Islanders gathered at the home of Pennie and Adrian Heyworth for a Britain in Bloom community meeting. The aim of the meeting was to get every islander involved in the campaign. The committee had compiled a list of jobs that needed willing volunteers to take on! Most of the jobs are for ‘wombling’ the beaches and paths but help is also needed for tending to the cemetery behind Bear’s Beach and for watering the many tubs and hanging baskets once they are filled with the summer bedding plants. The island children will help with clearing the rubbish on Shell Beach and will also help with colouring in the posters which will be on display around the island.
At some point between April 12th and May 4th unannounced judges will be making an appearance on the island to see what work the community are doing now towards the Britain in Bloom campaign. We have to ensure the island is litter free and tidy every day of the year, not just for the judging day in August!
Later in the season we hope to get the wider Herm community involved by asking guests staying on the island to help with the dead-heading of the numerous summer plants. School parties that come to camp will be asked if they would like to be involved in our Britain in Bloom campaign by clearing rubbish from the beaches.
After the meeting it was time to get down to the serious side of the evening! Last autumn, Andrew and Lesley Bailey set their fellow islanders a Sloe Gin challenge asking others to make a bottle of Sloe Gin which would be judged in the spring time. Six other islanders rose to the challenge and spent many autumn evenings gathering their sloes which grow in abundance on Herm and deciding which recipe would be best to follow. Some recipes say to freeze the sloes before beginning to make the gin; others say to prick each sloe one by one!
An independent judging panel was made up of Katell Murphy, (she had never even tasted sloe gin before!), Matt Brawn (he had intended to make some sloe gin but drank the gin before the sloes even got to it!) and Tom Harvey (a man of good taste!). They went into the judging room and got down to the serious business of tasting the eight bottles of Sloe Gin. The judging panel were looking for a good dark colour, good viscosity and of course excellent taste. A couple of them didn’t even score but the outright winner was the landlord of The Mermaid Tavern, Thomas Jones!
We all had fun tasting each other’s Sloe Gin which varied enormously from tasting delicious, Tom’s, to one that made your mouth pucker! (the assistant gardener shall remain nameless but maybe he needs to try another recipe this autumn). There is definitely room for improvement for some of them! It was a fun way to end a productive meeting.
 |
| Making the most of the early evening sunshine the sloe gin challengers gathered for a photo. 'Big Tom' (one of the judges) was also the photographer - spot his shadow! Left to right - James Cordingley, Jos Knight, Juliet Churchward, Laura Wilson, Lesley and Andrew Bailey, Pennie Heyworth and winner, Thomas Jones. |