2024 Round up

There have been a whole host of community events this year......

COCO started with Wassailing and then the Blossom Day that gave us a bountiful apple harvest to enable the successful Juicing Day which was enjoyed by all ages.

We have been lucky to enjoy three sell out events as part of the Overbury Sessions, each with their own distinct style of very high quality music and of course the Street Market (click the link to find out how the funds were distributed). These events only happen because people kindly give their time. The Street Market is going to be a little different in 2025 and there will be lots of opportunities for people to get involved, if you only have an hour to spare or would like to get more into it there will be a kick off meeting in January, date TBC. 

A big thank you also for supporting the new monthly street food nights. It has been brilliant to bring people together and we very much look forward to welcoming new and old caterers back in 2025.

 

Things to look forward to can always be found here - https://www.overbury.org/

New additions:

  • Poppy, a daughter to Joe and Sophie
  • Charlie, a son to Matthew and Jessica
  • Clementine, a daughter to Alex & Lydia
  • Alfred, a son to Will & Sophie
  • Locryn, a son to Harry & Zoe

 

Wedding Bells:

 A very big congratulations to George and Haya Bossom, every happiness for the future

 

Here is some of what our Teams have been up to up in 2024…

 

Forestry and Game & Wildlife
The weather has been difficult for lots of us this year, including the wildlife.  The cold and wet late spring hampered the breeding success of many of our smaller farmland and woodland birds.  With the insect cycle out of sync with hatching dates birds were very short of the insect food needed to feed their young.  We did have success with red kites, 2 of the 3 nests having their chicks rung (6 in total) at the end of May. The shoot donated a day’s shooting to 'St Richards Hospice,' which is a great local charity we have connections to.

The winter migrants are just starting to arrive with Woodcock and Snipe making their 1,000 mile journey to spend the colder months in the UK.  Fieldfares and Redwings are also appearing in good numbers, along with the large flocks of starling that can currently be seen on the hill.

 

We continued the long association of the Martin family and Tewkesbury by donating two Christmas trees to the Abbey and we will be selling some in early December. We have also been extremely busy with log orders and the exciting restoration of an avenue in the Parkland, more details to follow in early 2025.

Grasshoppers
In February, Sally Lynham retired after managing the nursery for seven years and Betty Heywood joined as our new manager. Betty has quickly settled into her role and has been enjoying the opportunity to get to know our amazing team and the vibrant children in our care.

Throughout November we have had some upgrades to the nursery with the addition of a new commercial kitchen, new flooring and a full bathroom renovation.

At Grasshoppers we believe that connecting with nature and the community is vital for early years development. While we have a strong focus on gardening, farming, and healthy eating, we recognise the importance of showcasing how we integrate these elements into our daily activities. The children visit the kitchen garden weekly and use home grown produce to cook soups and snacks to enjoy. The children have also been heavily involved in the Real Bread Campaign’s ‘grow your own loaf’ project, connecting  the children to the principles of food production. https://www.sustainweb.org/realbread/bake-your-lawn/#what

 

 

Farm
Despite the best efforts from Mother Nature to dampen 2024, the Farm Team have many positives to report from this year

With our Hartpury apprenticeship placement students we’ve said goodbye to Charles who’s now returned to complete his studies and welcomed Wilf who’s already very much part of the team.

On one of the rare sunny days in July, Jake was chosen to host the NFU Directors team day and farm walk with a delicious lunch at Dynamo House showcasing Overbury and what we do. Earlier in the year we met with Warwickshire Farm cluster group and other farmers to learn more about Regenerative Agriculture.
We have had a particular focus on all things soil this year, using a Horizon drill for the first time which is a great success, the compost turner is very impressive and helps build our soil health. Also there has been an informative Soil Day facilitated by Eddie Bailey.

Shirley and Sam have been recognised for their skill and efforts with our flocks by being awarded two prizes at the Pershore and Upton upon Severn NFU competition.

We have also seen another sell out year for Overbury Lamb boxes, if you’d like to register your interest for next year’s lamb, please do contact a member of the team.

Build Team

The Team have carried out a number of refurbishment works this year including, Darkes House, 66 Conderton, Silver Rill Cottage and now on to 1 Cross Cottage. Sadly Rob Handy has retired after 25 years working for Overbury and we wish him well.  

Joinery Team
In the last 12 months the joinery department has had a wide variety of projects to get stuck into which has kept us busy. There has been such a wide range of this work this year including windows, doors, conservatories, fitted wardrobes and media units. We have continued to do work both in the village and for external clients with great success and look to continue this in the year to come.

Over the course of the year, we have worked with the Forestry Enterprise to saw our own timber and it has now started the long drying time ready for use. In the coming years we look forward to showcasing our own timber in as many projects as possible. We are expanding our third party work all the time so if you are close by and have a project in mind please do contact us and we can talk it through with you.  

Gardens & Garden Team
The gardens have had a mixed year with a cold spring and an inclement summer. Despite this, the plants have given us a dazzling display throughout the year. The Parish Council received funding to buy some bulbs so our team planted them leading to a splendid show of narcissus along the verges through Overbury. This year more have been added in the verges around the park gate, which will hopefully look great and discourage people parking there. If you would like more, let your Parish Councillors know what and where.

In April we had our most successful NGS open day with over 700 people visiting both Whitcombe and the Court Gardens. We are looking forward to another successful Open Gardens, Saturday 14th June 2025. We love seeing what Tenants have done with their own gardens and how you develop them, so do speak to us if you are hoping to plant anything big or want to start a project.