News Archive
2023
Ware Festival Week. - Saturday 1st July
We were based, as usual, under ‘the spreading chestnut tree’ on the Priory front lawn. We couldn’t offer as many plants as we have in the past because we weren’t given that many this year but we made up for that by selling home made chutneys (made by member Jay Salter), hand made greetings cards (made by member Rosemary Chamberlain) and running a tombola – thank you to member Kate Belinis, plus a few other garden related items. All in all, a ‘tidy’ profit which made it all worth while.
Many thanks to all who helped on the day – much appreciated.
We must also thank member Dennis Day for arranging to fix our plaque to the support for the Amelanchier tree – which we planted in November 2022 on the verge by the Priory drive, as part of the late Queen’s Green Canopy project.
The plaque was fixed just in time for it to be admired on Carnival Day.
The AGM was held at The Priory on Friday 24th March, click to read the Chairman's' Report and Minutes
The Friends Garden - update 23rd March 2023 - happy to say that the repair work to the Friend's Garden area of the Priory grounds has now been carried out by the Ware Town Council grounds staff.
The Platinum Jubilee plaque has now been replaced. (April 2023)
23 Feb 2023. Unfortunately the start of the planned work (see below) has been delayed due to factors outside of our control. We will advise once we have a revised plan.
Work begins this week to repair the Friends Garden area of The Priory grounds in order to ensure it is a safe space for all to use. The work will include relaying / replacing some of the paving, removing trip hazards and replacing the plaque we installed in the Friends Garden to mark the Platinum Jubilee.
The work should only take a couple of days to complete.
Recent activities -
- Queens Green Canopy - Friends of Ware Priory have planted a tree for the Queen’s Green Canopy project.
Members and Committee Members of the Friends of Ware Priory were joined by local councillors Victoria Shaw and Martin Butcher at The Priory, Ware on a cold and wet Thursday in November to plant a tree for the Queen’s Green Canopy initiative.
The chosen tree is an Amelanchier which was supplied by local commercial nurserymen Tim Wells Nurseries. The Amelanchier is native in northern temperate areas and is fairly compact making it ideal for The Priory grounds. Once established the tree will provide star-shaped flower colour in spring, coppery leaves which turn green in summer and then vivid shades of orange and red in autumn. In time it should produce plenty of berries loved by birds.
The Amelanchier will add colour to The Priory grounds from early spring to late autumn, and should prove to be a valuable and much loved addition to the tree stock in The Priory grounds.
The tree is situated on the grass verge just before the second car park exit / entrance.
New Year Social - a slightly different approach this year. We would normally have our
winter social event before Christmas but due to high bookings in The Priory in the run up
to Christmas we opted for a New Year event instead. Held in Fletchers Lea for the first
time and with live entertainment from the Ware Ukulele Group led by Lloyd, members
were treated to a variety of songs and were given the opportunity to "sing along" with
"Shoe Shine Susie" - who apparently "sits and shines, and shines and sits" all day long
- and NOT as some members insisted something similar but with very different outcomes!
2022
November 2022 Newsletter - click here to read the latest Newsletter
The Swift boxes on Fletchers Lea are now closed for the winter. If you notice anything around the boxes please contact Ron (priorynet@gmail.com)
Summer Social event - report from our afternoon tea with the Mayor and the "Royal Family" click here for more! - and see below too!
AGM Report - click here
Quiz Night - we held our "spring" Quiz Night on Friday 22nd April in Fletchers Lea. Congratulations to "The Late Comers" on their winning display, and to Sean Shaw for putting together and presenting a testing and entertaining quiz. Overall, the event added just over £500 to our funds - so a huge THANK YOU! to everyone who contributed to a thoroughly enjoyable, as well as profitable, evening.
2021
Ware Royal British Legion Centenary Event.
On Sunday 25th July, Kate Bellinis, Deputy Lieutenant Of Hertfordshire, unveiled “Tommy”, a silhouette installation in the Priory Grounds to celebrate the centenary of Ware Royal British Legion. The Friends have provided three Peace Roses to accompany “Tommy”, which will blossom in the coming years.
Some pictures from the event have been added to the Friends Flickr site and can be seen by clicking on the link above.
Berm revamp – Update 29/07/21 - We are revisiting the Berm area now that the work done earlier has settled down. There is a lot of Ground Elder in the beds in the area and we need to deal with this before replanting.
On 12th May, the “Wednesday Volunteers” arrived to revamp the Berm planting. The Berm is the area opposite the bridge to the Bowling Club under the Horse Chestnut trees. We bought a selection of suitable plants, including Ragged Robin, Liguilaria, & Marsh Marigolds, which will establish over time and should provide some colour to the area. The “volunteers” cleared some of the over-growing plants, tree saplings and general “debris” – including a broken child’s scooter! They also cleared as much of the ground Elder from the adjacent borders and generally tidied the area.
We provided lunch for the team which went down well I am led to believe!
Thanks to Eric & the team for their hard work, it is very much appreciated. Some images taken on the day will be added to the Flickr gallery (link above).
Spears Bridge – the bridge has been repainted & the colour changed from red to black to match the bridge across the river to the performance /stage area.
25th Anniversary of restoration work. We hope to have a section in the exhibition Mr J Wing is doing at Ware Museum to celebrate 25th anniversary of the restoration of The Priory.
More details as we get them