Another busy month at Gardening Leave - I was interviewed ‘live’ on the BFBS (www.bfbs-radio.com) Breakfast Show which was a very proud moment for me.  To think that soldiers in Afghanistan were hearing about Gardening Leave helped to reinforce the link between serving personnel and veterans which all of us at Gardening Leave work so hard to bridge.

However, the BEST news of February is that the Stovehouse is now surrounded by scaffolding!  In spite of some lousy weather, the scaffolders have made great progress and the ballast tanks which will hold the cover down are waiting to be filled with water so by the Birthday Party in April, we should have plenty for our guests to see.

Outside in the garden, the greenhouses on the terrace had a really good wash to make use of every precious minute of daylight to germinate our seeds and each of the front steps have had a very smart white line painted on them to help with visibility and make access safer for veterans and visitors.

The shallots are in, the 1^st Early potatoes are chitting, the water butts have been spring-cleaned and our 1^st wooden trough (great for veterans with mobility troubles) has been built and Mark II is on its way!

Seed sowing as per Pamela’s Timetable (see January) continues and at last it feels as though the dark days of Winter are finally receeding.

We had a really good Volunteers Get Together this month when all our Volunteers came to Auchincruive for lunch and a catch up and London Scottish very kindly hosted our Trustees Meeting at their Regimental Headquarters in Horseferry Road in London.

I spent 2 fascinating days in Edinburgh at the UK Psychological Trauma Society’s annual conference which really helped me to work out where Gardening Leave fits in to the bigger picture and I hope you enjoy February’s pictures as much as I do!

As ever,Anna.

To see the action, please go to the Stovehouse Gallery.

When the ice finally relented the greenhouses on the terrace got cleaned out and disinfected to the point where you could eat your lunch off the floor.  The first tomatoes, onions, leeks and Victoria Cross poppies have been sown and summer flowering bulbs have been planted so the gardening year is well under way. 

SAMH (Scottish Association for Mental Health) kindly invited me to lunch in Glasgow to celebrate the award they won for Life Force, their guide to working with veterans (www.samh.org - go the Archive News: SAMH guide wins top military award 30 October 2009) and I was delighted to have been part of such a great initiative. 

One of Gardening Leave’s Friends, Mike Cullen, organised an evening of films about farming in the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s  before Christmas and the DVD of the evening has raised £907 so far - a Huge thank-you to Mike and all the people who made it happen.

 Another Friend of Gardening Leave, Miracle Gro, (www.lovethegarden.com) sent an e-Christmas card to all their customers and made a generous donation to Gardening Leave as part of what they had saved by sending it electronically so thank you to Miracle Gro too!

 It’s been great to get back into the swing of Gardening Leave after Christmas and New Year and to welcome so many veterans to Gardening Leave - the fishing season is just around the corner and the Stovehouse cover should be on by the end of February so there is lots to look forward to - happy days,

ABC.

Although it has been too slippery for the veterans to come to Gardening Leave between Christmas and New Year, the first half of December was very busy and we welcomed Brigadier David Chaundler our newest Trustee, Major David Carter from London Scottish, Provost Sloan the new Veterans Champion for South Ayrshire, Michael Connarty MP, David Quayle CA who will be our Hon. Treasurer from next February and Willie and Morven, our new Volunteers - a Big Gardening Leave welcome to you All.

Pamela was very busy in the garden - the pond needed emptying and cleaning before we re-line it in the Spring, there was lots of fleece for frost protection (much needed!) which had to be secured and Phil’s greenhouse is now reassembled, tucked away behind the potting shed, already three-quarters full of plants….. 

As Christmas approached, we started making holly wreaths and very quickly, demand exceeded supply - a big Thank-you to all who helped to make them, and to Anna, a psychology student from London, who spent a busy week with us, and was a great help.  The first orders for next year have already been taken…!!!

Evelyn has been as busy as ever in the office and thanks to Stevie and Merlin, the Gardening Leave calendar in its new format arrived in good time - can it really be a whole year since Evelyn arrived at Auchincruive and her first job was to address 500 calendars…??!! 

Time to say Goodbye to 2009 and look forward to 2010 - the shortest day is behind us, the sweet peas are ready to be sown and some day soon the ice will melt and reveal the snowdrops which will tell us that Spring is on its way. 

