Dear friends,
Welcome to our Autumn 2024 newsletter! As the bustle of summer is replaced by the cold and calm of the autumn, we have finally got the chance to give you a long-overdue update of what has been happening at the gardens.
Our weekly drop-in sessions continued over the spring and summer, with volunteers enjoying a mix of work and play in our beautiful garden. Volunteers helped us to: fix our beloved, but leaky, pond; install some delightful new wildlife signs donated by local artist Alice Thomas; and help with general maintenance tasks to keep the gardens inviting for both people and wildlife!
We enjoyed lots of bounty together as a reward for all this hard work, including: heaps of apples; gooseberries for making jams; lots of seeds to save and package up for sowing in future; and an enormous amount of cake!
Read on to learn more about the other projects we have been up to.
Monthly sessions
This autumn and winter we are trialling monthly weekend sessions instead of our weekly Tuesday sessions, to give more people the chance to join in with what we do! The sessions have got off to a fabulous start, with twenty two people attending across October and November. It has been wonderful to see so many new and old faces getting involved with our community! Activities have included: giving the herb garden a through tidy and mulch, making willow star decorations, making tasty fire food, and tidying paths.
See below for details of our December session, and stay tuned for details of our January-March sessions to come!
Events
Scything Saturday
Back on a sunny Saturday in August we had a lovely day of scything, with eighteen volunteers mucking in to help keep our wildlife meadow looking beautiful. Committee member Tom Brown helped to instruct newbies in the art of scything, and lots of smiles were seen as this ancient craft was slowly perfected by the team! We were also very fortunate to enjoy some wonderful music from Phil Wheeler and Elaine, who added to the lovely late summer atmosphere! Some of the dried flowers were saved and weaved into wreaths by our volunteers, instructed by our talented session leader Jeanette Gray. These were fabulous for selling at fundraising events. If you have an interest in crafting similar items to sell at fundraisers, do get in touch!
Moth night
In October we enjoyed a wonderful night of moth recording with Montgomeryshire Moth Group. Using their professional traps, it was great to see the different variety of moths in flight during autumn, compared to when we have done recording in summer. 21 species were recorded (list available here). This was, as expected, a lot less than the 95 species we recorded in July 2023 – but it was nevertheless fascinating! We also enjoyed seeing some other exciting wildlife, such as bats and this Sexton beetle, pictured below.
Sally's SpringWatch success!
Back in June, we were thrilled that our long-standing volunteer Sally Woof was awarded the BBC SpringWatch Wildlife Hero Award! We nominated Sally because of all the incredible work she has done for the gardens, and because we believe that her sensitive approach to gardening for wildlife should be an inspiration for everyone. So as Sally told Michaela Strachan – leave the weeds and let your grass grow long! Read more about it here.
Cyfle Newydd Sessions
Over the spring and summer, we enjoyed delivering weekly sessions for the service users of Cyfle Newydd day centre in Machynlleth. It was delightful to get the help and company of this delightful group, and we can’t wait to restart the sessions in the spring! Activities included sowing seeds, making fabric prints with apples, making nettle string bracelets, and many more nature-based arty projects!
Saying goodbye to Mike and Geraint
This summer we were incredibly sad to hear about the passing of our long-standing volunteers Mike and Geraint.
Mike Williams was a dedicated supporter and committee member of Gerddi Bro Ddyfi since the very beginning. His knowledge of the local community meant he could advise us of the best person to contact on most issues, and he was always there with a useful quote for the Cambrian News. He was endlessly supportive of our gardeners and the work we all do, always ready with an appreciative and encouraging comment or email. But he also loved being outdoors and would often offer up his time to help in the gardens, usually quite heavy work, such as moving gravel for the paths or clearing vegetation. His strong opinions showed how much he really cared and wanted the best for Machynlleth, and his cheery good humour and wry philosophical comments will be much missed.
Even on rainy days Geraint was a dependable and loyal presence at the gardens – bringing his huge warmth, positivity and can-do attitude to everything that needed doing! Geraint did so much for the gardens. If you've ever enjoyed a walk here it is very likely it was Geraint who barrowed the gravel for the paths you walked on, or the woodchip for the flowerbeds you admired. Raising a favourite tea-time hot chocolate and biscuit to your memory Geraint! Your kind, funny and uplifting presence will be sadly missed by everyone at Gerddi. Rest in Peace.
Funding
We’re delighted to have received funding this autumn from the CLA Charitable trust, to continue our social and therapeutic drop-in sessions into 2025. We were also extremely moved and grateful to see the success of the fundraiser created in memory of the beloved local nature-expert, John Mason. This means such a lot to us and will be an incredible help to support our work. You can read more about this fundraiser, and donate, here.
New Trustees
This autumn we have been trying to recruit new trustees, to help us with the large amount of behind-the-scenes work required to keep our project flourishing! We’ve been delighted to receive several applications, and we hope to begin inducting our new trustees soon. There is still time to express an interest in joining. If you are interested, please read more here.
Upcoming workshop
We are excited to be co-hosting an event with Tir Canol this December:
Exploring Dyfi: Chat and Carve Workshop with Tir Canol Artist in Residence Veronica Calarco
Tir Canol is a community that is designing and providing positive outcomes for nature and people through our use of the land sea. They received funding from Esmêe Fairbairn Foundation to offer a series of artist-in-residence to local artists with a connection to the Dyfi Valley.
For this project, Veronica is exploring the Dyfi river, following the river and some of its tributaries, from its source at Creiglyn to the sea, ending in the Leri river valley. As part of the project, Veronica is creating a visual work of the river which will include the stories of the people who live and work in the valley. For Gerddi Bro Ddyfi Gardens, Veronica will hosting a visit to the garden and then a workshop at the Plas, where people can tell their stories of the valley and work on a collaborative lino block. Don’t worry if you don’t know how to carve, Veronica will teach you. The finished lino will be printed at Stiwdio Maelor and everyone will be invited to join in the printing.
Join us on Friday 6th December between 1pm - 4pm in the John Edwards room of the Plas, Machynlleth. Email info@tircanol.cymru to book your space!
We hope to see you soon,
Gerddi Bro Ddyfi Gardens Team
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