Clubs and Community: Sarratt hosts its blooming Spring Show

Sarratt Spring Show

The Sarratt Horticultural Society Spring Show in the village hall on Saturday, March 28 was one of the best shows that people in the village can remember. There were over 300 entries from 49 different entrants and this included 10 children.

Although Christine Head was the overall show winner, the prizes were well spread with John Rickard winning the Pinaroo Trophy for Daffodils, show secretary Jennifer Haynes winning the Luckhaus Plate for Arts and Crafts and vice-president Joan North winning the WI Cookery Cup. Sue Hall triumphed in the floral art whilst Christine Head won the Dickens Trophy for Other Flowers, whilst sharing the Roy Ward Trophy for Vegetables, Fruit and Produce with Joan Horwood and Steven Booth. In this event the two classes for eggs were particularly keenly contested.

In the children’s classes, Tom Soothill came out narrowly on top with one point more than Fiona Cross and Edward Barrington.

Jon Adams of Adams Nurseries presented the prizes and spoke warmly of the high standard of all the entries.

Stoneycroft Flower Club

The Hemel Hemsptead club has a busy time coming up in May.

On its usual club day (the first Wednesday of the month) at Warners End Community Centre HP1 3QG, Rekha Naidoo, a national flower designer, is presenting a display of flower arranging with the title ‘Life Begins with Flowers’.

In addition the club is holding its very popular annual plant stall. This raises funds for its charity, which this year is the Paul Strickland Scanner Appeal. Visitors are made very welcome at a cost of £5.

New members are also very welcome to join. The membership fee is £25 and gives entry to the monthly meeting of £1 per visit, as well as access to the various outings afternoon teas, garden parties and all the other activities organised throughout the year at this very lively club. For more information ring 01442 218170.

The big event in May is the annual summer Open Evening at Adeyfield Community Centre on Friday May 8 at 7pm for a 7.30pm start.

The speaker will be flower designer Mig Kimpton, an internationally celebrated floral artist who is not only a superb flower arranger , but also a theatre producer and raconteur.

He has many tales to tell about his life in the theatre travelling the world with many of the famous names of the English stage. The cost is £10 which includes cheese and wine to give a great start to the evening’s entertainment. Tickets are available by ringing 01442 218170 or at the door.

Berkhamsted Gardeners Society

Following on from the January talk on The Historic Gardens of Berkhamsted and the February talk on How to Take the Perfect Photograph, the club got back to basics in March with a talk by horticulturist Paul Patten on Growing for the Kitchen.

Paul is a professional horticulturist who is now retired and devotes his time to working on his large garden. Despite the acreage he looks after Paul was able to advise on edible growing for all - from window boxes upwards.

The talk was timely as members all look forward to a good growing year. The entries at the autumn show may well be inspired by what we learned.

The next event is a coach trip to Abbey House Malmesbury on May 6.

Contact Margaret Evans on 01442 863029.

Zumba for Hope

Join Hope for Children (HOPE) for a Zumba class with a difference at the Ashley Green Memorial Hall on Saturday April 18 from 9.30-10.30am.

The class is being run by the charity’s office manager Caroline Lee, who is also a qualified personal trainer.

The class is free, with the charity asking participants to make a donation to help support its work across Africa, Asia and the UK.

For more information call Caroline on 01442 234561 or emaol [email protected]

Kings Langley Community Choir

The choir has started 2015 in winning style after being awarded first place in the Open Choirs section of the Watford Festival at Haberdasher’s Aske’s Boys’ School during March.

The choir began with Adele’s Rollin In The Deep and, with 40 voices on stage, gave full vent to an arrangment by musical director Ben Crawley which at times pulsed with eight harmonies. The second, slower, test piece was an ethereal interpretation of Watford group The Staves’ Wisely and Slow, again to an arrangement by Ben Crawley.

Adjudicator Tim Blinko, Professor of Music at Hertfordshire University, congratulated the choir and scored the performance for an Honours award and first place.

The choir now looks forward to an exciting and busy May with two international festivals. The first, Voices Now, is staged at London’s Roundhouse, and then a few days later the choir will be in Kensington for the London Sangerstevne festival.

These will be quickly followed by a return to the Houses of Parliament thanks to an invitation from Mike Penning MP.

This follows last year’s successful performance to MPs and parliamentary staff, when the choir was the first ever to appear in the Palace of Westminster.

The choir welcomes new members. Membership is open to all, there is no audition, and previous singing or musical experience is not required. Rehearsals take place on Tuesday evenings during term time at Kings Langley Senior School from 7.30-9pm.

Contact Lawrence Parnell on 07812 974392 or email [email protected]

The Gaddesden Gallop

The Gallop is a five or 10k fun run which takes place in the village of Little Gaddesden near Berkhamsted on Sunday May 3. Both runs will commence at 10.30am from the village playing fields. On site there is parking, toilets and refreshments.

This is an annual event which is always well supported, with up to 250 runners taking part.Both runs are off road through Little Gaddesden and the surrounding countryside. Some parts of the run are hilly.

Advanced entry is cheaper than on the day registration which is £20 for adults and £10 for Under 18s. Pre-registration closes on April 24. Contact [email protected]