Hilltop Gardening Club May 2^{nd “}Celebrating 40 years”



Anniversaries are often a cause for celebration as well as moments of reflection and memories, and of course for sharing food and drink. Hosted at Ponting’s Farm, France Lynch by Jane and Pete Randall the club came together to mark HGC’s 40^th year. One founding member, Robert Bryant (HGC President) gave a toast to absent friends and to the current club continuing a tradition of bringing together diverse gardeners and plant enthusiasts. There was much to learn from or rediscover when looking at the historic photo-albums, scrap-books, early committee minutes, posters of numerous speakers, annual autumn show-winners and holidays: snap-shots across four decades. Such a history discovered by the new was re-visited and shared by long-time members. Not just nostalgia however, this was a time to reflect and look forward to inspirational, funny and educative talks that bring together the passionate, quirky and plant-obsessed gardener, grower, ecologist or historian to Eastcombe village hall to share knowledge and horticultural skills. Gardeners plant and plan for the future: waiting for the perennials to emerge after the winter and for harvests to ripen. Shared histories, good-times together and the positive power of growing are worth celebrating. And in-between rain-showers we were able to enjoy the beautiful garden and the wrap-round beauty of the Cotswolds.

5^th May.  Speaker, Kevin Alviti “Our Homestead & How We Got Here”.

Many aspired to ‘the good life’ inspired by River Cottage and self-sufficiency guru John Seymour, but we rarely hear first-hand, lived-experience relayed with such energy and humour as our speaker Kevin Alviti was able to conjure. His account of growing-up on a hard-pressed tenant farm within a mantra of self-reliance, coupled with being a ‘useful child’ with early live-stock farming responsibilities, proved formative. Post-school our speaker found his vocation in a carpentry course considered then an inferior option to a university degree. Undaunted Kevin became a carpenter by trade, working with traditional and medieval skills. Combining woodwork with those farming foundations from childhood, Kevin, wife and family have created their Homestead: a small holding with big ambitions. Adept at adapting to change, recycling, rebuilding and repurposing land and buildings, the family created orchards and fruit and veg beds beyond the quotidian: variety evidently is key to self-sufficiency. Mixing child-care and woodworking with the Homestead’s hard-graft of planting, foraging and preserving, cooking is a combined family enterprise. If this sounds against the grain of contemporary life, the reality is anything but an isolated rural idyll. At the core of Kevin’s life and work is a commitment to family and to the wider communities beyond the Homestead’s self-reliance perspective.  From contributing to play-groups, being a scout leader, mentoring and schools, Kevin and family are also integrated into the wider-community. A blogger, lecturer and writer for woodworking magazines, Kevin arrived with beautifully carved and well-designed wooden tools and harvest boxes for sale. An entertaining and uplifting evening. We look forward to hearing more about the unusual fruit and veg that Kevin grows in our programme next year.  

Pam Meecham