Transnational Partner Meeting 1 – UK

Report

 

At Brewery House, Ketton, Stamford, Lincs PE9 3TA UK

October 2 – October 5 2019

October 2, Wednesday
 
The partners arrived during the afternoon enabling us to get to know each other. Unfortunately the Italian partners were not able to come but the Polish, German and Hungarian partners all arrived with two participants.
 
October 3, Thursday
 
We started the day by visiting a few local orchards. The small orchard at Brewery House has been used for teaching a grafting and pruning workshop run by the Stamford Community Orchard Group over the last few years. An adjacent old traditional orchard has also been used for restorative pruning workshops. However it now has planning permission for housing development – illustrating the pressure on the declining number of traditional orchards in the UK and across Europe.
 
All the partners brought examples of local heritage apple, plum and pear varieties which were displayed and discussed by the group. We considered those important and diagnostic characteristics of the varieties – colour, smell, shape, and crucially taste, processing and keeping quality. These were then also displayed at the Apple Day organised by Stamford Community Orchard Group.
 
The partners then presented short slide presentations about their own organisations. These provided an excellent introduction to experience and activities of the partners, as well as the common challenges they all face about promoting traditional orchards and local heritage varieties of fruit trees.
 
We then settled down to some basic planning and administration for the project. We agreed the wording of a Partnership Agreement as well as the budget and plan for payments to the partners. We also reviewed the original application and our respective rights, roles and responsibilities to deliver a successful project over the two years.
 
We then retired to the neighbouring Northwick Arms pub for our evening meal.

October 4, Friday
 
Again we started the day visiting two more local orchards. The Ketton Community orchard was planted by children from the local primary school. The need for careful regular management was highlighted by the obvious signs of rabbit damage to some of the newly planted apple trees. Taller tree guards were then added to the trees.
 
We then started to look at how the project would be promoted, designing the logo and considering how and when the project would be launched using a press release and website.
 
Sarah Roberts from the Bourne Community Orchard (www.friendsofbournewoods.org.uk/the-orchard) gave an excellent presentation about the activities and management problems of the volunteers who managed the orchard.
 
We then continued to discuss the administration and planning for the project. We fixed dates for all the transnational partner meetings and monthly skype calls, and planned for the wider dissemination of the project.
 
We then visited Stamford Arts Centre (www.stamfordartscentre.com) to help prepare for the next day's Apple Day and then retired to the Melbourne Brewery, Stamford, for our evening meal.
 
October 5, Saturday
 
We made an early start to Stamford Arts Centre to help set up the stalls and displays for the Apple Day (www.scog.org.uk/apple-day). In its 14th year it attracted nearly 1,000 people.
 
The day included displays of over 300 different local heritage varieties of apples, display by cider and juice makers, beekeepers and a chance to have a go at pressing apples and tasting the fresh juice. It also included a panel of experts to identify unnamed apples that people brought to the event.
 
The partners each gave 15 minute presentations to the public introducing their own activities and projects to show the range of traditional orchards across Europe.
 
Some of the partners departed in the afternoon to catch their flights. However the Polish partners stayed one more night and joined members of the Stamford Community Orchard Group for a very sociable evening meal at Pizza Express (www.pizzaexpress.com).