Spring news round-up

May 2010

The Goostrey Footpath Group walked some of the track ways shown on the Plan and Survey Book of Heawood Demesne of 1789 to find lost roads to Toad Hall.

On 19th May Sue Hughes gave a demonstration of the properties and uses of Tudor herbs at the Adult Learning Week event at Plas Mawr, Conwy. We also mounted a display of events at The Blackden Trust.

April 2010

Sunset from the back of the Old Medicine House.

Japonica and tulips in front of Toad Hall.

March 2010

Daffodils on the bank at the gable end of the Old Medicine House.

Snowdrops under the cherry tree.

December 2009

Antonella Novarina, the Chairwoman of the Friends of The Blackden Trust presented a cheque for £300 to Griselda Garner, a Trustee. The friends have asked that the money should be spent on the educational programme of the Trust.

2009 Frank Carter Memorial Plate winner

November 2009

Dave Heath, the winner of the 2009 Frank Carter Memorial Plate is presented with his plate by last year's winner, Terry Price.

Art group at Blackden 

September 2009

Gerd Gerhard and his Art Group spent an afternoon drawing and painting the buildings.

Dave Heath awarded The Frank Carter Memorial Plate - 2009
 

July 2009

Dave Heath won the Frank Carter Memorial Plate for the heaviest Premier Berry shown at the 2009 Goostrey Gooseberry Society Show.

His winning berry was a Bank View that weighed 31 pennyweights and 18 grains.

The plate will be personalised and then presented to Dave in the autumn.

Orchids at Blackden

June 2009

A wild orchid appeared in the uncut grass behind Toad Hall; the first in fifty years.

University places for Blackden students

January 2009

The quality of our courses, which always include an element of research, helps students to achieve their potential.

Many of the 6th Formers who came to Blackden in 2008 have been offered places at their first choice universities. The University of Aberystwyth is now among the growing number of universities that welcome our students and Oxbridge success rate continues to grow.

A student who attended all the courses we ran for adults and university candidates in 2008 has been offered a place to read Archaeology and Anthropology at The University of Oxford.  She is the third young archaeologist who has learned skills at Blackden that will be extended and honed at university.

The Frank Carter Memorial Plate
 

November 2008

As a part of making public its research into the history of Blackden and the surrounding area, The Blackden Trust has also instituted the Frank Carter Memorial Archive, which will be kept in The Old Medicine House, the home of The Blackden Trust. It will contain artefacts and copies of the archives of the Cheshire Gooseberry Societies.  The collection will be open to the public.

The Trust hopes to develop a living archive by growing a specimen of each of the seventeen gooseberry cultivars developed by Frank Carter.  Some of these may be hard to find, as some of Frank's earlier cultivars were superseded by his later ones, which are still winning shows.  The Trust is very grateful to local gooseberry growers for the promise of the donation of named trees to this commemorative collection.  These gifts will be acknowledged in the archive.

Terry Price awarded Frank Carter Memorial Plate - 2008
 

August 2008

Terry Price has been awarded the Frank Carter Memorial Plate for the heaviest Premier Berry shown at the 2008 Goostrey Gooseberry Society Show. His winning berry was a Lord Kitchener that weighed 31 pennyweights and 15 grams. The plate will be personalised and then presented to Terry in the autumn.

The Frank Carter Memorial Archive has been inaugurated by the donation of a pair of gooseberry scales. They belonged to Colin Garner, who bequeathed them to his grandson, Adam Garner. Adam has been interested in gooseberries since he was a child, when he watched his grandfather watching his berries grow. He now lives in Oxford, and gave the scales to The Blackden Trust because he feels that they belong in Cheshire, but he says that he is now left 'penniless and without scruples.'

The Blackden Trust houses gooseberry archives
 

March 2008

We have been asked to house artefacts and archives of the Cheshire Gooseberry Societies. The collection will include a record of the prize-winning cultivars raised from seed by Frank Carter.

The Frank Carter Memorial Archive has been inaugurated by the donation of a pair of gooseberry scales and a set of weights. They belonged to Colin Garner, who bequeathed them to his grandson, Adam Garner. Adam has been interested in gooseberries since he was a child, when he watched his grandfather tending this berries, and listened to the growers discussing the weights of the winning berries. 

He now lives in Oxford. Adam gave the scales to The Blackden Trust, because he feels that they belong in Cheshire. 

Blackden Students gain university places
 

December 2007

6^th Form students, who attended courses at Blackden in 2007 have been offered university places at the universities of their first choice.   These include the universities of Birmingham, Bristol, Liverpool, London School of Economics, Manchester, Nottingham, Oxford, University College London and York.

The students say:

Thank you so much for all your help, the courses really added an extra edge to my application and overall knowledge.

I am pleased to tell you that I received offers at all five of my choices.

The Blackden Trust in Heritage Counts 2007
 

October 2007

The Blackden Trust was mentioned as a case study in Heritage Counts 2007, the annual survey on the state of England's historic environment, published by English Heritage. In 2007 the report focused on the historic environment as a learning resource.

2007 Newsletter

2006 Newsletter

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