Wednesday Group

This group arranges weekly walks led by experienced
members, the distances vary between 4 and 8 miles.
We use public transport when possible but also have
a central pick-up point for car lifts.
Walks are enjoyed in the Chilterns and surrounding
Berkshire countryside, including river banks and canals.
London walks are very popular, taking in parks and
gardens, North and South Bank of the Thames, exploring places of
interest en route, for example, City Hall and Somerset House.
An annual coach trip is arranged for visits to places
of interest further afield. For example, we have been to Leeds Castle,
Stowe Gardens and Beaulieu in the New Forest finishing with a riverside
walk to Bucklers Hard.
Our year always finishes with a sociable walk and
a great Christmas pub lunch.
Wonderful Wisley
The club’s mid-week summer outing this year
on July 18 was to the Royal Horticultural Society’s gardens
at Wisley. We mustered a group of 46 on the day, including several
friends and associates. Stewarts of Mortimer did us proud with a
virtually brand-new coach and a friendly and helpful driver, Mark,
who provided smooth and uneventful journeys there and back.
On arrival at Wisley a few free spirits set out on
their own, but the majority of us divided into two parties for hour-and-a-half
long guided tours. These proved excellent value at £1 per
person, being instructive and, so far as time permitted, comprehensive.
The rose garden and the two Mixed Borders were in especially fine
form. I myself found all of the introductions to the various sections
of the gardens we were shown both interesting and enlightening,
though I was not so enthusiastic about the sample ‘engineered’
city gardens, with their decking, paving and gravel. Call me old-fashioned.
The day was generally benign - warm and sunny without
being overpowering. But the end of the tours coincided with the
one exception, a heavy downpour lasting about 10 minutes, leading
us to seek the nearest shelter. The end of my party’s tour
also brought us to the new lake and Glasshouse, the current main
attraction. This, with its dry temperate, moist temperate and tropical
zones, constitutes a sort of compact Eden Centre, though the architecture
is also in some respects reminiscent of the great Victorian hothouse
at Kew. In addition to the already well-maturing plants on view,
it was encouraging to see that extensive education facilities have
been provided, so that new generations will be able to learn from
the collection at first hand.
We will each have our own particular memories of this
visit. For myself I always enjoy the fruit and vegetable gardens
and the orchards, as well as the alpine gardens and rockeries. This
time, in addition, I especially enjoyed climbing the rebuilt fruit
observation tower, with its interlinked spiral paths permitting
continuous traffic up and down; a leisurely stroll through the wild
garden and past the lakes; and finally a long walk through Seven
Acres, with time to enjoy the heather collection, something I have
neglected on previous visits. Thanks are due to all who helped make
the trip a success, but especially to our Wednesday co-ordinator,
Edith Elmy, for her hard work, organising skills, and infectious
enthusiasm.
Charles Cotgreave
To find out more on the forthcoming walks and events
of the Wednesday Group please look at our Walks
Programme.

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