The Whitchurch Carnival Queen, Princess and attendants make wreaths with assistance of Meadow Friends.

This year, the traditional Whitchurch Mayday celebration on the Meadow had an Olympic twist.

In England, the May Queen was traditionally crowned with a wreath made of hawthorn which is usually in full bloom at the beginning of May. Unfortunately, because of an unusually cold and wet April 2012, hawthorn was not quite in bloom yet, and so a blending of the old English tradition with an ancient Olympic one was done.

The wearing of floral wreaths was a traditional attribute of the Olympic Games from the beginning of their history: The first Olympic champions were crowned with the wreaths made of olive branches.

VISITORS MADE OWN WREATHS

A number of beautiful wreath designs for visitors of all ages was created with help from Friends of the Meadow.

Many visitors helped collect plants to put into their wreaths and to twist the branches together – then of course, they were able to wear their masterpieces as they enjoyed the Mayday dancing and crowning of the Whitchurch Carnival Queen for 2012.

OLYMPIC COMPETITION

The Meadow Friends’ enthusiasm with floral wreath making started much earlier than May: last year the Botanic Garden Conservation International (BGCI) announced a global competition for young people to create a design of an Olympic wreath using native plants of their country.

Friends’ were glad to help Rachel and Hannah Rhaman to create their Olympic wreath designs using the plants on the Meadow. Hundreds of entries from around the world were submitted to the competition. You can learn more about how the girls did in our other article HERE. You can read more about the competition HERE.

An article about the Carnival Queen crowning on the town’s website includes pictures of many Meadow-made wreaths – click HERE.

Hannah and Rachel Rahman earned top spots in the international Olympic wreath competition.

Two Whitchurch students have claimed top spots in a global competition inspired by the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Last year the Botanic Garden Conservation International organisation announced a global competition for young people to create a design of an Olympic wreath using native plants of their country.

Rachel and Hannah Rhaman, who live in Kingsley Park and attend Whitchurch CofE Primary School and Testbourne respectively, entered the competition with wreaths created using plants found on the Meadow.

Hundreds of entries from around the world were submitted to the competition, which in the UK was organised by the Eden Project.

All the global finalists can be seen wearing their creations HERE.

Rachel’s wreath finished in the top 10 and Hannah’s won third place!

Hannah's wreath was dedicated to the British Forest and was made of oak branches, dogrose and hawthorn.

NOT EASY

The task was not an easy one: The competition was announced at the end of October with the deadline for regional entries – at Eden Project – set for the end of December. There were not too many flowers at this time of year, and if you think of the colourful autumn leaves, it is amazing how very few of the foliage come from native British plants!

An unusually warm October allowed Rachel to use the last surviving wild flowers from the Meadow to create her masterpiece and out-compete beautiful exotic flower wreaths from China and Peru.

Hannah was desperately trying to be traditional and find some last surviving autumn flowers to include into her wreath. She was not very successful after the sharp morning frosts and went instead for an autumn berries theme wonderfully complementing her magnificent oak base. Her effort paid off: she was awarded third place and her wreath was the only one in the top 5 without a single flower in it!

Rachel’s wreath was dedicated to the British Meadows and made of watercress, forget-me-nots, water mint and ox-eye daisies.

DESCRIBING THEIR PLANT CHOICES

In addition to making the actual wreath, both girls had to write an explanation as to why they chose the plants they did and what they may represent; The wreaths had to have a conservation message, too.

Rachel’s conservation message stated: “Water Meadows with their beautiful wild flowers should not be destroyed when roads and houses are needed; we need to keep them for future generations so people of the future can enjoy them as we are.”

The conservation message from Hannah was: “We need to protect the magnificent oak forests of England because they are full of beauty, history, legends and myths, and are the home for wild animals, beautiful birds and our national tree.”

Congratulations girls!

The Privett family planted privet plants in the Meadow's Ogham Circle

Every plant had a name, a time of the year and a special attribute. This concept was woven in many ways and sometimes something was applied that was applied to other woven works like Persian Carpets. One date in the year was missed out in a deliberate mistake.

Noel tries to find December 23rd on the Ogham Circle sign.

Graham Burgess assists the Privett family with the layout of the new plantings.

The word also is played up by the formation of an entrance to the picnic area and the jambs are privets.

The Trustees are looking to recruit new Trustees to join their Board which currently consists of 4 independent trustees and 2 nominated trustees. We are interested in acquiring a range of skills to assist in the governance of the Millennium Green and would encourage people with skills in one or more of the following areas to apply: financial, grant raising, educational, marketing and horticultural; however, we would still like to hear from you if you simply have a desire and enthusiasm to help maintain and develop the Meadow

The time commitment will vary depending on how much you wish to contribute but the minimum is attending a monthly Trustee meeting, all meetings are held in the evening from 7.30pm – 9.00pm.

