Various items of news before we all get completely distracted by Christmas! Firstly: The Queen’s Award is beautiful, so for those who did not attend the Lord-Lieutenant ‘s presentation on 2 November,
It was a very relaxed and happy short event with plenty of time afterwards to circulate, chat with friends and our partners, enjoy refreshments by Les and
Ann Greenwood, and take photos.
Now the certificate, signed personally by the Queen as one of her very last actions, together with the crystal and its splendid purple case, will be on display in the Millennium Gallery until Christmas. So have a look on the main corridor from the Winter Garden and at the lower level Arundel Gate door entry...... we won’t know precisely where until next week.
After Christmas we will display in other venues. Secondly, some Christmas sales news. The cards with views of the farms across the landscape have been sold out in all but a few scattered sales outlets. There are still some cards available showing Wire Mill Goit in the snow, and there are still a few Calendars around. All these remaining stocks are going to be centralised on Forge Dam Cafe so that is where to head after tomorrow. Our plan to make and sell wreaths in the open at Forge Dam on Tuesday 22nd November is clearly impractical if we believe the weather forecast: that plan has been cancelled and our craft team will be busy indoors instead, making sure the December sales will be well supplied with wreath kits and full wreaths. Thirdly, we will run walks on the first Saturdays of January and February around Forge Dam to explain the work that has been done .......and the remaining snagging jobs which we hope to see done in future better weather. Heavens, it is awful this week, but the dam and spillway are dramatic! Do go and see, and keep an eye on the website blog which will always contain the latest. That is all for now except to wish you a lovely Christmas and all the very best for 2023 from the Trustees! Ann le Sage Chair Friends of the Porter Valley