It's June already!  Let's celebrate, May has been and gone and according to my gran, you can leave your vest off now! And good Queen Liz is having an anniversary Bash. (I note that royalty has not forgotten Northampton's decision to side with the Barons in 1264, and still not given us City status, I think that Henry III must have left a note saying we are not to be trusted!) anyway let's show them we don't hold a grudge, get the bunting out and wave those flags.  In the meantime, get stuck into issue No 38.

     
     
     

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We had a lovely Boat Trip last Month on the 'New' boat the 'Community Spirit' These trips are run by another local Charity: Crusader Community Boating https://www.crusadercommunityboating.org.uk/
As is usual with our trips the weather was a little damp, but we all had a great time, stopping at the Britannia for lunch along the way. We had a general knowledge quiz on the way out and a music quiz on the way back.
Check out Upcoming events for July's outing
Here are some pictures of our adventure onboard the good ship Community Spirit:

     
     
  

Every Thursday at Abington Park Rooms, Park Avenue North (& corner of Ashburnham Rd), Northampton NN3 2HT.
1st Thursday of the month is a one-hour session, every other Thursday it's a two-hour session with coffee and biscuits (and sometimes cake!)
Any questions you can call Angela 07954 099 537

Compiled by Doug  (the QUIZMEISTER)

 

 

Now,  not many folks know this, but there was a  national holiday that was celebrated on the 29th May. It was first recognized in 1661, but then abandoned in1859. It was known as "OAK APPLE DAY". It was to celebrate the hiding of (the then) Prince Charles in an oak tree after the defeat of the Royalist forces at the battle of Worcester (the last major battle of the civil war) the prince then escaped to safety in the lowlands (i.e. Holland and Flanders). 

When he was invited to return to England and offered the throne, (after the death of Oliver Cromwell and the collapse and overthrow of the remaining Commonwealth government) The newly crowned king, (1660) agreed to allow a public holiday on 29th May each year, by popular demand it became known as OAK APPLE DAY.

Some years later (1675) there was a devastating fire, which destroyed the centre of Northampton, the area was approximately from the present railway station to the guildhall, and included All Saint's church.

When approached by dignitaries of the town who offered to buy timber from the forests that surrounded the county that were owned by the crown. The king refused the offer but gave 1000 tons of timber from Salcey forest and Rockingham forest to rebuild. Some of this timber can still be seen in the structure of All Saint's Cathedral. Since 1676, on Oak Apple Day the rector of All Saints still goes onto the portico and places a wreath of oak leaves onto the head of the statue of King Charles II, the ceremony is still carried out to this day. Even though the holiday of Oak Apple was ceased in 1859. 

 

Anyone who knows me will suspect that I am passionate about tomatoes. I grow lots from seed, selling them for the charity. Also, many varieties, indoor, outdoor, large, medium, small sizes, round and plum shaped, red skins, black skins, yellow skins. There are determinate tomatoes which grow like a small bush, also trailing tomatoes which will grow in a confined space such as a hanging basket. and these need little or no support. These tomatoes tend to be ready for harvest in large quantities. Then there are indeterminate varieties which need support and grow like vines producing tomatoes over a longer period of times.
So, imagine how excited I am to hear that scientists in Norwich have created a new tomato which has been genetically edited to boost vitamin D levels. Each tomato containing as much provitamin D3 (the precursor to vitamin D) as 2 eggs! Just under 20% of the British population have low levels of vitamin D. We need this vitamin to keep our bones, muscles and teeth healthy and helping the immune system along the way. The main source of this nutrient is from exposing the skin to sunlight and in the UK we only have sufficient of this between approximately April and September. So, our diet needs to include oily fish, red meat, eggs, mushrooms etc. or even supplements. Extremely difficult for vegans as many supplements contain lanolin from sheep’s wool.
The tomato plants were created by making tiny changes to an existing tomato gene using an editing technique called Crispr-Cas9. Described as using a pair of molecular tweezers to snip out a very small fragment of the gene to enhance a desirable trait in plants a lot quicker.
If the trials are successful then it is thought that the process will work well on other crops such as potatoes, chillis, aubergines, and peppers.
Outdoor field trials of the tomatoes are expected to begin in the UK in June.
Happy days!
Can I put my name down for some seed please?

Did any readers conform to the call for ‘No Mow May’ I wonder? I did and as I also had a very small patch where the grass had been killed off by the bits of sunflower hearts that the charm of goldfinch spat out every day, I decided to make a teeny weeny wild flower patch. A picture is to follow which just about shows the emerging seedlings. I am hoping that next month I will be able to show you the actual flowers.

Finally, a couple of photographs of beautiful flowers in the garden at present. Alliums and bath photos If you have any lovely flowers in your garden that you would like to share with our readers, then please do send them in to us.

  

For inspiration to paint or draw this month, I decided to contribute to the Queen's Jubilee Celebration in my own small way. I’ve chosen something fun to illustrate in watercolour paint - a community celebration scene or Street Party. I have kept the shapes simple and easy with watercolour, so you can hopefully draw ideas from them for your own interpretation.
To get started, I drew the two lines of the Trestle table in the middle of the paper and then drew in simple shapes to suggest peoples bodies, a bit like Lowry figures. They are not picture-perfect body drawings – just a hint of them. If you haven’t seen the famous work of Lowry, I would recommend it highly. Lowry became an official war artist in 1943, and he was the Official Artist of the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953.
Instead of sketching chairs in my Street Party, I have opted to draw a bench shape, which will be an easier object for all of you to draw.
Chairs can be tricky as you need to consider feet and arms on chairs, a bench is much easier and more appropriate for a Street Party !
In the background as you can see, I have drawn in some houses to give a feeling of a street location, however you may choose to bring in any background for effect; for example, trees, streetlamps or even a red telephone box will add dimension to the picture.
I do hope you will enjoy having a go.
My neighbours are organizing a Jubilee Street Party for our local celebration next weekend which sounds exciting with lots of colourful bunting, great food and lots of laughter I expect – weather permitting! Perhaps some of you budding artists, would like to send your sketches or paintings into Sylvia if you are doing something for the Jubilee – just remember to keep it colourful and simple.

Good luck and enjoy all the Queen's Jubilee celebrations coming up.
Judith.

1. HENRY MANCINI
2. FROZEN
3. CHARIOTS OF FIRE
4. BUTCH CASSIDY and the SUNDANCE KID
5. The THOMAS CROWN AFFAIR 
6. PORTOBELLO ROAD
7. 76 trombones (110 cornets right behind)
8. The JUNGLE BOOK
9. ROBIN HOOD (Prince of Thieves)
10. THE HILLS ARE ALIVE 

Well, we are really living in the future now. And does the future live up to our expectations? In my case, it depends on the provider of these futuristic services. Here's a round up of what I've seen this month...

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