Gardener Ken Ellis, who co-ordinates the Ely Open Gardens group of the National Garden Scheme, reflects on the group's successful fundraiser

Well, we battled through the damp and cold spring, didn't we?

One of the gardeners keeps a journal of what happens and when in his garden, and reckons that his plants, and therefore ours, are running two weeks behind where they were last year.

This made things a bit of a challenge, but we got there in the end...

There were at least seven lots of gardeners in Ely who were relieved that the sun broke through and shone on June 4.

It was the annual open gardens in aid of the National Garden Scheme.

Both the Bishop of Huntingdon's garden and the Bishop of Ely's garden were open, as were five others around the town.

We had 527 adults and many children through our garden, with the other gardeners reporting around the same.

Ely Methodist Church provided tea, coffee and cake, as did one of the gardens, with rumours that ice cream was on sale in another.

It was in all a very convivial afternoon. We'd like to thank all those who helped us to raise funds.

In all, we raised the amazing amount of £6,031.25 for the NGS.

The money will go to major charities, such as Macmillan, and a whole host of smaller charities. Details of where the money goes are available on the NGS website.

I would like to thank all of the gardeners and helpers who put in so much time to make the afternoon a success.

We had a roving photographer, Amanda Hoskins,and the results of her work can be found on our local website, at www.elyopengardens.weebly.com Note the new address.

What about opening your garden? We'd love to hear from individual gardeners, or groups in a street who would like to form an informal club. Courtyard gardens, patios - we'd like to include you if we can.

To contact me and discuss opening a garden, please contact me through out local website.