Mullion

11:56am Wednesday 19th March 2008

MULLION

HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY: The society hosted a talk on the growing of vegetables by Bill Herring, head of horticulture at Duchy College, Rosewarne.

Mr Herring began with a brief account of his upbringing in North Cornwall and his early introduction to vegetable growing on the family smallholding and his father's mobile greengrocery. After his training at Camborne Tech and Pershore, he joined the Ministry of Agriculture at Rosewarne and worked his way up to senior lecturer, but still with much hands-on experience.

Mr Herring's talk then covered a wide range of vegetable growing issues, including why it was good to grow your own, how to plan what to grow, how to site particular vegetables for the best results, the management of crops to make best use of the soil's goodness, and pests and diseases and their control. All this was accompanied with an informative selection of slides, and several examples of dead pests in jars!

Mr Herring was thanked by president Jill London and presented with a Mullion Horticultural Society mug. Supper and much discussion was then enjoyed.

The society's next event is a concert in Mullion Methodist chapel on Saturday, May 17, at 7.30pm by Mevagissey male voice choir with guest soloist Mullion girl Katherine Hipkiss, and David Lugg as chairman.

All these events go towards the staging of Mullion horticultural show, which takes place this year on Wednesday, July 9 at the cricket ground.

OLD CORNWALL SOCIETY: The society held their annual dinner at the Grange restaurant. Over 60 members braved a night of gales and rain to enjoy a splendid carvery and entertainment by the Godrevy Singers. After a week of St Piran celebrations the black and white flags were out again to decorate the tables and the room, and many of the diners wore the traditional Cornish tartan.

The Godrevy Singers offered their usual combination of Cornish songs and humorous tales, and of course the audience joined in. With the raffle and donations, the singers collected over £170 for their chosen charity, Children's Hospice South West. They have already donated £1,000 from previous events, and are well on the way to the next £1,000. Chairman Rex Bray thanked them, the staff of the Grange and the organisers of the dinner for such an enjoyable and successful evening.

Mullion Old Cornwall's last indoor event will be a Cornish evening at the Women's Institute hall at 7.30pm on Monday, April 14. The theme for the evening will be Education in Mullion, and photographs and memorabilia will be welcomed for display and discussion.

WOMEN'S INSTITUTE: The new president Margaret Tomlinson welcomed 28 members and one visitor to the March meeting. Everyone agreed that we had a superb annual lunch at the Carbis Bay Hotel with 29 members attending. The group also enjoyed another successful spring show with entries up on last year.

The competition winners this month were Betty Brown, Joy Bosestow and Kay Woodall, with Christine Stanton providing the flower of the month.

Janet Oates from Rosuick Farm near Goonhilly Downs gave us an entertaining and amusing insight into life on an unusual Lizard farm surrounded by camels wallabies, rias and of course the usual farm animals.

CHURCHES TOGETHER: The Women's World Day of Prayer Service was held in Mullion, Cury and Gunwalloe. This year it was the turn of the Network ladies of the Methodist Church to host the event. Representatives from all the churches in the three villages took part in readings and prayers and the service was led by the Rev Sylvia Burgoyne of the Methodist Church.

The hymns and choruses were accompanied on the organ by Peter Townsend. The speaker was Margaret Flinders from Helston, who spoke on the theme chosen for the service by the women of Guyana of how God's wisdom provides new understanding of our lives and faith.

After the service tea was served.

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