Category Archives: News

August Working Holiday

This year, 8 friends old and new joined us in the garden for our late August working holiday. This wonderfully committed, and at times muddy, sweaty and glowing crew, weeded, lifted, edged, dug out, separated, cleared, deadheaded, stacked, and much much more.  On the stats side each volunteer offered a minimum of 4 hours a day so over the 6 days around 192 hours of gardening was completed.  The list below gives some idea of all that was achieved and it was very gratifying that many of the guests and visitors who saw us at work commented on how well the garden was looking.

• the yew hedge that runs along the car park was cleared of ivy and can breathe again;
• the long border, seen from the back of the house, was cleared of weeds and space created for the shrubs planted last autumn to grow into;
• daffodil bulbs were lifted, split and replanted so they had more room;
• the borders around the front and back of the house were weeded, flowering plants dead headed or lifted;
• box hedges were trimmed;
• the long border in the walled garden had a serious haircut with much clearing and refreshing of the ground;
• the dahlias were deadheaded;
• runner beans were harvested and the bean plants encouraged to stand up again after strong winds brought their support canes to the ground;
• courgettes were harvested;
• flower beds were weeded and some existing plants split and planted to cover gaps in the planting;
• the additional feature dandelions were removed from the new strawberry bed;
• garden produce was carefully sampled at dinner

The prize for the most extraordinary event of the week went to Megan who showed Olympian strength while working on the long border and sheared through the metal neck of one of the forks…

New Warden and Chaplain for Launde Abbey

davidhelen02We’re delighted to announce that the next Warden of Launde Abbey will be the Venerable David Newman, currently Archdeacon of Loughborough. The Rev’d Canon Helen Newman will also be joining the staff of Launde in a new role of Chaplain.

Before his appointment as Archdeacon of Loughborough, David was Rector of Emmanuel Loughborough and Area Dean of Akeley East. He was also chair of the House of Clergy from 2007-2009. Helen has been the Chaplain of LOROS since 2009 and previously worked with David at Emmanuel. Helen was made an Honorary Canon of Leicester Cathedral earlier this year. They have both led numerous retreats and courses at Launde in recent years and have a deep love of the place and people.

davidhelen03The announcement of their appointment was made to staff at Launde Abbey this morning. David and Helen said:  “Launde Abbey has always been a special place for us during our twenty years in Leicester Diocese and we are very excited at this opportunity to lead the community forward in its ministry of hospitality, prayer and equipping for discipleship. Our vision is for Launde to be a prophetic and sustaining resource, enabling the people of God to negotiate challenging times with courage, wisdom and hope.

Tim Stratford, Chair of Trustees, added, “I am delighted that David Newman is to take on the role of Warden at Launde Abbey and will be joined in ministry there by his wife, Helen.  Together they bring deep spiritual maturity and a breadth of experience that it is rare to find.”

The Revd Alison Christian continues to serve as Warden until her retirement at the end of 2016, and David and Helen will take up their new duties in the spring of 2017.