Physc Garden 8pp Newsletter

Patron: HRH the Duchess of Cornwall
b o n t-f a e n
Newsletter
Issue 11 November 2010
Green Pennant Award
For the second year in succession Cowbridge Physic Garden has been accorded a Green
Pennant award by the environment charity Keep Britain Tidy. An accompanying citation
praised the high quality of the attraction and its contribution to the tourism culture of Wales.
Chairman Dan Clayton-Jones said, “This is a mark of distinction. To get one award is
tremendous but to get two in successive years is unique. It's a great achievement. Most of all
it is a tribute to all those in our enterprise who devote so much time and energy to the garden
– as volunteers, purely for their love of the garden. It is a real team effort of huge significance
not only for the garden but also for the town Cowbridge. We owe these people a huge debt
of gratitude.
“In little over four years since it opened the physic garden
has become a firm favourite with the public in all
seasons of the year. It gives all of us a lift to see young
and old alike enjoying the virtues it has to offer – a
beautiful setting combined with colour, tranquillity
and joy. Who could ask for more?
“I’m simply amazed by the astonishing speed at which
the garden has come to maturity, much of it down to
Some of the Volunteers with the
2009 and 2010 pennants
good design but most of all to the enduring skills and
husbandry of our gardening team and supporting
groups. We're deeply indebted to every single one involved,” he added.
The award comes at a special time for the scheme and for Keep Britain Tidy who were
inundated with applicants. Mike Meredith
Volunteers News
We have been really busy in the Garden as you will see if you come. The new lavenders
have been planted, replacing the very woody old ones, and we have started to plant
1470 (yes, one thousand, four hundred and seventy!) new box plants around the outer
ring of medicinal beds. It certainly makes a difference; the beds look very neat with their
green box border, and hopefully, when they grow, will deter people from stepping on the
beds!! We are hoping that this group of box will survive as we have lost many in the past.
The South Wales Echo, dated 20th July 2010, wrote a lovely article with great pictures
of the garden and volunteers. It was a double spread! Good pictures of Jo peeping
through the apples and Gillian looking serious! It is accessible on line at the new
Physic Garden Website at www.cowbridgephysicgarden.org.uk.
Please look in the Old Hall foyer at paintings of plants in the Physic Garden done by the
Physic Garden Painting Group. They are for sale together with cards of the Physic Garden.
Once again, enjoy autumn in the Garden. Thursdays continue to be the main day for
volunteers, and all are welcome!
Val Thomas, Gardening Group, Excerpts from
the monthly Newsletter for the regular volunteers.
Cowbridge School Art
Exhibition
Over the past 12 months, students from the Art Dept of Cowbridge Comprehensive
School have visited the garden in a collaborative project with the Physic Garden.
The students have used a multi-media approach to draw, sketch, paint and photograph
the growth of the garden from Autumnal calm to Summer’s spectacle.
During October, an exhibition of their work was held at Old Hall and what an exhibition,
as you can see from the photographs! The garden has truly been brought to vibrant life by
the skill of the students. Ranging in age from the Year 7 and 8 students in the lower school
to the Year 12 A–level students in Fine Art and / or Photography, their work has captured
not only the garden but also the appreciation and applause of visitors to the exhibition.
All of those involved in maintaining the garden would like to record their thanks to both
the students and teachers of the Art department for their skill and hard work in producing
this stunning exhibition of their artistic appreciation of the garden.
Robert Moore
Visit us at: www.cowbridgephysicgarden.org.uk
Introducing two
new Trustees
The Trustees have recently welcomed 2 new members:
Bryan Bird – Professional florist
Bryan Bird of the Bay Tree, the Cowbridge
High street florists which has long held a
reputation as one of the most elegant of
its kind hereabouts.
In 2011 the business will celebrate its 40th
anniversary, for in February 1971 when it
began it was the original and only florist's
in the town, occupying what was the old
Co-operative store at No 35.
Bryan Bird has a practiced eye for imaginative and contemporary design together with a
widespread reputation for panache and originality. “We aim to keep in tune with current
trends while responding to changing demands and budgets,” he explained. “We strive
always to give a truly bespoke service tailored to our customers' own ideas and
imagination, though we have plenty of ideas of our own when needed,” he reflected.
Bryan's paternal grandpa Tom, a market gardener of Whitchurch, Cardiff, became a florist
in his own right as the result of his flower growing business. “My grandfather had an
enormous lean-to greenhouse in a walled garden where the scent of plants and flowers
was almost overwhelming and still lives with me to this day. I've never forgotten it –
and maybe that was the start of it all,” he said.