My very Best Wishes and Thank-you to everyone from Gardening Leave for your friendship and good humour over the last year and to all our Friends and Funders - without all of you, there would be no Gardening Leave and life would be a darker place.

As always,

ABC.

PS.  Sarah Hobhouse who knitted our wonderful garden (see April 2009 Gallery) has a new website, www.pullingthewool.com

The glaziers have now removed all the glass from the Stovehouse and we await the scaffolders who will put up the frame so we can get the cover on to let the timbers dry out  and enable us to start stripping and replacing them  in readiness for their news coats of linseed oil-based paint. 

I went to the Scottish Parliament at Holyrood for the launch of the Veterans Champions Initiative which will see every local authority in Scotland appoint a Veterans Champion who will make sure that issues such as housing, healthcare and employment in their locality get a fair shout - a great idea and one I am keen that Gardening Leave should support. 

The Friday before Remembrance Sunday found the annual Hollybush Concert of Remembrance in Kilmarnock Grand Hall.  It was a stirring evening and great news that Provost Young has adopted Combat Stress as her charity for the year - awareness of veterans’ issues has never been more important. 

One of our veterans suggested that next year we should mark Armistice Day with a service at Auchincruive by which time the restoration of the Poppy Collection will be complete - it’s a great goal.

November also saw the birth of The Bullet, our newsletter for the Friends of Gardening Leave which I hope will keep people in touch with what we do, who we help and how they can get involved - money and awareness are just as important as each other!

Big, big thanks to Merlin Currie and Stevie Gibb who between them pulled The Bullet together, Ritchie (UK) for printing it and Evelyn for doing such a great job with the database so we can mail it to as many Friends and supporters as possible.  If you would like to receive a copy, either by post or better still by e-mail (we save the postage!) just contact Evelyn admin@gardeningleave.org or  01292 521444.

One of our veterans generously offered to give us his greenhouse, if we could take it away..!!!  This duly came to pass and we are in the process of erecting the greenhouse within the walled garden.  Unfortunately the weather has been against us however we have managed to construct the base so far and weather permitting, we should have it finished soon.

All our winter vegetables have now been transplanted under the ever increasing number of cloches!  Spring bulbs are all in pots and our paper whites and hyacinths are in bloom.

 Until next month, keep going!

 As ever, 

Anna.

We had another Volunteers Training Day this month and as the weather was fine, we sat on the terrace and put the world to rights.  It’s very important that our Volunteers meet up regularly so that they know they are all part of the Gardening Leave family.  We would be lost without them and it’s great to welcome Morven as a new Volunteer.  She served in the Royal Navy and I hope that she will enjoy spending time with us at Auchincruive.

Thanks to Stevie, Merlin, and Ritchies of Kilmarnock our terrific printers, Issue 1 of The Bullet, the Friends of Gardening Leave Newsletter made its first appearance this month.  The response from the Friends of Gardening Leave has been better than I had dared to hope and plenty of them have signed up to receive the Spring issue by e-mail which is a great help.

The Bullet will be an important tool for us to use when we are spreading the word about what Gardening Leave is, who it helps and how people can get involved by donating time, money or both….  If anyone would like to receive a copy, please can you contact Evelyn?  admin@gardeningleave.org or 01292 521 444.  Being a Friend of Gardening Leave doesn’t cost anything, you just have to promise to tell at least 2 people every month what we are about - it’s that easy!

The Sir Oswald Stoll Foundation (www.oswaldstoll.org.uk) kindly hosted Gardening Leave’s first Trustees Meeting in London which felt very grown-up.  It was good to see nearly all the Trustees at the Meeting and the veterans who work at Pryors Bank Café in Putney (www.pryorsbank.co.uk)  produced a delicious lunch too - many thanks to All.

On the Friday I went to the annual Forum of the Walled Kitchen Garden Network  (www.walledgardens.net) at Hampton Court where I met lots of other people who are concerned with preserving and using walled gardens, and listened to speakers from France, Belgium and Germany.  A great day and so good to spend time with other people who are involved with preserving some of Britain’s walled gardens - they really are magic places and I hope Gardening Leave can be part of saving some of them for future generations to enjoy.

I was very, very proud that Jimmy, one of our veterans completed the 10k British Military Fitness Run near Manchester and in the process raised over £600 for Gardening Leave.  Huge thanks to Jimmy for braving what looked like filthy conditions as well as the motorways, all for Gardening Leave - you really are an Inspiration to us all.

