Wednesday 26th October 2022 - Poppy Appeal and Lighter Mornings

The annual Royal British Legion’s Poppy Appeal starts tomorrow, 27th October. Today, I have been distributing trays of poppies and collecting tins to various businesses in the village, as well as putting up posters (see below) so that everyone is ready for tomorrow’s launch. As it is half-term, I won’t be able to provide the Belfry School and the Centre with trays of poppies, and in the case of the school a kids’ pack, until Monday. Over the coming days, I will also be delivering poppy wreaths to those who request them each year. I have been provided with some additional wreaths this year, so if anyone is interested in purchasing one, please get in touch via the Contact page. There will be a Remembrance Service at St Martins Church on Sunday 13th at 10.45 when wreaths can be laid at the War Memorial . Alternatively they can be placed at a different time or in another location. I have sent a recording with details about the appeal, to Poppyland Radio for broadcasting tomorrow in The Mardle at 2p.m.

Not many days now, the 29th to be precise, and we will be putting the clocks back. We’ll both welcome the lighter mornings but of course we will lose out in the late afternoons. I don’t suppose it will be long before temperatures drop to their seasonal norm; we really have been spoilt this month with only a few evenings when the temperature has dropped low enough for the heating to cut in. Given the increase in the price of gas, this has been a definite plus. There is an autumnal dampness on the grass in the mornings which despite the sun’s rays during the day, the grass has failed to dry sufficiently for Peter to put the mower over the lawns. Leaves keep falling from ours and neighbouring trees and as fast as we clear them, a gust of wind brings more down. The sycamore leaves, blown across our frontage, quickly turn into a soggy mass but when they have been dry, Peter has been collecting them. Over time they should provide his vegetable plot with some valuable leafmould to enrich the soil. There is an abundance of different types of fungi this year. We have several different varieties in our garden, some have come up in our lawns, so I suppose not mowing is no bad thing otherwise, because they are so small, they would probably fall victim to the mower’s blade. Autumn is the season for berries and we have some very unusual blue ones on a climbing shrub which I have photographed and included below.