Quarley Open Gardens & Plant Sale

Quarley Open Gardens and Plant Sale – Saturday 7 June 2014, 2pm to 5pm

Quarley will be expanding its successful annual Plant Sale to include Open Gardens throughout the village, and a raffle, teas and a home made cake stall at the Village Hall. All proceeds will go to the upkeep of St Michael’s Church, Quarley and the Village Hall, so do put the date in your diary now.

We are also planning to hold a Scarecrow Making Competition, open to all young (and older?) Quarley residents, so keep those old clothes and we will send out further details. We hope to have at least one scarecrow on display in each open garden and visitors will be able to vote for their favourite with a fabulous prize for the winner.

Anyone in Quarley who has not yet made contact with Judy Venables, but would like to contribute in some way – opening their garden, making cakes, offering other ideas for stalls etc, it’s not too late: please do so on 07745 746207.

NOTES FROM THE OPEN GARDENS & PLANT SALE MEETING HELD AT DRUM COTTAGE ON
TUESDAY 11 MARCH 2014 AT 2.00 pm

ITEM

ACTION

Welcome and Apologies.
Joanna Ferguson (JF) – Apologies
Pam Gardner (PG)
Terri Gilbert (TG)
Sally Leech (SL) – Apologies
Elisabeth Mason (EM)
Kirsty Sherriff (KS)
Ginnie Stacey (GS)
Amanda Toth (AT)
Judy Venables (JV)
· Judy explained that Sally had selected a logo for the event – an orange flower (as shown at the top of these Minutes). Everyone present thought it was very appropriate.

She also reminded everyone that the date of the event is Saturday 7 June 2014 from 2-5pm.

Open Gardens. It was confirmed that 5 gardens would be open for the event but more would be welcome. Judy will send round an aide-memoire about security precautions to take on the day.

Plant Sale. It was confirmed that the Plant Sale would be at Thatchway. The plan to transport plants by wheelbarrow from there to the car park remained a good idea but it may need to be on a “self-help” basis. Several present agreed to loan wheelbarrows on the day.

All

Light Refreshments/Teas. The plan is sell cream teas and cake from the Village Hall. The “Tea Gang” (Amanda, Kirsty, Terri and Pam) will research quantities and prices, including getting a price from, eg Burbidges, to bake the required number of scones. An update will be provided at the next meeting.

Tea Gang

Cake Stall. It was agreed that a Cake Stall would be set up alongside the teas and would be managed by the “Tea Gang”. Amanda and Ginnie volunteered to co-ordinate the production of cakes. Judy will put contact details in the letter about raffle tickets (see Item 8)

AT, GS, JV

Scarecrow Competition. It was agreed that a Scarecrow Competition would definitely take place.

·          After much discussion about how to advertise it, the need for entry forms/fee (to determine numbers), and how it should be judged Amanda agreed to research the matter with a friend who had previously been involved in running such a competition and report back at the next meeting.
·           It was suggested that a “grand” scarecrow should be located by the Village Hall – Judy agreed to speak to Project Workshops to see if anyone might be willing to make one.
·           Pam agreed to source prizes for the competition. It was agreed that, in addition to a prize for the top scarecrow(s), a small prize, eg sweets, should be given to every entry.

Miniature Garden Competition. It was agreed that there would not be a Miniature Garden Competition.

Raffle. Judy confirmed that she had obtained registration for the raffle from TVBC and had obtained promises of about 20 donated prizes. Following discussion about the prizes a decision was made about the top 3 prizes. It is planned to have the raffle tickets available for sale by mid-April; they will be distributed to all households in the village for purchase or selling on. She will include a letter giving an outline of the event, asking folk to sell raffle tickets and will include contact details for the Cake Stall (see Item 5). It is believed that Amport have a rotating drum that could be used on the day for drawing the raffle – Judy is to make enquiries. There will be a need for someone to organise the raffle “on the day”.

Funding Issues. Everyone was reminded that Joanna has a bank account holding a float of approximately £300.00 from previous village fetes which can be used to pay for costs associated with setting up this event.

· Entry Ticket/Programme. It was confirmed that:

o     An Entry Fee would be charged to visit the Open Gardens – this would be set at £5.00 per couple; £3.00 single with children under 16 going free. The “ticket” would take the form of a programme.
o     This would be centrally organised with selling points at each Garden, and at the Village Hall. A volunteer will be required to sell tickets at the Village Hall.
o     Ginnie brought copies of the sketch map to be included in the programme and asked for input/comments. Sally has parking for 4-5 cars for those less able to walk up to the gardens at Trinity and Drum Cottages and this should be shown on the map.
o     Judy said that she had been offering donors the opportunity to have their logo included in the programme “free of charge” and several had taken up this offer.

It was agreed that Ginnie, Sally and Judy would form a team to put together the programme/ticket.

· Sponsorship. Judy reported that she had secured 2 cash donations to the event. She also needs to contact Smiths Gore who have provided signage for previous Plant Sales in the village.

· Insurance. There was no update on insurance available at the meeting.

Afternote – Joanna reported that insurance held by the Parish Council would cover aspects of the event. Judy agreed to liaise with the Parish Clerk to obtain precise details so that, if required, those opening their gardens could notify their own insurance companies.

All

SL, GS, JV

10.

Advertising. Sally had put an advance notice in the October 2013 Parish magazine. She had produced an outline timetable for advertising the event which was presented to those present. Judy will liaise with Sally on her return from holiday to update her on what was discussed at the meeting.

SL, JV

11.

Date of Next Meeting. It was agreed that the next meeting would be on Tuesday 6 May 2014 at 2pm at Drum Cottage.

All