Welcome to the SRT blog No. 44
12th March 2021 – Welcome to our blog post No. 44
*Great news* we have been awarded a Herts High Sheriff Award 2021 recognising all the hard work over the last year and during the pandemic. An online celebration took place last night, instead of the normal civic reception at County Hall organised by Hertfordshire Community Foundation. Presented by the Herts High Sheriff – Henry Hollan-Hibbert, to recognise groups that have shown particular excellence in supporting their local communities or beneficiaries during this pandemic. 10 representatives from Sunnyside joined the event on the night. Including James from NC, Katie from HFG & Rose from AC.
It’s amazing and thanks to all for the hard work. There were some lovely comments on the chat as well .
The High Sheriff of Hertfordshire | Facebook
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Happy Birthday to a couple of people this week – Ann and George!
So lots of cake to be shared and handmade cards from the trainees. Great themes and very colour co-ordinated! Ann’s was the flower theme and George the worms. Lucky George!
More baking using up the left–over plum jam – maids of honour tarts. These are delectable, traditional tarts with a simple almond and raspberry jam filling. The lore behind the origin of Maids of honour tarts varies, as do the recipes themselves, but one thing is for certain – Henry VIII adored them! It’s said the King, then still married to Spanish wife Catherine of Aragon, was introduced to the delicacy by Anne Boleyn. The tart recipe remained a Court secret for 200 years until it was leaked by a palace cook to a John Billet, a baker in nearby Richmond, west London, in the mid-18th century, who began producing the delicacies for wealthy customers.
Then everyone is getting ready for the arrival of the first bedding plant plugs to pot up. So, the potting machine was unwrapped, checked over and given a bit of tlc to coax it into life and a drink of oil. Then the hard work begins, filling the trays of pots and watering in. They are then stacked ready for the plants arrival next week when they will be filled by hand. A couple of thousand are arriving and then building to a lot more as the weeks go by.
Apart, from getting ready for the bedding plants for Dacorum Council more sowing is underway in the allotment space. Garlic, onion and some re-sowing of beetroot seed as the miscies have had a bit of a tea party and eating the first lot.
The outside contracts are underway and Michael is hard at work strimming on a Thrive job.
Back on–site Dan is prepping more perennials to go outside when the warmer weather arrives.
The hamper from the raffle has been collected this week and we raised £480 from the ticket sales which is going towards the bakery kit out. Thank you to all who took part.
The Sunnyside UP Cafe & Farm shop have created a couple of new veggie sandwiches – cheesy ‘Chickin‘ tikka mango sauce toasty and ‘Meetball‘ mariana in a mediterranean khobez wrap. Tasty
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Northchurch are making a whole ‘brood’ of paper mache and decoupaged Sunnyside chickens. These are all hand made by trainees and are in the shape of the Sunnyside cartoon chickens. The bodies are moulded from old papers and then decorated with text paper or colourful floral prints. These will appear later in the year in planters we are preparing for the RHS Hampton Court Garden Show and we should have enough to sell in the shops then as well.
Here’s Joe getting ‘stuck’ in – the glue can get everywhere but it’s quite fun!
The Bovingdon pond survey was carried out with Catherine and Zoe now that some clearing up has been done over the last couple of weeks. This will be repeated every so that we can see how the pond clearance has affected the wildlife.
The Goats always love a brush and bit of love!
The shop needs a couple more pieces of equipment for the stock – we keep having new ideas – so Graham is helping to saw lengths of wood for a new piece.
Wheelbarrow marching back from the bonfire.
Chloe kicking back with a tea after a hard days work.
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Bit of a woodwork theme this week so that everyone at the Activity Centre can still improve thei skills even when the woodshed is currently out of use. As part of the woodshed makeover they’ve removed a lot of unused timber so David has been able to salvage and build a new wood store. The trainees helped to saw up coppiced wood from the orchards to help to fill it ready for loading the new wood burner across the road (hopefully coming soon). 
They have also been reusing some of their old wooden bee frames and boxes as part of the wormery project. Photos show Michael Hogan and Make Kissane using tools to clean and deconstruct old brood boxes.
They had a big bonfire after removing lots of old wood during a recent clearance job at a nearby allotment in Berkhamsted. Photos show Aisha Lilley and Tim Abbots helping out from a safe distance. I love a bonfire!
Annette and Sophia helped to make blackcurrant jam in the kitchen ramping up production to make the large quantities planned to take to RHS Hampton Court in July. The jars are beginning to fill up the stock shelves already.
