Stop Press

Sculpture Exhibition in Croft Castle Gardens

Daily from 2-6 pm from Saturday September 2nd to Thursday September 14th. Enjoy an afternoon of art among the flowers and trees in the Croft Castle garden. All sculptures for sale. 25% of the price to Kingsland Millennium Green Trust

More diary dates

Saturday 13th May: a night of Victorian Music Hall with bangers and beer. 7 pm in the Coronation Hall. Tickets £8.00, with a prize for the best Victorian costume. Contact Seija Thorne 01568 708228 or Jackie Markham 01568 708281.

10th-11th June:Blooms and Billhooks Reenactments of battle scenes from the Wars of the Roses. Pig roast, demonstrations, medieval weaponry, archery, beer tent, story telling and conjuror. Adults £3.00, children 50p.

News for April

One of our most enjoyable village walks took place on Palm Sunday - for once, the sun shone for us! By kind invitation of Mrs. R. Banks, we walked through the Hergest Croft Woods in their spring beauty, and had all sorts of interesting information about the trees, azaleas and rhododendrons from the very knowledgeable Head Gardener, after which a magnificent tea was given us by Mrs. Banks. It was a gorgeous afternoon and raised £78. An auction and car boot sale raised £1,600. Thanks also to Mrs. Lister for raising more than £375 by putting an enjoyable bingo game on in the Village Hall.

News for March

The snowdrops and primroses have flowered, and now the wild daffodils are out. The biggest juggernaut you ever saw delivered the soft stuff for the infants' play area, and then got stuck in the mud, giving poor Katie and Jackie a bad time until John Price came like a White Knight to the rescue and towed the juggernaut out. Thank you very much John. But then the soft stuff proved a joy to the under-fives, who helped Rhiannon rake (she with baby tied to her back) and made a delightful mess, while Jackie and Derek put netting along the newly-sprouting hedge, and Oliver Lowther aged three, and Jill, watered the grass seed and the trees.

We had Pancake Races on the Green the Sunday before Shrove Tuesday, which were nearly as thrilling as the Cheltenham Gold Cup. On April Fool's Day don't miss the Auction of Bric-a-brac and Car Boot Sale (contact Michael 01568 708556).,

Has anyone a severed head they could lend us for a playlet on the Green in June? Please contact Jill 01568 708753 or email David.

If you are in Herefordshire and have always wanted to learn to fish with a fly, then you could have a whole morning, or afternoon, being taught by our expert Fish Master at a beautiful location for £10. Just ring 01568 708753. There are abundant wild brown trout.

I should like to hear from sculptors who would be interested in exhibiting at an exhibition in Herefordshire in the late summer. Please send photographs of your current work to South Lodge, Lucton, Herefordshire HR6 9PF, addressed to Exhibition Organizer.

Are there any architecture students who would like to design a very simple shelter for our new Green? No pay, and the structure would have to cost under £5,000, so the project would be a real challenge. Contact Katie as soon as possible, 01568 708173.

Dates for your diary this year

February 18th 2000: Talk by Peter Holiday on Charles Rennie MacKintosh Coronation Hall 7.30pm 01568 708281.

March 2nd 2000: Talk on Picture Restoration and Preservation of Oil Paintings by Clare Herbert who has recently worked at Windsor Castle. For details please contact Bridget Easthaugh 01568 708173.

March 17th 2000: Gardeners Question Time . Coronation Hall 7pm with Charles Cheshire, Alex Vorderman and John Bufton. Questions in advance please to Jill Probyn 01568 708753, or Jackie Marham 01568 708281. Tickets £3.50

One Saturday in April: Auction - We have got about half the number of lots required for our auction. If you have anything that you might be willing to donate to us for sale please contact June Price on 01 568 708656, Jackie Markhain 01 568 70828 1, Michael Chappelow 01568 708556 or Penny Ovenden 01568 708568. We are still collecting, as always, books and bric-a-brac for our regular market stall.

June 10th & 11th 2000: Blooms and Billhooks . All day event. Open gardens and stalls with a re-enactment of the Battle of Mortimer's Cross (1461). 01568 708173

July 22nd 2000: Millennium Pop Concert - At Day House Farm, Kingsland. Featuring the Royal Family (Queen tribute group), The Roaring Forties and The Sultana Brothers. Gates open at 4.30pm. concert starts at 6.30pm and finishes at midnight. Beer tent and food bars. All information 01568 709119. Tickets £12.50.

Coming soon: Gardeners' Question Time!

March 17th, 7 p.m. Coronation Hall, £3.50 An evening of interest to all gardeners. Charles Cheshire, of Burford House Gardens, will be on the panel, so please, questions before the date to Jill or Jackie. Plant stall, raffle, bar, quiz. Details 01568 708 753

Coming soon: Gardeners' Question Time!

