Excerpts from our recent Newsletters
Newsletter Summer- Autumn 2009
Fruits to Find ..in the orchard
At present there are almost 600 fruit trees in Rivers Orchard, comprising of apples, pears, plums, gages, cherries and one young apricot.
In this rich heritage there are 65 different varieties of apples. 220 of these are established alongside 78 younger trees. In his book ‘Apples – A Field Guide’ Michael Clark describes 122 varieties in full detail with illustrations. 40 of these can be found in Rivers Orchard. Other interesting varieties in the orchard include: Pitmaston Pineapple, Costards Mainds, Ecklinville Seedling and Emneth Early. Speciality apples raised by Rivers include: Rivers Early Peach, Prince Edward, Thomas Rivers, Rivers Nonsuch and Faerie Queen.
There are 45 mature pear trees alongside 53 young trees. Varieties include: Conference, Concorde, Fertility, Merton Pride, Doyenne de Comice, Magnate, Louise Bonne ’Avranches and Glou Morceau. There are 96 established plum trees with 24 young trees: included are Czar, Monarch, River’s Early Prolific, Myrobalan, Merryweather and White Bullace.
Cherry varieties have not yet been identified, although there are 65 established trees and 22 younger ones.
All trees in the orchard are organically cultivated and newer replacement stock is obtained from very reputable, respected sources
The Rivers Nursery Orchard Oral History Project culminates with the publication of a book:
Rivers Nursery of Sawbridgeworth:
The Art of Practical Pomology
In September 2008 the Rivers Nursery Site and Orchard Group began a year’s oral history project, supported by a grant from Awards for All.
We planned:
1- To gather as oral history the voices of those who had contact with the historic Rivers Nursery business.
2 - To publish a book on the history of the Rivers Nursery using information from the first hand accounts within the context of background from the Archives and other research.
The author of the now completed book, Elizabeth Waugh, has been assembling archive materials for the past ten years and sees the study as the culmination of that effort. The story is given authenticity by the inclusion of articles written by those with special knowledge. There are many wonderful illustrations.
Publication day has arrived! The book will be launched on Saturday, October 17th, at 1 pm in Church House, Sawbridgeworth as part of the Apple Day festivities.
Save the Orchard Campaign
The action campaign to ensure the long term protection for this community orchard moves up a gear. Our volunteers have been very busy corresponding with councils, local and national organisations and experts. We are building up a portfolio of evidence that clearly states the historical importance of the site to horticulture, the value to the local community as a managed green space and the key biodiversity element of a traditional orchard.
The leasehold held by East Herts Council ends at the end of the year and we are working hard to ensure that future building development on the orchard or its environs is simply not an option.
To this end we are actively engaging in the Local Development Framework (LDF) which should take a more concerted and holistic approach and balance needs when agreeing land for development.
We are equally busy getting fruit varieties mapped and reported on and in this we are very grateful to Paul Read of EEAOP for his important cultivars report which is about to be published. There is still much work to be done in getting designations applied to the site as these will all go further in ensuring long term robust protection for the site.
Newsletter Spring 2009
In September 2008 the Rivers Nursery Site and Orchard Group
received a grant from Awards for All to carry out an Oral History
Project, collecting memories from those with connections to the
Rivers Nursery. This project is now in full swing. A number of
men and women who had not previously had an opportunity to
tell their stories have been discovered and are now beginning to
put their voices and memories on record. Here is an account by
Walter Stubbings of Sawbridgeworth:
My Experience of a Year at Work at Rivers Nursery
I started work at Rivers in spring of 1934 after leaving school at fourteen. My father, Joe Stubbings, worked there as a foreman. I stayed there until April, 1939, when I left to join the RAF as an engine fitter. After the war I returned to Rivers in 1946-47 and worked there for ten more years.
The department I started in was the glasshouses behind Bonks Hill House. The larger iron frame green house was near to Bonks Hill House. This contained fan-trained orange, lemon and grapefruit trees pictured in some newspapers. The smaller one contained apples and pears in pots. Other orchard houses contained plums and cherries in one, peaches and nectarines in another. These trees were grown in larger pots and mainly used for fruiting and show purposes. Another glasshouse was used for tomato growing in summer and cleared for potting autumn and winter.
As the seasons went on the large cherry trees in the orchard house ripened early. The fruit was cut off and packed in square boxes in layers and sent to market. Meanwhile the peaches and nectarines together with the other fruit trees in pots were top-dressed with rotted farmyard manure to feed and help to retain moisture in the hot summers. Early mornings trees were sprayed with water by syringe to create a good growing atmosphere and to check red spider and other pests. Late afternoon the houses were damped down on hot days. The fan-trained peaches and nectarines also received the same treatment.
The citrus trees were potted in different types of soil. They were fed by liquid feed during the growing period from a tank filled with water in which farmyard manure and bags of soot were put and left to soak. The liquid later taken out and used to feed. Meanwhile out in the nursery young fruit stocks were being budded and trained trees were being tied out on frames of canes to make espalier and fan trained trees for sale.
At this time new soil and turf was being stacked up ready for potting later in the season. As the seasons passed the peaches and nectarines were picked and packed in wooden boxes containing wood wool (fine wood shavings) for markets. Also plums in the orchards were packed in wicker baskets.
During the summer and autumn months pot fruit trees from the orchard houses together with trees and grapevines were selected from the other greenhouses at the High Wych road site for exhibition at various flower shows including Chelsea, York and Shrewsbury, together with local shows .
