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!

The activities were all to celebrate the completion of the major works that were funded by a grant from the Lottery.

The chairman of the trustees of the Millennium Green, Graham Burgess, said, “This is our celebration in the form of a launch for the funding we received from the lottery. This was £50,000 to reinforce some of the things we have in place.”

Several town councillors joined the Mayor, Cllr Barry Jackman in a drumming parade around the Meadow’s maze before watching him cut the ribbon which officially opened the new equipment.

Cllr Jackman said, “It is good to see that a little of the hard-earned cash earned from playing the lottery has been returned to this local community…Thanks must be given to the contractor, A&M Hardy, who with his men, have put into being some of the creative thinking of some of the improvements made here.”

He concluded, “Thanks to the successful lottery bid, much has been achieved to enhance the Millennium Green for now and into the future.”

The mayor then talked with many of the families on the Meadow, and even took part in some of the pond-dipping and scientific exploration himself.

Among other things, the grant paid for:

• a new dog-proof fence along the eastern and southern boundary,
• electrical supply to two points,
• hard-standing around the maze area and driveway from the entrance,
• bridge work,
• picnic tables, and,
• the installation of the Tryst Seat.

Whitchurch Millennium Meadow celebrates completion of the lottery funded works on Sunday 3rd July at the Meadow.

A day full of fun family activities includes:

10am-1pm: Drumming and Drum Making Workshop with Drum Runners;

11am-3pm: Pond and stream life discoveries with Hi-Tech Wild-Trek Trailer;

1pm: Meet the Mayor and Mayoress;

3-4pm: Volunteer call to clean up the stream and other fun maintenance works.

Bring your own picnic and try our new benches!

The new mower sponsored by The Four lanes Trust has done sterling work.

Some additional work is required around the old sluice and this when finished will be a very special historical feature.

We are planning to give our volunteers better focus so we can move forward with the support of various grants and donations towards an even richer experience on our meadow.

There are many places around the Meadow to sit and enjoy the views, and hear the sounds.

Of course, you could just sit in the grass.  Or in a tree.

There are also benches, in the shape of fish!, scattered about the Meadow.

This  memorial seat and tree sculpture is a tribute to Alison Wall, Anna Nason and Gill Nethercott — three Whitchurch women who greatly assisted the Meadow in its formative years.

Each of the three women is represented by a fish and each moves in its own direction. The seat will support people of all ages for a long time into the future. In past times, trees would be planted to intertwine; Such a Tryst planting of three trees stands in the centre.

Years ago Chairman Graham Burgess made contact with a firm in Scotland, Ogilvie Engineering. They made the Fish Gates , subsequently stolen and then replaced and the fish seats throughout the meadow.

The design was done by Geooff Cowley as part of an amazing comepetition involving children and adults.The competition file contians ten designs that would have looked superb.

No maintenance has been required on the gates or seats so Ogilvies were well in line for future work .

The Tryst Seat was orginally designed by Graham to celebrate the late Gill Nethercott and Alison Wall .Then Anna Nason ,a staunch supporter of the Millennium Green ,passed away so the Tryst Seat now celebrates the three independent ladies , each represented by a fish swimming in their own direction yet bound to bringing community benefits.

Competitive tender led to Ogilvie winning the contract for The Tryst Seat and the eight new steel picnic benches.

Nearer to home Hardy’s of Winchester Street won the contract to carry out lots of work including the installation of the seats.

All the seats are in place and the existing seats will have weed-proof surfaces placed beneath.

The great thing is that it is unlikley we will need to think about re-painting for 15 years

Two more new notice boards manufactured by another local man Jason Oram to designs done by Brian Shrubsall are in place either end of the dam that is the Hampshire County Council footpath.