If you would like to discuss this opportunity in confidence, please call the Secretary, Phillippa Walther-Caine on 01256 896522 or email her at Phillippacaine@yahoo.co.uk; otherwise please submit your CV and covering letter to phillippacaine@yahoo.co.uk by 23 March 2012 which is the closing date of applications.  It is envisaged that interviews will be held during April 2012.

We look forward to hearing from you!

UPDATE: Cloud cover causes cancellation of the star gazing on the Meadow; but the talk goes ahead as planned.

As part of the BBC’s ‘Stargazing Live’ programme, Andover Astronomical Society is holding a public viewing (weather permitting) on the Millenium Meadow on Sunday, January 29th 2012, from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m.  Society members will bring telescopes, through which members of the public can observe Venus, Jupiter, craters and mountains on the Moon, etc.  Afterwards, there will be a short illustrated talk in the Longmeadow Sports & Social Club.  The club has a licensed bar, and will serve hot cottage pie (£5).  If you want pie, you are advised to phone 0796 315 9273 beforehand.

Jupiter, photo by Dr. Paul Curtis, Andover Astronomical Society

In the event of bad weather, the public viewing will be cancelled, but the talk in the Sports and Social Club will still take place at 8 p.m.

The ground in the Meadow may be muddy, so wear wellies or stout shoes, and warm clothes.  If you are driving, please park in the Sports and Social Club car park opposite the Meadow.

The viewing is FREE, and is suitable for all ages.  BBC Stickers and Activity Cards will be available for children

Mavis and David Cheek

Mavis and David Cheek, who celebrated their Golden Wedding Anniversary in February in India with members of their family and friends, planted four Alder trees in the meadow on Wednesday 28^th December 2011 in the company of there son-in law and granddaughters.

The trees were a gift from their daughter Annette to represent her parents, herself and her brother Mark.

Mavis was born in Whitchurch and with David has spent all their married life here. Their hope is that the trees will flourish and grow as have their family with eight grandchildren and five great grandchildren.

Earlier in the day, Whitchurch Arts was at the White Hart for a pumpkin carving event – the results were on display around the Meadow. And for the past week, Guys have been seen around town, and they came down to the Meadow for the prize giving ceremony. Not all got tossed onto the bonfire!

A story with pictures from the event is on the town’s official website HERE. See the Whitchurch Arts website for a story and photos from the pumpkin carving HERE. Last year’s event is remembered HERE.

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We have two major jobs we cannot cope with without the help from the wider community: tree crown uplifting and clearing sensitive areas of the stinging nettles. Both jobs are quite straightforward, you don’t need to consult anyone, or be supervised, just come and help, any day, any time! If you came and done something, please drop us a line!

Crown uplifting

Branches overhang paths.

Branches of the trees start obstructing the foot paths (see pictures). Bring a saw and cut any branch you can reach from the footpath down to the trunk or the bigger (main) branch.  Don’t be afraid to overdo it: it is nice to open beautiful tree trunks and let light to penetrate into the woodlands.  Put the branches into neat piles next to the footpaths on the woodland side. They will be used for the great bonfire at the Fireworks night.

Nettles

Nettles grow amongst the ferns.

We are doing our best to fight the nettles on the Meadow by  spraying, however there are some sensitive areas where other valuable plants are growing and spraying is not possible. In such areas nettles must be removed by hand or they will outcompete the wild flowers and native ferns.  This can be done any time during the autumn/winter. Our main concern is areas where the ferns grow (see pictures). Please come for an hour or so with your gloves and maybe a garden fork and pull out some of the nettles.  You can pile them next to the footpaths on the woodland side.

Benches

If cutting branches or pulling nettles doesn’t quite appeal to you, there is another job: cleaning fish benches. After 11 year of use they are getting dusty and are covered by moss and lichens. A bucket of water and a cloth will do it! There is plenty of water on the Meadow, you don’t need to bring your own!

** PUBLIC MEETING – The meeting is open to all! **

AGENDA

Punch & Judy on the Meadow

Come and celebrate with us again the Lottery Work completion!

Our magical High-Tech Trailer is back again for a day of pond-dipping discoveries starting at 11am.

A small animal is shown large on the Hi-Tech trailer's projection screen.

Then, Punch and Judy will be on the Meadow from 11.30am.

Bring your picnic, try our new benches, see if you can find some new species in the ponds and the stream and enjoy The Punch and Judy show!