As autumn approached the greenhouses were all tidied up after leaf fall. Young fruit trees in pots were sent for orders and packing at the High Wych Road site. With autumn approaching, fruit picking was in full swing. Apples and pears were placed in the fruit shed. This was a brick built building with a thatched roof. Inside were 3 tier shelves the bottom two were for storage The top shelves were laid out with samples of all varieties grown for reference to customers needs and nursery work and shows. The rest were sent in the baskets to markets.
Autumn was also time for repotting the trees in pots. Also trees were bought in from the nursery for replacements. Fruit stocks that had been budded the previous summer were potted on and grown on for trees for sale in later years. The potting programme was that a greenhouse was taken over. Soil was taken in from the soil stacked in the previous summer by horse and cart. This was mixed with old plaster and farmyard manure and malt dust from the Maltings. The pots were washed and recrocked for drainage. So the year ended.
Newsletter Summer 2008
East of England Apples & Orchard Project AGM 10th May 2008
We were very lucky this year to be able to host EEAOP AGM in Sawbridgeworth. It was an event all RNSOG members were looking forward to and a lot of planning went into making it the successful day it was. The afternoon started with EEAOP members arriving to a warm welcome and refreshments. RNSOG then gave them a formal welcome by Kate Yarnold as Chair and a presentation on the History of the Rivers Site by Joseph Fitzgerald and an Introduction to the Rivers Archive Collection by Elizabeth Waugh. The Mayor Roger Beeching was also present to welcome EEAOP to Sawbridgeworth. EEAOP were then left to hold their AGM. Once the business side of the afternoon was complete RNSOG volunteers then took their visitors to the Orchard site for a brief walk through the orchard during which Joseph again gave an informative commentary. We all then sat in the sunshine enjoying apple juice produced from Rivers own harvest in 2007,honey from the orchards own bees – kindly presented by our bee keeper Mike to lots of enthusiastic tasters. We were also able to eat a variety of apple cakes made very kindly by Jean Beeching our Mayor’s wife. The day was great fun and a very big thank you to all who contributed to its success.
The wassail in January was very well attended and we all sampled some delicious cider made by one of RNSOGs volunteers -Many thanks to Rosemary and also many different apple cakes again made by volunteer’s, thank you all.
Our pruning day in April was hampered by a covering of snow, although all those who ventured out to the orchard saw how beautiful it looked.
You will note from our calendar that we have decided not to hold a community plum picking day this year as it has proved difficult over the last two years to arrange a date in advance which is right for the plums. The trees are also getting very tall and we need to address this problem to bring them back under control.
This year has also seen the first honey produced in the orchard and our thanks goes to Mike for his persistence over the vandals who have repeatedly tried to damage the hives.
From the Archives:
We continue to look for people with stories and information about Rivers Nursery. If you know of someone who worked there, or who simply remembers Rivers in the town please contact us.
Newsletter Spring 2008
2005 marked 10 years of committed vision and effort by Diana Richards of Sawbridgeworth and Susan Clark of the Rural Enterprise Project in recognising the value of the Rivers site and gathering support to restore the historic Orchard. Over this time they led a dedicated volunteer group in transforming a thicket of briar and hawthorn into viable old variety fruit-bearing trees and giving the site back to Sawbridgeworth as a Community Orchard. When Diana retired from public life in 2007, she also resigned from the Rivers group and when the Rural Enterprise was reorganized, Susan’s post as consultant for the Rivers group ceased too.
A number of the volunteers who had been working in the Rivers Orchard have regrouped, ratified a constitution and have set our sights firmly through specific aims on saving the Orchard for the Community and ensuring its further development. We have also chosen a different name to reflect our goals: the Rivers Nursery Site and Orchard Group (RNSOG).
A Year in the Orchard 2007
In 2007 we continued with our annual maintenance plan and as the seasons for clearing, planting, cutting, pruning, picking and ditching came around with increasing frequency we express gratitude to our regular bunch of hard working volunteers who turn up rain or shine to assist with the tasks in hand. In March we were delighted to receive as a gift from East of England Apples & Orchards Project (EEAOP) 33 x 2 year old fruit trees to gap up some areas where we had lost trees.
These varieties included some of the special Rivers & Hertfordshire originals such as Rivers Nonsuch and Rivers Early Peach, & pears namely, Summer Beurre, Princess, Magnate, Saint Luke. Our volunteers turned up on cue to get them in the ground, all the trees are thriving and we will take good care of them. We are very grateful to EEAOP for this valuable gesture of support for our group.
Outside of the Orchard on 27th & 28th of April we attended the International Society of Arboriculture UK and Ireland meeting at Capel Manor and this was a very interesting meeting as we met many people from Planning Departments and were making the case for the protection of old orchards. Apple picking day was a huge success with great support from the local community young and old and we are grateful to Cam Valleys Orchards at Royston for processing our apple juice this year. Talks and guided tours to various individuals and groups continued through the year and this support and interest provides confidence to keep the project going.We attended the Apple Day annual event at Audley End and in return we were able to get the loan from EEAOP many of Brogdale’s special Hertfordshire Heritage apple varieties. We then had those on display at Apple Day in Church House which generated very good interest and another very special day in 2007.
Special thanks also for another comprehensive butterfly survey carried out by Charmaine Cooper for us again this year. Extracts from this will soon be published. We are very grateful for the people who come from far and wide to support us, the regular loyal band of volunteers, East Herts District Council, local press and the local community. A special mention goes to those around the country and the area with expert skills and knowledge who lend us their time and expertise and are passionate as we are about saving this important site.