The autumn leaves of red and gold

About a dozen parishioners and friends joined St Saviour in Bloom floral co-ordinator Graham Langlois for our Winter Woodland Workout on Saturday 15th November. I have to say that I was not the most industrious of the keen eco-warriers, with their gloves, spades and forks, who set to work on clearing the brambles and getting the woodland at Jardin des Buttes, just opposite the Parish Hall, ready for the hundreds of snowdrops and bluebells etc. we have started to plant. Planned as an opportunity to work out before the Christmas season gets to work on waistlines... about nine of us did do some damage to those same waistlines by tucking into Elaine's hearty winter soup with French bread and scoffing a cake or two in the Parish Hall afterwards. We are planning to have some regular meetings of the Jardiniers in the Jardin des Buttes over the next few months, so do let me have your email address if you would like to join our brambling band.

St Saviour keeps up to date

It was with some surprise that I noticed that some 30 cardboard boxes had mysteriously appeared in our garage. As chairman of St Saviour in Bloom, I am sorry to say that I don’t always make it to the meetings, but I do keep in close contact with the committee and like to know about what they are doing in their efforts to enhance our parish. In fact, I see one of the most important results every day when I arrive at the Parish Hall. Every year I think the parish hall looks stunning and I wonder how will they top it, but this year the committee and our staff from the Parish Depot have done it again and I know from the comments I have heard that their hard work is very much appreciated. So, back to the anonymous boxes...they were the result of another St Saviour in Bloom effort, our own calendar of views of St Saviour through the seasons, which is now on sale to help raise funds for the committee’s community work. I was delighted to receive the first calendar out of the box from St Saviour in Bloom co-ordinator Graham Langlois.
Photo: Denise Ferri

A blooming good result

There was a real sense of the right decision being made – I was delighted but not surprised – when I heard on 10th July that a gold medal and the award for Best Florally-Decorated Parish Hall had gone to St Saviour, and we had also achieved a silver-gilt medal in the Parish in Bloom competition. Every year I wonder how our dedicated parish team can do better and each year they have surpassed themselves. The award and the many visitors I see stopping to take photographs are a real testament to the effort and hours of work that have gone into making our parish hall look wonderful. Many comments have been made and I have been very pleased to receive many compliments on behalf of our St Saviour in Bloom team, led by co-ordinator Graham Langlois, our own parish workforce down at the Parish Depot and the many parishioners in the community who have taken on projects that have all helped to enhance our parish and involved friends and neighbours working together to make St Saviour a better place.
Photo: Elaine Hanning

Cow parsley, croissants and homemade cake

What is the difference between a weed and a wildflower? I am sure there are those who can give me a definition, but suffice it to say that, for me, a weed is sometimes simply a wildflower in the wrong place, but most frequently it is the type of wildflower, or garden flower gone wild, that will if left overwhelm all the smaller plants. Saturday saw the first official meeting of the St Saviour Jardiniers, the woodland volunteers who are bringing new life to the Jardin des Buttes, just below the parish hall. It was a drizzly morning, but mild, and the jardiniers, wearing thick gloves, worked with a will to pull up the cow parsley that has shot up to head height and beat back the nettles to areas where we can allow them to flourish. At this stage the goal was to cut them off at the root and then return in the autumn to dig out the roots. After an hour and a half of steady work, the jardiniers came up to the parish hall where we enjoyed tea and coffee, buttered croissants and delicious homemade cake supplied by Mary Le Brocq. Thanks must go to Parish in Bloom co-ordinator Graham Langlois and the committee for organising the event and to all those who came along to take part: the woodland already looks so much better, the sunlight can get down to the ground, plants and, yes, not a few weeds are flourishing and birds are nesting in the trees.

"Log off" takes on a new meaning

Last Saturday dawned bright but cool and there was an excellent turn out of boys from Diarmid House at Victoria College for their enterprising charity fundraiser. No sponsored sit or leisurely stroll this, the boys set to and moved all the log piles stacked in the Jardin des Buttes, the area below the parish hall which is undergoing a facelift to become a managed woodland refuge for wildlife. Working with St Saviour in Bloom co-ordinator Graham Langlois and the newly-appointed president of the National Trust for Jersey, Mike Stentiford, and under the eagle eye of Diarmid House's Mrs Angela Swindell, the event admirably fulfilled three purposes - to do something to benefit the Island, and in this case particularly St Saviour, to work together as a House and to support their chosen charities. The Diarmid students were working to raise money for their ongoing project at Loldia School, in Kenya, and also to support the work of Jersey Hospice in memory of former Diarmid House member Marc Nieuwberg and Victoria College teacher Ms Helen Blake. The whole group were a credit to their House and school and their achievements in the woodland will be really encouraging to our newly-formed Woodland Volunteers, Les Jardiniers, who will be going down this Saturday, 24th May, to continue the good work.

Digging in together

The sun shone brightly when Elaine and I visited the Jersey FOCUS on Mental Health's group home, Camelot, this morning to see the first joint venture between the Parish in Bloom teams of St Helier and St Saviour dig in and get planting. Sue Rodrigues and her team from St Helier and Graham Langlois and his team from St Saviour were made very welcome by Julie and Karen and the other staff and residents of Camelot, and everyone soon got stuck in to planting flowers, vegetables and herbs...well, that's excepting Elaine and me. We found ourselves a good spot on the first floor where we could wander, hot coffee in hand, from a view over the front garden, where flowers were taking pride of place, to the bridge link to the raised garden at the back from where we could look down on the sun-trap patio down below where peas, beans and herbs were being tucked into rich soil. We called ourselves "two mugs on a bridge" ... and nobody argued!
Jersey FOCUS on Mental Health is a charity devoted to the aims of promoting good mental health and helping to develop effective services for those who suffer from mental illness and I was delighted to be part of this first joint effort between the two parishes to improve life for the residents.

Spring is here ...Parish springing into action

Signs of spring in St Saviour can be found in the crocuses, daffodils, cyclamen and other plants flowering in our hedgerows and parish gardens. I know that Graham Langlois and the parish team have been out there tucking bulbs into little corners and hideaways and now we can enjoy the full benefit of them. However, there is another sign of spring.. parish committees are also springing into action with a full calendar of events has been planned throughout the year, so there is no excuse for anyone to say they are bored and, in fact, I have evidence of more people joining our community events and I am delighted that is so. (Details of all the parish associations and societies can be found on our parish page at http://www.parish.gov.je/st_saviour
Elaine and I went to the Twinning Association agm and lunch last Sunday at the Ommaroo. This is going to be a busy year for us with the Jeux d'Intervilles in July when, for the first and only time in 40 years, St Saviour will host the other parishes and their twins at Grainville. There will be a lot of work to be done but also a lot of fun to be had and plans are well in hand, so I was very pleased to hear that our membership is up by 50 per cent, from 58 to 87 members. A decision will be made this week about the viability of a parish magazine and we will have the results of the naming competition. There has been great enthusiasm for this venture so we are now looking for sponsorship and support in advertising in the new publication. This the the month to also make a decision about entering the Miss St Saviour competition. Our Miss St Saviour is a great ambassador for our parish and it is a role that I hope that the new Miss St Saviour will take on with gusto and that she will play a full part in parish events.