Open Gardens Event
Sunday, 4 July 2010 1pm to 5pm
Programmes are £2, sold at the open gardens
Additional car parking is available at Buckshaw Primary School
Astley Village Parish Council has put out an appeal to residents in its recent newsletter to get in touch regarding the Astley in Bloom event.
The Council wishes to run the event in 2010 but needs residents to volunteer their gardens and time for the Open Gardens event.
Please get in touch with a Councillor or the Council if you wish to be involved.
2008 Event Day Report
As seen in The Lancashire Magazine in 2007 and 2008.
Click to enlarge photographs
The Annual Astley In Bloom event was another success for the village with visitors and residents turning out, despite a couple of downpours to soak up the sunshine between times.
Visitors were treated to free children’s donkey rides, exclusive guided tours of Astley Hall’s Walled Gardens which is not yet open to the public and a large collection of Open Gardens and front gardens.
Council Chairman Mark Perks commented,
“Visitors to the newly planted walled gardens were by far the biggest attraction with over 120 people attending and two extra tours were hastily put on after the two initial ones couldn’t meet the demand. It certainly made our 4 th event rather special and both villagers and visitors came away impressed. Even the sun came out for all four tours.
Everyone greeted the viewing as rather special and delighted at what they saw. Everyone including our Mayor and Mayoress fully appreciated the showing and where impressed with the plans for the garden and coach house.”
Astley Village Parish Council organise the event and this will be the fourth year it has been running, but without residents willingness to help and open their gardens the event would not run.
At the community centre the ladies from the W.I. do refreshments and this year there was an exhibition by Places For People regarding the Lottery Grant of £400K to be spent in Astley Village. Also, local man and previous parish councillor in the village, Barrie Robins attended the day to show people the skills of green wood turning, known as Bodgering.
The Mayor and Mayoress of Chorley attended and judged the Junior Petunia growing competition; where Buckshaw School pupils plant on a petunia into a pot and grow it, which are then judged. The winning petunia was grown by Jenny Paul of Elmwood.
This year, as last year the event appeared the The Lancashire Magazine.
Visitor numbers were up again, and the event is fast becoming a date for the calendar.
2007 Event Day Report
The Village Centre had some unusual visitors on Sunday, 1 July at the Open Gardens event - and I don't mean Barrie below giving a display of Greenwood Crafts including Pole Lathe Turning (Bodgering) - although these skills are rare these days.
I mean we had a dragon, cockroach, owl, gekko and a multitude of other creatures visiting the centre brought by the 'Zoo Man', who kindly brought and introduced them all to the eagerly awaiting children. The children asked lots of questions about where the animals normally lived and ate and all got to hold or stroke the ones they liked.
Thingies In Wood run by Mr & Mrs Perry below brought along some high quality hand crafted wood toys, bird boxes and planters which proved very popular.
Junior Petunia Judging was carried out by the Mayor and Mayoress at 1pm and some of the six class winners attended to see if they were to become the overall 2007 winner.
1st Place - Hannah Foster. 2nd Place - Callum Clark. 3rd Place - Liam Paul and the three runners up were Adam Fraser, Adam Foster and Natalie Barton.
Judging was hard but the winners were chosen and those attending met the Mayor.
Click on any of the photos to enlarge.
This is a Gekko |
This is a Hissing Cockroach |
This is a Carpet Snake about 1 year old |
This is a Jungle Crab |
This is a Barn Owl who was very friendly |
Below are just some of the images from some of the gardens. The quality and colour of the Open Gardens and Front Gardens was spectacular.
Astley In Bloom, Open Gardens Event 2007
The Astley In Bloom event has started with the planting of the Junior Peturnia baskets by the pupils at Buckshaw Primary School.
Pupils from Buckshaw Primary School had a planting event on the 5 June with baskets, plants and soil provided by Astley Village Parish Council. At the Open Gardens event on the 1 July the chosen baskets will be looked over by the Mayor of Chorley and a winner chosen.
