Trumpington Community Orchard

It is with great sadness that we have to inform you of the death of Joanna Crosby, a founder member of the Community Orchard. She was instrumental in helping to set up the Orchard and until last year maintained and updated our website. An acknowledged expert on apples and orchards, she was also an active committee member of the East of England Apples and Orchards Society.

She was key to the selection of the heritage varieties to be grown in the Orchard, with her extensive knowledge of the history of local orchards and apple varieties, much of which is documented in her book “Apples and Orchards since the Eighteenth Century”. We will miss Joanna but the Community Orchard will always be a reminder of her boundless enthusiasm for apples and orchards.

Our annual Wassail, held with Clay Farm Community Garden, was again attended by a good crowd of revellers, no doubt buoyed by the return of the Lord of Misrule with traditional music, dancing and hot mulled apple juice. The toasting of trees proved a welcome treat for the local birds as it had all disappeared by the end of the next day.

The wildflower meadow has seen snowdrops scattered all around the Orchard borders and in the Cherry thicket. We look forward to an abundance of wildflowers and hope to be able to document some of the insect life this attracts with some citizen science volunteers on Blossom Day in June.

The swift tower continues to be fully populated by the local sparrows, but we have seen the return of our delinquent grey squirrel with its continued predation of the sparrow eggs and a lot more damage to the nestboxes, which will now need to be replaced at an appropriate time. We had at least 9 pairs of nesting swifts last year, and had been doubling the number of nestboxes in the near future. However, we will for now try and squirrel-proof the tower for the return of the swifts this summer and build a bigger nesting box for the return of swifts and their new offspring in 2027.

We also hope to replace the observational beehive this year with a more versatile construction to allow more access for demonstration to local primary school visitors as the beehive is always a source of great excitement for these youngsters.

We are pleased that the Orchard remains a popular green space with many of the local mothers and their toddlers who have taken a keen interest in the herb garden and are being actively encouraged to grow more herbs for use by the local community.

The next Orchard maintenance session is scheduled for Sunday 8 March from 11am to 1pm. Please come dressed in weatherproof clothing and footwear and we will provide gloves and necessary tools.

Hope to see you soon! Contact us:

Email: trumpingtonorchard@yahoo.co.uk

Visit: trumpingtonorchard.org or call Susanna on 07722 568020.