News
Jan 10th 2010
Wassailing Rivers Nursery Orchard
Thanks to everyone who came to the Wassail last night 9th Jan.
We had a very good crowd, we had a roaring bonfire with lots of apple related products available to eat and drink!
The evil spirits were driven away,Wassail songs were the best so far as everyone was in fine voice. As always the event was attended by families old and young and their pets who all enjoyed this real community event.
Have a look at the short video clip from the event on Jan 9th courtesy of Herts and Essex Newspaper
http://www.hertsandessexobserver.co.uk/hertsandessexobserver/DisplayArticle.asp?ID=475992
What is Wassail?
Wassailing - an ancient practice of blessing Apple Orchards to ensure that there is a plentiful crop of wonderful apples the following year.
Wassail comes from the Anglo Saxon greeting "wes hal" that means 'be whole' or 'be of good health'. To Wassail something (such as an orchard) was to drink to their health, bring good luck to the trees. This ancient rite has been adapted as 'warding off of evil spirits that may be lurking in the orchard waiting to cause ill health to the trees and ruin the crop!
We light up some of the orchard rows, gather around a tree and the blazing bonfire, sing Wassail songs consume apple related beverages and apple cakes, drive out the evil spirits with empty can and drum noises, attach some apple cakes and bread to the trees, pour cider around the base of the tree as a present to the tree. And that is ceremony of Wassail.
Dec 09
Winter 2009/2010 at Rivers Orchard
Happy New Year
We wish all our web visitors, our hard working supporters and all those who have gone the
extra distance for us in 2009 a very good year in 2010
Photos courtesy of Alison Hedger, JF and Eugene Keddy.
Nov 09
The Rescued Orchard and the Rivers Heritage
A paper by Paul Read
First published as article in.
Rivers Nursery of Sawbridgeworth:
The Art of Practical Pomology
by Elizabeth Waugh
Is now published in its entirety with all 3 previously unpublished fruit cultivars lists and tables on our Articles page, follow link on left pane
Nov 09
Rivers Nursery - New Book - a quick peek inside!
Traditional orchards, community green spaces, capturing voices from the past as oral history, social fabric, economic rise and fall and the history of an internationally famous horticulture enterprise are all neatly encapsulated in this well researched book.
This new publication covers the hows and whys of Rivers Nursery’s decline and the rescue of what has now become a thriving traditional community orchard. It features centuries of fruit development and is a major contribution to our orchard, garden, landscape heritage.
For local people this book will help many make sense of the history of some famous local landscapes. It is a valuable resource for those who seek to understand social and economic trends and for vital insight into the lives of those who pioneered the fruits we take for granted in our shops today, such as the Conference Pear.
The book is part of a joint effort to truly consider the contribution of the nursery, conserve its legacy and provide a living link to our heritage with a site that must be accessible to all in our community.
This book will make an excellent Xmas present for those near and far who have association with this area, our town or an interest in history,heritage and horticulture
204 pages, 59 illustrations. ISBN 987-1-904851-32-5
Price £10, postage extra
HOW TO GET YOUR COPY
Download an order form here
Free local delivery in Sawbridgeworth
Also available at:
Full of Beans - Health Food Shop, Church St, Sawbridgeworth.
Boardman's Booksellers – Bishop’s Stortford.
Waterstone's Booksellers – Bishop’s Stortford.
Hertfordshire County Archives - County Hall.
Harlow Garden Centre. M11/A414 Intersection
Other outlets coming soon.
Read a recent review of the book here
Oct 09
Report on Apple Day & Book Launch
Saturday, Oct. 17th 2009, Church House, Sawbridgeworth
Our Apple Day was the major event for our group in 2009. We had a good crop of excellent quality apples this year,all organically produced.
We had a wide range of varieties on offer and we kept prices at 2007 level to reflect the times. The book launch preceded the Apple sales and competitions and we had a super turnout of local residents, celebrities from the fruit world and supporters of the orchard who travelled long distances especially for the event. After a short fanfare the launch was underway, Elizabeth Waugh introduced her book surrounded by some wonderful artefacts from the former Rivers Nursery site and she paid tribute to all those who contributed articles and worked behind the scenes in getting the book published and ready on time. The book launch took place surrounded by a display of this year's apple crop and a presentation of Hertfordshire heritage varieties kindly loaned to us by EEAOP. Afterwards guests were treated to complimentary beverages and the crowds poured in for the rest of the afternoon. Children attending enjoyed the longest apple peel competition with some adults also having a go.
We are grateful to our friends from EEAOP for attending and all their support with displays and to the Gibberd Garden and St Elizabeth's Orchard Project of Much Hadham for all their mutual support.
