Eye - 21 April 2023

From Springing to life to On this day

Springing to life

As the seasons change and shoots begin to appear, do Friends have any springtime sunshine to share?

Creative ablutions

Recent refurbishments at Sutton Meeting resulted in some unusual plumbing solutions.

Local Friend Helen Drewery told Eye that the Meeting ‘has found a new way to save water as it refurbishes its flat ready for three resident volunteers to move in’.

There were challenges in the layout of a loo that led to this ingenious solution.

‘There wasn’t room to install a wash-basin in the loo, but this way the water from washing your hands flows straight into the toilet cistern.’

Second to none

Our clerk is a Friend without limit,
If there were a prize she would win it.
She takes time to prepare
Spending hours of care
And is second to none with each minute.

Alec Davison

On this day

Eye tries to keep dips into the archive short and sweet, but the vivid picture painted by Eluned Temple, in the edition dated 21 April 1933, couldn’t be resisted!

‘When our village school had “broken up” for the summer, Sarah and Gulielma Rivington were requested by the authorities to judge the school gardens. It was the first time of asking, for hitherto gardening had not been thought of as an item of education. The two ladies had every qualification for the task. They were born gardeners. The earliest snowdrops sweeping over their lawns proclaimed spring. They dispensed the juiciest strawberries…

‘On a hot summer afternoon the two old dears toddled down the hill to “judge the gardens.” They joined at a sunshade because Guli’s hands were full of the necessary tackle. Round her waist she wore a new apron made of coarse crash and trimmed with raffia, a gift from her great niece… Sarah wore all her usual trinkets, chains and rings, but as they were for ever being caught in bushes or lost in grass she saw no reason why they should be discarded on this occasion…

‘The display of flowers and vegetables on that common little unfertilised patch was surprising. A piece of ground had been allotted to each child about the size of a pocket handkerchief. “Whatever can be grown on that?” Guli was inclined to be scornful until she was reminded that it was “children who grew things there”. Upon those little plots, which the elder dame boasted she could “jump across with the greatest ease,” were mats of crisp lettuce, rows of potatoes – “six tubers to a row,” announced Guli, prodding with a stick – raspberry canes, and everything you could think of, growing happily together…

‘The serious judges started off in different directions, trying hard to keep their erring feet from straying out of the narrow path. Now Sarah’s chief failure that season had been with her sweet peas. They had never recovered from the shock of being transplanted. Therefore she made for a dapper little gentleman whom she recognised – Felton. She had a fancy that his lavender suit went well with the rich coral pink of Bridesmaid, and she always planted them together. She put down a mark in her notebook. And yes, that was certainly Miss Philadelphia trying to see over the hedge. Down went another mark…

‘It was a demanding day: The old ladies were feeling tired with stooping and tabulating. Gulielma, overpowered with heat and enthusiasm, sat down rather suddenly on a delicate fuchsia tree.

‘She commented: “There is a lot of interest in allotments just now… When these children leave school they ought to be growing all the produce England requires. Certainly they have talent.” “True, sister,” said Sarah. “The problem is solved. Did you, by any chance, see Lad’s Love in the garden?” “There was parsley,” said Gulielma. “I gave that a mark. And mint.”’

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