Bryan's verdict on the Physic Garden? “It's a great resource and the best thing to have
happened to Cowbridge recently. For me it's an oasis of green calm – something
increasingly hard to find. It has added a new dimension that few other small towns can
match. In short, I'd say it's simply marvellous,” he added.
Visit us at: www.cowbridgephysicgarden.org.uk
Martyn Hurst – An unplanned career
About the only subject I could manage
at Penarth Grammar School in the mid
1960’s was English and it was my English
master who suggested that copywriting
in an advertising agency might keep me
out of trouble. So I bluffed my way into my
first advertising agency and discovered,
“Hey, this is better than working!” (Actually,
I did work quite hard and soon moved from
one agency to another, to another).
Like most creatives, I did my time in London and was eventually head-hunted to become
a Creative Director of an international advertising agency in South Africa. There I created
TV campaigns for clients such as Honda cars, Mercedes Benz, White Horse Whisky,
Dairy Maid Ice Cream. Most of them sold lots of products and some even won awards.
Back in the UK I decided it was time to work for myself but almost by accident found
myself travelling back to South Africa to launch Nokia Mobile Phones and provide
creative services in South Africa, as well as doing conferences and corporate video
programmes around the world.
The height of all this activity was when I suggested we do the launch of a new handset
at 30,000 feet. The client didn’t flinch, so I chartered a Boeing 747 for a day and flew 300
mobile phone dealers and journalists from Johannesburg to Cape Town using the inflight
entertainment to introduce the new handset. I seem to remember doing quite well on
airmiles on that trip.
Life is a little quieter now, though I still produce and direct a number of corporate videos
and conferences. In between those times, I feel privileged to be part of the team that
helps nurture and promote the Cowbridge Physic Garden. We are so lucky to have such
an asset in the Vale, whether it’s for education, for the joy of the flowers and plants,
or simply the tranquillity of strolling through the garden; our garden is very special.
The Big Draw
Saturday, 23rd October saw the Physic Garden host the Big Draw, co-ordinated by the
Art and design department of Cowbridge School. Art teachers were on hand to try and
convince visitors to the garden that they really could be artists for a passing moment by
sketching on the back of used envelopes
their impressions of the garden.
Around thirty people contributed their
sketches which will be used to produce a
Community Card to generate funds for the
school, garden and general community.
The results certainly showed that the
Physic Garden can draw in visitors
who can draw!
Robert Moore
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The Cambrian’s Visit
to the Garden
We were delighted to be included in the
Cambrian Archaeological Association’s
programme for their 2010 Autumn Meeting
in the Vale. On a glorious sunny morning
the group, comprising some thirty members,
arrived in the Cowbridge Physic Garden
where they were welcomed by our chairman,
Dan Clayton Jones, who gave a brief talk
on the history of the garden and the CPGT.
Time for exploring the garden was limited (St Quentin’s Castle, Dyffryn and
Coedarhydyglyn were also on the Cambrians’ itinerary that day), but volunteers Sue
Duffield, Mary Wallis and Hilary Thomas were on hand to give short guided tours and
to answer questions. The Cambrians were clearly impressed by what had been
achieved in the Garden, and we received warm expressions of praise and thanks.
And we sensed a certain reluctance among some of the Cambrians to leave the garden!
Hilary M Thomas
Dates for your diary!
Christmas Tree Festival
The volunteers plan to donate a tree to this year’s festival which will take place
in Holy Cross Church starting on Friday 26th November 2010 at 10.30 am and
continuing until Christmas.
Plant Fair
The annual Plant Fair will take place in the garden on Saturday 30th April 2011.
Please help by taking cuttings and planting seeds during the winter for us to
sell on the Volunteers stall.
Visit us at: www.cowbridgephysicgarden.org.uk
New Christmas Cards
£5
for 2010
pack
Physic Garden Doorway at Christmas.
Drws yr Ardd Berlysiau adeg y Nadolig.
Painted by Gillian Griffiths.
of 8
Inside:
With Christmas Greetings and
Best Wishes for the New Year
Cyfarchion y Nadolig a Dymuniadau
Gorau i’r Flwyddyn Newydd
Available from the Bay Tree, Cowbridge,
The Physic Garden every Thursday,
The Charity Shop in Old Hall in November,
or through Genevieve Foster Thomas –
just phone 01446774534
This card is sold on behalf of the CPGT
and all proceeds from sales will be used
to maintain the garden
2010
card now
on sale!
Newsletter design by
[email protected]
07765 474 705
Registered Charity Number: 1110127 Company Number: 5118600
Registered Office: The Cross, Llanblethian, Cowbridge CF71 7JF
Website: www.cowbridgephysicgarden.org.uk
Editor: Val Caple, Milestone, Penllyn, Cowbridge CF7 7RQ
email: [email protected]