The Rivers Oral History Project culminates with the publication of a book about Rivers Nursery and its heritage, incorporating first-hand knowledge from those interviewed for the project
Rivers Nursery of Sawbridgeworth:
The Art of Practical Pomology
by Elizabeth Waugh
Download your book order form here
Apple Day at Church House
17th of October 1.30 - 4pm
An opportunity to take part in apple day activities and to enjoy tasting and purchasing delicious organic apples picked previously on Community picking day, Sunday 4th October, in Rivers Nursery Orchard
See our special display of Hertfordshire Heritage Apple varieties.
(Loaned courtesy of EEAOP)
Greeting cards
Competitions for children
Taste, eat ,buy our best organic local grown apples.
See our own display of locally grown varieties
Oct 4th
Community Apple Picking Day Sunday 4th Oct 09.
Today was the one and only day that we have the opportunity to gather the apple crop of 2009. Widely advertised locally, the Community Apple Picking day brings out the old stalwarts and the new faces year on year and this season was no exception, especially after the rain drenching we got on Apple Picking Day 2008.
This year could not have been more of a contrast, the wind which shook the trees at up to 26mph on Saturday was reduced to a sheepish 5 mph on Sunday morning and the autumn sun shone brightly with temps up to 17.5 degrees at lunchtime. We could not have had a more perfect day for Community Apple Picking and the Community delivered! We had young and old families of all sizes and visitors from far and wide. We had an excellent wide ranging crop pick for our Apple Day on Oct 17th and we are really pleased with the range of apple varieties we will have to offer.
This year, as well as the gold standards like the Cox’s Orange Pippin and the Bramley Seedling we will have the Crawley Beauty, Blenheim Orange, King of Pippin, Charles Ross and Ellison Orange to name but a few. How many of these wonderful and delicious heritage varieties will you find in any of our 4 big supermarkets at the moment? Go ask them why not?
We are very grateful to the people of Harlow, Bishop’s Stortford, and Sawbridgeworth and surrounds who came to help us pick our 2009 crop today. This was community spirit at its obvious best.
Apple Days are here again!
These special days are increasing in popularity and provide a real source of discovery for rare and older heritage varieties. They also have fruit sales, fresh fruit juices, fruit information - new and historical and many other interesting things to see.
Apple Day is officially 21st of October but throughout the month, apples and orchards are celebrated as part of a countrywide event established by Common Ground in 1989. In this region it is no different with many events organised throughout Hertfordshire and the East of England.
Take your pick ! go along and smell, taste, buy and celebrate all things apple.
Rivers Nursery Site & Orchard Group will be staging their own Apple day on 17th October 2009 (see our events calendar) as well as supporting other local events. Some of these events staged by EEAOP(East of England Apples & Orchards Project) will have Fruit Identification which is a great opportunity to learn about fruit trees growing in your own garden or locality.
Key dates for your Diary:
Sat 26th & Sun Sept 27th 11.00am - 5.00pm English Heritage "Bountiful Harvest" event
(EEAOP Fruit Identification)
Audley End Walled Kitchen Garden
near Saffron Walden
0870 333 1183
English Heritage entrance fee
Essex
CB11 4JF
Sat 3rd Oct 2pm – 4pm Tewin Orchard Walk
Michael Clarke
www.tewinorchard.co.uk
Sun 4th Oct 10.30am – 13.30pm Community Apple Picking only 
Rivers Nursery Site
High Wych
Sawbridgeworth
01279 724503
email:rnsog@hotmail.com
Sun 4th Oct 12 – 4pm Highfield Park Trust
Highfield Park Centre
off Mill End Lane
St. Albans
Free entry
01727 847242
www.highfieldparktrust.co.uk/
Sat 10th Oct 11am - 3pm Apple Day
Much Hadham
St. Elizabeth’s Centre, South End
01920 844257
Hertfordshire
SG10 6EW
Sat 10th Oct 11am – 4pm Apple Day
Codicote Community Orchard
Bury Lane
Mike Creasey
creaseys@btinternet.com
Sun 11th Oct 11am - 4pm Copped Hall
near Epping
Copped Hall Trust
01992 571657
Adult £3.50 children free
Essex
CM16 5HS
Sun 11th Oct 10am – 4pm Apple Fayre
Jeacock’s Orchard
Tring
Martin Hicks
martin.hicks@hertscc.gov.uk
Sat 17th Oct 1pm – 4pm Apple Day (Displays and Apple Sales & Book Launch - No fruit Identification)
Rivers Nursery Site & Orchard Group
Church House
Sawbridgeworth
01279 724503
www.rnsog.org.uk
Sat 17th Oct 10am – 4pm 'King Harold’s Day’ 
Waltham Abbey Garden Orchard
Lee Valley Park Authority
Vicki Sage
vsage@leevalleypark.org
Sat 17th Oct 11.00am - 3pm
Luton Hoo Walled Garden
01582 721443
Adult £3.00 children free
Bedfordshire
LU1 3TQ
Sat 17th Oct 10am onwards
Chorleywood Summerhouse
Chorleywood House Estate
Alison Rubens
alisonrubens@hotmail.com
Sun 18th Oct 12 – 5pm Shenley Park
near Radlett
Shenley Park Trust
Glynn Dredge
www.shenleypark.co.uk
Sept 1st
Working in Partnership
Rivers - Shop Window Display
The Sawbridgeworth Town Partnership has commenced an important and innovative project to
restore and utilise empty shop premises in the town during the recession. We were fortunate to
hear about the project and be one of the first groups to secure a space.
