For categorising of Annual Assembly articles
Previous Annual Assembly reports are listed lower down. PDF files selected will be opened in the browser window, after reading you will need to use the back browser to return to the site. DOCX files will be downloaded to your local device.
Annual Assembly 2023
As we all know only too well the last twelve months have been challenging. Whilst during the two periods of tightest restrictions we closed the main gates which allow vehicle access, the side pedestrian gate has remained open throughout. During these periods access for volunteers and allotment holders was limited to locals plus indoor access ceased.
Outside the two periods of “stay at home” the walled garden has remained open, but without facilities, for visitors to enjoy the fresh air. This has been appreciated by all concerned.
Full advantage has been taken during these less restrictive periods for volunteers to keep up maintenance jobs and even one or two new initiatives.
As we are today the future looks more promising and indeed it is hoped that outdoor receptions can resume during the summer.
Finally a big thank you goes out to all Friends of the Walled Garden and the many visitors who have made donations to the Project. This has enabled us to meet day to day costs over this difficult period.
MAY 2020 – 2021
The optimistic view that 2020 -2021 would offer the opportunity of introducing new members to friends in Awoingt was unfortunately very misplaced! Regrettably the Covid 19 virus cancelled the planned visit to Awoingt in June and its proposed accompanying cycle tour. The virus has also deprived us of nearly all of the various social occasions which are used both to keep in touch and organise events for the Elford based group.
The negative aspects of the last year having been covered, it is good to concentrate on the positive ones. The monthly newsletters continued to be exchanged between the two villages and have kept us abreast of life in each other’s communities, such as the retirement of Jean-Richard Lechowicz as Mayor and his replacement by Eddy DHerbecourt. Thanks to the wonders of digital communication we have shared the joint experience of living through the pandemic, enjoyed their humour, commiserated with their losses and due to the commitment of the correspondents it has often seemed we had more knowledge of life under lock-down in Awoingt than in e.g. Whittington or Edingale! Although disappointingly we were unable to meet up face to face in Awoingt for a weekend this past year, our contact has been further enhanced by the opportunity to enjoy each other’s company via the internet as Elfordians have been invited several times to join their friends in Awoingt for a virtual aperitif and exchange of news. Here in Elford, taking advantage of the brief period of relative freedom during the summer, due to the generosity of the Taylors the majority of the Friends were able to enjoy a wonderful, well spaced, evening in a beautiful garden to remind us how much pleasure and stimulation the association between the two villages affords us.
So although this exceptional year has lost us the opportunity of widening the group of people involved in the contact between the two villages, for those who have already established a contact is has provided the chance to deepen and reinforce this friendship.
In anticipation of the promised invitation, we look forward to planning the visit to Awoingt in 2022 and expanding the numbers involved.
The 2021 cricket season has started as scheduled this season and we have a very strong 1st XI side with a couple of new members from the village which is really good for the club. We have an U13’s team for the first time and again have a few kids from the village in this team, we would like to encourage more to join, but we are competing with the extended rugby and football season, which has taken several children away from the team.
The uptake of our 8-week ECB program for 8-11 year old’s has been excellent with our first session on Wednesday 13th May, with 24 kids signed up for 8 weeks of organised cricket and fun. It was great to see so many people from the village taking part. We have also managed to get an U10′ team from this program, which means that along with training we have cricket fixtures almost every night of the week.
We have again been busy over the winter and continue to work on the nets area which is currently under renovation, we have replaced the matting and will be extending the batting cage, we hope to have this finished in the next week. We have bought some new machinery to maintain the wicket and have been tidying up the exterior of the shed by removing the old wood and repainting the main wall.
We would really like to get more volunteers from the village to help with ground maintenance and in general help around the club.