March 17th, 7 p.m. Coronation Hall, £3.50 An evening of interest to all gardeners. Charles Cheshire, of Burford House Gardens, will be on the panel, so please, questions before the date to Jill or Jackie. Plant stall, raffle, bar, quiz. Details 01568 708 753

Tuesday, 4th January: Happy New Millennium!

We are all nursing hangovers, but the Millennium was great in Kingsland. We had a torchlight procession to the Green, which is looking better every day, and a huge bonfire was built. On the stroke of midnight everybody linked hands and sang Auld Lang Syne. Finally Prime was celebrated in the Church, with hymn-singing and a trombone solo. A good time was had by all, with no signs of the millennium bug (even on this website).

Thursday, 16th December: Death of Hon. Mrs Uhlman

A very sad piece of news: we have lost one of our Patrons, the Hon. Mrs. Diana Uhlman. She did so much for the county, and saving our Green was a cause she held very dear. We shall miss her very much. Croft Castle won't be the same without her. But now good news for Christmas. This week we've made over £500! Saturday, £320 at Victorian Street Fair in Leominster, where we all dressed up in poke-bonnets and frills. Icy rain made us envy Jackie's purple curly wig, which at least kept her head warm. Wonderful Katie made 40 apple tarts! Then Monday to the Butter Market, Hereford, where we made £200 on our 2nd-hand book stall. So people do still read.

Thursday, 9th December: Bank loan down

More good news on the fundraising front! We raised £600 at Bingo last Wednesday. Terrific prizes, lots of fun, lavish refreshments (tea, coffee AND two fancy biscuits) and now our bank loan is down to £37,500. This is all due to Mrs. Lister, so thankyou to her , and to all the helpers who made the evening go with a swing.

Thankyou too to the kind donor of a new sit-upon mower, to keep our green in trim –and if that were not enough as a Christmas present to the village, the same anonymous donor has also given insurance cover for the mower.

We have made our first sales over the internet – a cookery book and book of verse and tea-towel to a customer in California. ( Probably he wanted the recipe for marmalade, which is unknown in California, the pukka sort that is.)

New Year’s Eve in Kingsland: join us for a torchlight procession to the green, where there will be a bonfire, hot punch and things to eat.

Wednesday, 1st December: More news on the Green!

Last Saturday and Sunday we planted the hedge of mixed species that will run down two sides of the green. Quickthorn , maple, holly, ash etc. Jackie, Catherine, Seija climbed into their overalls and ferreted out some tough gloves. The heavy brigade – Len, Nigel, Pete – brought their machines to bear on the Herefordshire clay, and soon there were holes in a staggered row for the young plants, and stakes and rabbit netting to strengthen and protect them. That’s the hedge in, and many thanks from everybody to all those who helped in this important work. Giving up your precious Sunday was really good!

Anyone in Leominster on Saturday llth December look out for our stall in the Victorian Street Fair, where we shall be tempting you with all sorts of nice gifts for Christmas. And in Hereford on Monday l3th December we shall have a bric-a-brac and bookstall in the Buttermarket. Do come and buy something.

November 24th, 1999: The trees have been planted on the Green.

Hectic work on the village green this weekend! First, the old ruined pigsty (or bakery) was demolished by Nigel and Pete with their JCB and tractor (Pete working on crutches – we don’t know how he does it, but he does!) Then the appletrees and nut-trees were planted at the far end, and the black poplar (black, it is said in legend, because of its habit of felling the evildoer to the ground by dropping a branch on his head), the sweet chestnut and the oak were put in their places with a circular railing round to protect them during their young years.

The children helped plant the drifts of snowdrops and wild daffodils in the grass, and dozens of primroses and cowslips were put in, to delight everyone in the spring of the Millennium. Jackie disturbed a field vole (snub nose and short tail) and captured it after a chase, so as to release it in a safer place under the hedge..

Various extremely unvaluable finds were unearthed during the planting, such as a glass ink-bottle, a blue marble and some potsherds. We wish some wellwisher with a metal detector would give the Green a once-over, so that any chance hoards of gold and silver might be discovered before the trees grow up. A treasure trove would be a handy thing to help pay back our £40,000 of bank loan. Failing that, please send us a donation if you possibly can, to The Treasurer, Egara, North Rd., Kingsland, Herefordshire. You will then be made a Friend of the Green! Meanwhile thankyou everybody for all your hard work, especially to Emma of Luston and her mum.

We are requesting donations of:

Or contact Jackie Markham (01568 708281) about any of the above.

We can collect any items within reasonable distance from Kingsland and are always glad of offers of help.