Dewi Winkle, a retired Major in the Parachute Regiment has set up a company called 3xtri which manages sporting events.  They are happy to offer charity places for Gardening Leave for triathlons, duathlons and aquathlons.  If like Jimmy, you would like to raise money for Gardening Leave, you can register at www.3xtri.com - Good Luck and Thank You in advance!

The Friends of Auchincruive kindly helped us to pay for a smart new pair of gates at the entrance to our area of the gardens which will help to reassure veterans that Gardening Leave is a ’safe place’ and they should help to keep the dogs in too…..!

Pamela has been very busy in the garden - some of the benches have been stripped and re-painted, the winter hanging baskets are finished; the VC poppy seeds have been saved and are drying out; lots of spring bulbs have been planted and the lettuces and onions to keep the kitchens at Hollybush supplied are still on the go.  The cloches are in place although we are still waiting for the first frost and the compost heap, bigger and better than ever, has been put to bed for the winter.

Happy Days,

Anna.

Thousands of tickets have been made available to all serving military personnel and to veterans who have been discharged through injury since 2001, at the new Tickets for Troops website.  For more information go to their website -

www.ticketsfortroops.org.uk

We had another Volunteers Training Day this month and as the weather was fine, we sat on the terrace and put the world to rights.  It’s very important that our Volunteers meet up regularly so that they know they are all part of the Gardening Leave family.  We would be lost without them and it’s great to welcome Morven as a new Volunteer.  She served in the Royal Navy and I hope that she will enjoy spending time with us at Auchincruive.

Thanks to Stevie, Merlin, and Ritchies of Kilmarnock our terrific printers, Issue 1 of The Bullet, the Friends of Gardening Leave Newsletter made its first appearance this month.  The response from the Friends of Gardening Leave has been better than I had dared to hope and plenty of them have signed up to receive the Spring issue by e-mail which is a great help.

The Bullet will be an important tool for us to use when we are spreading the word about what Gardening Leave is, who it helps and how people can get involved by donating time, money or both….  If anyone would like to receive a copy, please can you contact Evelyn?  admin@gardeningleave.org or 01292 521 444.  Being a Friend of Gardening Leave doesn’t cost anything, you just have to promise to tell at least 2 people every month what we are about - it’s that easy!

The Sir Oswald Stoll Foundation (www.oswaldstoll.org.uk) kindly hosted Gardening Leave’s first Trustees Meeting in London which felt very grown-up.  It was good to see nearly all the Trustees at the Meeting and the veterans who work at Pryors Bank Café in Putney (www.pryorsbank.co.uk)  produced a delicious lunch too - many thanks to All.

On the Friday I went to the annual Forum of the Walled Kitchen Garden Network  (www.walledgardens.net) at Hampton Court where I met lots of other people who are concerned with preserving and using walled gardens, and listened to speakers from France, Belgium and Germany.  A great day and so good to spend time with other people who are involved with preserving some of Britain’s walled gardens - they really are magic places and I hope Gardening Leave can be part of saving some of them for future generations to enjoy.

I was very, very proud that Jimmy, one of our veterans completed the 10k British Military Fitness Run near Manchester and in the process raised over £600 for Gardening Leave.  Huge thanks to Jimmy for braving what looked like filthy conditions as well as the motorways, all for Gardening Leave - you really are an Inspiration to us all.

Dewi Winkle, a retired Major in the Parachute Regiment has set up a company called 3xtri which manages sporting events.  They are happy to offer charity places for Gardening Leave for triathlons, duathlons and aquathlons.  If like Jimmy, you would like to raise money for Gardening Leave, you can register at www.3xtri.com - Good Luck and Thank You in advance!

The Friends of Auchincruive kindly helped us to pay for a smart new pair of gates at the entrance to our area of the gardens which will help to reassure veterans that Gardening Leave is a ’safe place’ and they should help to keep the dogs in too…..!

Pamela has been very busy in the garden - some of the benches have been stripped and re-painted, the winter hanging baskets are finished; the VC poppy seeds have been saved and are drying out; lots of spring bulbs have been planted and the lettuces and onions to keep the kitchens at Hollybush supplied are still on the go.  The cloches are in place although we are still waiting for the first frost and the compost heap, bigger and better than ever, has been put to bed for the winter.

Happy Days,

Anna.

Please click here to read

 http://property.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/property/gardens/article6878515.ece