to Kathy Swash who donated a huge bag of wool that's been put to good use, with another blanket in the making.
Weekday Group Ightham Mote
We had a glorious day for our visit - the surrounding villages and beautiful Kent countryside making an outing in themselves. Ightham Mote was built around 1320 and is the most complete Grade 1 medieval manor house in England. The New Chapel features a Tudor painted ceiling and period pews. The central Great Hall was a place of feasting and celebration. The Mote was purchased in 1889 by Sir Thomas Colyer-Fergusson whose repairs rescued the house after centuries of neglect. His son died aged 21 winning the Victoria Cross in WW1.
By the 1950s the house was a candidate for demolition and its possessions were auctioned. Three local men saved it before selling to an American who made urgent repairs and partly refurnished it. It passed to the National Trust on his death in 1985.
A stream runs through the 14-acre gardens, supplying two lakes and the moat. There's an excellent cafe where we enjoyed a convivial lunch.
Weekday Group - Ongar Garden Centre
Around 20 of the group enjoyed lunch recently at Ongar Garden Centre
Weekday Group Warley Place
We usually visit this lovely garden in spring and 18 of us did so this year. The photo shows some of us as we entered.
Warley Place is famous for its spectacular display of spring flowers which looked marvellous in the sunshine. This 25 acre nature reserve is the site of a house and once famous Edwardian gardens created by the horticulturist Ellen Willmott, now maintained by Essex Wildlife Trust. She died in 1935 and the property was bought for redeveloping. But WW2 thwarted the plan, the house was demolished and the gardens ran wild. The Wildlife Trust have leased the site since 1977 and it is now a well-managed haven for plants and wildlife.
After a walk around the reserve we enjoyed lunch together at the Thatchers Arms.
Weekday Group Theatre Trip
On 12 June the Weekday Group visited the Towngate Theatre in Basildon to see Tim Rice’s and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, based on the story in Genesis. It bursts with high energy and iconic songs like Any Dream Will Do - which we’ve been singing in our heads ever since! The cast of about 50 included children and the overall performance was simply brilliant. The lead singers presumably had professional backgrounds but the entire ensemble was amateur, even down to the usherettes. The orchestra played superbly and the audience contributed enthusiastically throughout, conferring a standing ovation for the finale. All financial proceeds were in support of the Lennox Children’s Cancer Fund.
