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

"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.