October 2022

13 Buckden Roundabout October 2022 Village News Buckden WI Our new ‘ season ’ got off to a ‘ salty ’ start on 6 th September (excuse the pun)! Our speaker, Helen Green hailed from Northwich in Cheshire, historical- ly a great centre for the manufacture of salt. Her years working in education at the salt museum there equipped her to enthral a good turn - out of our members with a fascinating history of this essential commodity and its production in this country from at least Ro- man times. We learned how salt was, and still is, panned from sea water using evaporation in places such as Malden on the East Anglia coast, but we also learned the process, used since Anglo - Saxon times, of collecting brine from springs above underground rock - salt layers resulting from earlier geological periods. The water was boiled off in lead pans over wood fires, raking off the crys- tals as they formed and drying them in wicker baskets, a pro- cess which remained basically the same over time, although technology was able to vastly increase the scale. Many of us had not appreciated the importance of salt in so very many areas of life. Preserving meat and fish for Winter use in the days before refrigeration was important from early times but it turns out salt was also vital historically for leather pro- duction, to cleanse the skins and was also necessary for glass - making, bleaching fabrics, glazing pottery and manufacturing soap and so much more. Today a huge salt works in Runcorn provides what is necessary for the chemical industry and for pharmaceutical manufacture, dyes, drilling fluids, detergents, water treatments and a host of other uses, not to mention tasty foodstuffs such as cheese, butter and pickled goods. The competition for an unusual salt cellar was won by Margaret Johnson. At our next meeting, on 4 th October at 7.30pm in the Millard suite at the village hall we look forward to learning about the life of Peggy Spencer MBE. There will be the usual competition, raffle and Market Stall and both members and visitors are warmly welcome to attend. For further information please contact: Ruth Nicholas – 01480 810940, 07957334142 Judith Armitage – 01480 811717 FRIENDS IN DEED There are times in our lives when we could all do with a little extra support or companionship whatev- er our age or circumstance. New Drivers Needed We are looking for new drivers. So, if you have a car, some free time and are willing to help please get in touch with pe- ter.mount@btconnect.com or 07914 669967. Friends in Deed is a group of volunteers who offer help and support to residents of Buckden. All our volunteers are DBS checked and safeguarding trained. Need a lift to an appointment? There are fixed fees for this service. Please email our transport co - ordinator peter.mount@btconnect.com or call 07914 669967 and leave your name, number, address and details of your appointment (date, time, location) giving 48 hours notice please. Need someone to talk to or some practical support? Come and chat to us at the Community Café (in the Living Stones Room in St Mary ’ s Church Buckden on the 2nd Wednesday of every month 2.30 - 4pm) or email friendsindeed@stmarysbuckden.org.uk . We can arrange home visits or phone - calls. This is a free service and can be either a one - off chat or regular chats. Want to volunteer? We are always on the look out for new volunteers. Just contact us at friendsindeed@stmarysbuckden.org.uk or visit the Commu- nity Café if you would like to know more. October in the Knot Garden The plants have survived the hot, dry weather but show signs of welcoming the rain. A few like the rue and the sweet woodruff in the dye bed have dried out completely but we will be able to replace them with spare plants we have in another bed. The roses made a lovely show in the early summer. We delib- erately left the spent flowerheads on the bushes and we ’ re now being rewarded with a show of rosehips, some orangey - red, others developing a deep purple. We will leave these for the birds. Even though it has been a very dry summer both the grape vine and the mulberry bush have had plenty of fruit, again en- joyed by the birds. The medlars are growing steadily, they will be ready for picking after the first frost. The fruit ’ s flesh softens, turns brown and sweetens usually about two or three weeks after harvesting; this fermentation process, called bletting, allows the cell walls of the fruit to break down, con- verting starch into sugars and decreasing the acid and tannins making a hard, bitter fruit into a sweet one ready for cooking. The gardeners are very pleased that the end of the box hedge clipping is nearly in sight. The clipping starts in June and usually continues into September. The large leaved box often starts to grow again in response to the warm rain and will need a final trim later in the autumn. Our next tasks are to get the garden ready for winter by cutting back the summer growth.