VOLUNTEER NEWSLETTER
DECEMBER 2020 - FEBRUARY 2021
We have kept up volunteer site maintenance work throughout the year with a small group of between 2 and the permitted maximum of 6. We hope that our sites have benefitted from our positive solutions to problems created by the pandemic!
Please bear in mind:
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Our sites have each been assessed for social distancing.
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Telephone bookings will be necessary in advance.
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IF YOU FEEL AT ALL UNWELL, PLEASE DO NOT CONSIDER JOINING US UNTIL YOU ARE FEELING BETTER!
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Tools will need to be carefully managed and sanitised.
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Volunteers should bring their own work gloves, as well as work clothes and suitable footwear.
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Please bring packed lunches, snacks and drinks as required.
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Please bring your own soap or hand sanitiser and keep your distance.
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Please help us to help you and reassure us all over health and hygiene.
Subs reminder for 2021: these are due and will remain at £12, or unwaged £6.
News
Thank you to TCV and OVO Energy for free trees provided in National Tree Week.
We have created a new small copse for the infants at Great Wood School and are incorporating a small extension to Great Wood itself.
We have been offered garden tokens for the success of our wildflower bed at Thurnham, by passers-by simply impressed by what they saw!
We wish everyone a peaceful Christmas and a more hopeful New Year in 2021! Thank you for your support and if you pass Bare Lane Station we hope you enjoy seeing our Station Adopters Christmas tree on platform 1, now in its third year!
Sunday 20 December am -- Torrisholme Barrow We need to check both our newly planted trees and trees planted over 30 years ago. Some old tree guards need to be removed and the concern over ash dieback may mean assessment for some removal and replacement.
Sunday 20 December pm – Great Wood School, Bare We achieved a lot during our last visit but there is more to be done. We are attaching safety treads to our dipping platform and bridge to prevent slipping. We also need to put up a protective fence in front of our newly planted corner site. As we still have some trees donated by OVO through TCV we will plant a hawthorn and blackthorn hedge along the fence line. Great for wildlife and gives a sense of permanence to the wood extension.
Sunday 3 January 2021 – Penhale Woodland, Heysham Maintenance work has been building up and we will certainly need to do some tree pruning, new planting and topping up the bark paths.
Sunday 17 January – Mossgate Primary School, Heysham We want to create a bog garden adjacent to the pond, so need to weed unwanted vegetation before planting in the spring. More work will also be needed in our woodland, perhaps also creating a log sitting area for the young children.
Sunday 31 January – Belmount Water Meadows, Slyne We would like to do some more strimming in the meadows to ensure that some diversity of age and species are maintained. Any gaps from last year's hedge may need some new hedge plants and also there will be some lifting of the canopy in our copse.
Sunday 14 February – Bee and Butterfly Garden, Hazelwood Farm, Silverdale We may have a couple of wall gaps to repair but if the ground isn’t frozen weeding of the bee garden ready for spring sowing will be priority. Topping up paths with bark should ensure everything is ready to go!
Many of our workdays over the last challenging year have been biased towards maintenance. This has been a definite decision to help keep our regular sites ticking over without the challenges of new projects. Let us all hope for a degree of normality returning in 2021.