The Town Partnership arranged and set up the display in the empty shop on London Road,
Sawbridgeworth in August 2009.We appreciate that a lot of effort and ‘behind the scenes’
negotiations went into getting permissions and dealing with the red tape associated with retail
shop use.The display was well put together and represented our cause appropriately.
The Rivers Nursery Site & Orchard Group think this an excellent use of an otherwise empty shop,
as well as the real benefit to us, which was the chance to raise our profile as a group and have an
opportunity to show some of the important pictorial aspects of the Rivers Nursery Site. It also
highlighted the current campaign to save this famous historic orchard for the community.
We received some very positive remarks from passers by and this does much to help our cause.
We thank Jennifer Rolph and the Sawbridgeworth Town Partnership very much and we hope that we can work with them again in the future if a suitable opportunity arises.
We are happy to promote this event on behalf of our good friends at High Wych Garden Club.
High Wych Garden Club Autumn Show
High Wych Village Hall Saturday 5th September 2009
Rules:
Staging to be done between 10:00 and11:30 am.
All entries for Sections One, Two and Three to have been grown by the entrants.
Judging commences at 12 noon.
Opening 2:00 pm
Presentation of Prizes 3:00 pm
Fee per entry:
Members 25p Non-members 30p Viewing and Entrance 25p
All are welcome
Trophies:
Winifred Park Shield
Sid Pedder Cup
Baker’s Farm Cup
President’s Cup
Local Orchard News- St Elizabeth's Much Hadham.
July 11 2009
We are pleased to hear that the wonderful traditional orchard, neighbouring us at Much Hadham has just been awarded Social Enterprise status.
New Social Enterprise Opportunity
The Orchard Project is now a Social Enterprise providing a realistic working environment for people with Epilepsy and other complex needs.
The Enterprise is based within 3 acres of parkland at St.Elizabeth’s Centre, Hertfordshire. Working in the Orchard provides adults with Epilepsy a range of vocational, educational and social opportunities, in a diverse and stimulating environment.
The Orchard Project has proved to be a popular choice for service users and is well supported by a network of specialist volunteers.
The project is one of Thrive’s Quality Champions and the site is registered with the Soil Association.
The aims of the Orchard project are to:
Provide individuals with vocational training & supported employment.
Support individual transition towards independence and community living
The Orchard’s programme of work offers opportunities to learn horticultural & basic coppice skills through renovating the trees and site. Marketing and retail opportunities are available through harvesting & selling apples, juice and organising an annual apple day event.
For more info contact the project on
01279 843451 or e-mail enquiries@stelizabeths.org.uk
Sun 3rd May 2009
Report from the Sawbridgeworth May Fayre
The first phase of the Rivers Nursery Orchard Oral History project, supported by a grant from Awards for All which commenced in September 2008 is now complete and was presented to the public and participants for the first time at the May Fayre.
The project focussed on gathering as oral history, the voices of those who had contact with the historic Rivers Nursery business. It involved young people from local primary and high schools working with adult interviewers and saving the interviews as CD disks for the expanding Archives.
This first audio presentation was attended by large crowds throughout the whole afternoon and was considered to be an excellent way of reconnecting the local community and people's experiences with the nursery.
There was also a fantastic exhibition of artwork capturing scenes from the nursery site using material from the orchard and experimenting with various mediums by Leventhorpe School pupils and their art teacher, this drew a lot of attention and was very well received.
PRESS RELEASE
Sawbridgeworth 26th April 2009
Saving Traditional Local Orchards
A nationwide scheme to reverse the decline of traditional orchards was announced this weekend. The National Trust and Natural England have joined forces to protect whatever remains of traditional orchards. As nearly two-thirds of these orchards have disappeared since the 1950’s the fight-back has now started to reverse this trend.
This national announcement is most welcome news to the Rivers Nursery Site and Orchard Group who are actively trying to preserve and re-vitalise what remains of the very famous Thomas Rivers Nursery and Orchard in Sawbridgeworth.
The group’s work to date has been to conserve what remains of this historic horticultural site for the benefit of all, which is now even more important than ever as the leasehold for this site, held by East Herts District Council, ends this year. The group currently work to preserve and revitalise the nursery and orchard site in line with best management practice of traditional orchards.
Kate Yarnold, Chair of Rivers Nursery Site and Orchard stated, ‘Community orchards are an environmental treasure and they play an important role in our cultural and natural heritage not only for local people but for the rich and varied habitats they provide for many plants and animals.
ENDS