Astley In Bloom, Open Gardens Event 2006
The weather beat many visitors back this year from attending but the event still had a larger number of visitors than its first year in 2005.
The Deputy Mayor Adrian Lowe and Mayoress Marion attended and got stuck in straight away having a look at the refreshments stall run by some Ladies from the WI, then on to judging the Junior Petunia competition entered by pupils of Buckshaw Primary School and then to have a look at the Static Owl Display.
The Deputy Mayor and Mayoress then went to visit all the gardens open and the school.
John Lawson with one of the Owls and Laura Lennox manning the plant stall - despite the weather!
The Astley in Bloom project, in partcicular the Open Gardens event was a great success in the Summer of 2005. The Open Gardens for 2006 will be held on Sunday, 9 July 2006.
For 2006 there will be 8 residents gardens open for the public to visit along with Buckshaw School's wildlife garden and fully completed Westway Ponds Community Nature Reserve.
There will be a display of bodering at the school by a Parish Councillor and a pond dipping workshop at Westway Ponds Community Nature Reserve.
There will be refreshments for purchase being served at the community centre where the programmes will be on sale and there is free parking and facilities. Also at the centre will be the RSPB and Lancashire County Council Composting Guru along with the very popular Plant Sale, run by volunteers selling plants, flowers and shrubs - many cuttings from the open gardens.
Why not come and have a look!
Also next to the community centre will be the Static Owl Display and photographed on the right are Gypsy and Treacle. If you want to know more about the owls and the display team use the link below
http://www.lancashirehawksandowls.co.uk/
Junior Petunia - Part of the Astley In Bloom, Open Gardens Event
A winner from each class was chosen on Friday 7 July and the winners from these were chosen on Sunday 9 July by the Deputy Mayor and Mayoress.
The Junior Petunias are off and racing.
Pupils from Buckshaw Primary planted up their plants in a mini hanging basket to take home and care for. The winners will be those whose plant has survived and flourished the best.
The plants will be judged in class groups with two chosen from each class. The final 3 will be chosed from the 12 finalists will be chosen by the Deputy Mayoress of Chorley on the event day, Sunday, 9 July.
Sunday 3 July 2005 - Astley In Bloom Open Gardens Event
Everyone had a wonderful day around the village, the Mayor visited, the Compost guru and the Mole from lancashire County Council were all there with the sunshine and many residents of the village.
This was a great opportunity to walk around the village and look at a varied selection of gardens, chat to their owners and swap ideas. The programme for the day only cost a £1 and its printing was greatly aided by the support of local businesses who placed adverts or donated prizes, their ads are replicated below. On Friday, just before the event, we were very pleased to receive word that the event had gained support of £500 from a Green Partnership Award which are given for environmental action in Lancashire by Lancashire County Council.
This event is part of the Parish Council’s vision plan for the future of the village, there are number of environmental projects included in the plan.
The Mayor, Councillor Marie Gray and Mr Gray arrived and presented with flowers by Cllr Mark Perks. Lee and Stuart, two Neighbourhood Wardens were also on hand through day.
There was a plant stall which was selling bedding plants, flowering baskets and cuttings from some of the open gardens.
The Mayor was pictured here visiting the garden of Claire and Dave Goulden in Long Copse and then went on to Judeland to visit Elaine and Ian Leonard's garden below.
The Mayor went on to visit the other open gardens after having a well earned cut of tea at the community centre where residents had set up a cafe, the LCC composting guru was on hand and their Mascot Mole.
It is hoped the event will be built on over the next few years to encourage Astley Village to be a Village in Bloom. All proceeds will be going directly back into projects designed to improve the appearance of our village. The Mayor was invited to have a tour around Buckshaw Primary School's Wildlife Garden and, assisted by Kiera the Mayor was introduced to the work the school children had been doing around the garden.
The Mayor also presented Daniel with a prize for growing the tallest sunflower seedling in the class - and his class mates joined in, taking a break from guiding visitors around the garden.
