Registered Charity No 1108814
Volunteers Bulletin - December 29th 2009
Hello All
I had the idea of sending you one of those clever email Christmas cards to show how much the Trustees appreciate your voluntary efforts but I'm afraid my IT skills were not up to the task so I just send you and your loved ones the compliments for what's left of The Season in fullest measure.
Meanwhile, you had December off and now it's back to business. The
weather was really unkind to us but I'm told it will be a lot better from now on. There are six working party dates taking us up to the end of March, by which time we must cut and clear the first area in Warren Road, which is
nearly finished, and the central area on the other side of The Beck. I do hope you can help as the wok is easily achievable with enough of us.
I have one last request and that is for someone with an industrial sewing machine who would be able and willing to sew some webbing handles onto the edges of our two tarpaulins.
These are the sheets that we use to drag the cut stuff off site and I have thought for a long time that simple webbing loops would make the job at the dumping site so much easier. I'm afraid sewing shares something with IT for me - I'm not very good at it.
Regards from John
Volunteers Newsletter - October 2008
Hello All
A combination of great people working and beautiful weather ensured a spirit of great optimism and purpose prevailed on The Common this morning with results to match; thankyou everybody. The next working party is Saturday 25th October meeting 9:00am at Warren Road. Contrary to the published duties, we shall continue on Area 1 where you can expend all your aggression on the larger willows and other trees.
Somebody left a spade behind this morning. It's got a large black plastic handle and is now standing by the back door of Welland House (alongside the Beck) waiting to be reunited with its owner.
Regards from John
Volunteers Newsletter - September 2008
Hello All
The Trustees had a long and very thoughtful Committee meeting this month when we made some big decisions about the coming season's work and we are keen to keep you informed. Incidentally, you are welcome to join us at any of these meetings. Dates are all published on the website.
These are all meeting at the car park and the intention is to tackle several jobs such as: riverbanks, boardwalk edges, sinking boards that need underpinning, etc. Hello All The AGM happened and David successfully beat-off all challenges to retain the high office of Chair. We are grateful to him for his willingness to continue in a role which no one else is prepared to take on; and do it so superbly well. Press Release 10th November 2007 Southrepps Commons Trust Receives CPRE Award Volunteers Newsletter - January 2008 Hello All We are really keen to hear ideas about making volunteering more attractive and the work more efficient. It's never been the Trustees' wish to hassle anyone but rather to keep you all informed and involved as long as you want to be. By the way, you know our meetings are open to all and you, as a volunteer, are especially welcome. Regards from John Hello All and Happy New Year. Whilst we made no calls for help last month, the festive season is well and truly behind us now and nature will not rest. So this weekend we shall be turning-to with forks and rakes and hope you might feel like helping. We have decided dates for another four working parties and thought we would alternate Saturdays with Sundays to see if that might suit more people. The dates are: Sunday 13th & Saturday 26th January Please also look out for a letter to all volunteers which will be put through your door soon. This is partly just to check contact names and addresses, but also an attempt to address the considerable decline in volunteers coming to working parties, which is a trend that is seriously worrying Trustees. Regards and best wishes for the New Year from John. Hello All Regards from John Hello All A very big, albeit belated, thank you to all who helped last Saturday, 3rd. Nov. We achieved a lot and it was very gratifying to see that at one time every available tool was in use. Whilst this is encouraging, at the same time this sort of turn-out is absolutely essential to give us any hope of meeting our commitments this year. Three years ago, Natural England imposed a management plan in return for funding the mowing machine to the tune of £6500. We can all take pride in the fact that we have met the plan's targets each year and it would be such a shame to fail in year 4. Hello All Unforeseeable circumstances caused me to miss the event at Vernon Arms last Sunday, but for those of you who also missed it, I am proud to announce that the Village Fayre organisers generously presented SCT with £500 to go towards finishing the boardwalk. The gap is closing. And on another positive note our work for "Forest Schools" has been praised at County level and SCT has been invited to accept an award from the "Campaign to Protect Rural England" at a prestigious ceremony in Norwich Assemby Rooms next month. A very big thankyou to all who helped yesterday morning (Saturday 20th). This was the first working party of the season and we started with the area between Warren Road and the Beck. Importantly, this is also the first of only two working parties before a meeting on The Common with "Natural England" whose representative will be assessing our work. If you weren't there, you missed two hours of fun and frolic on a gorgeous, mild and sunny Autumn morning. You could have benefited from modest exercise in the healthy open-air knowing that you were doing good for the community as well; and all for free. So much for your expensive gyms and personal trainers. Future dates for working parties are listed on the "Working Parties" page. Please try to help us on any of these days as attendance has tailed off and at present levels even our basic commitment to the SSSI site is unachievable. I am acutely aware that all voluntary groups bash out this same message. I just think that, as none of us can help everybody, you just choose one that suits you and try to fit it in. Although volunteer labour remains vitally important, there are two areas where we will use outside rescources to take the strain. Now that we have secured funding to continue working on the boardwalk we will again be employing the Probation Service. A date for starting this work has yet to be arranged. We have spoken to the Norfolk Reedcutters' Association who are going to do a bit for us which will reduce the overall task somewhat this year. We are exploring the possibility of managing part of the site as a commercial reed-bed but even if that comes about, it still leaves the area between Warren Road and The Beck which is a different flora (not reeds). Regards from John Work started on the 28th January at the Lower Street Social Club entrance and has now progressed to the Bradfield Road entrance. Public notices are posted at access points advising of the current situation. The boardwalk replacement program will continue whilst funds allow, which is currently expected to cover the project as far as the bridge over Fox's Beck. Labour is being supplied by the Probation Service as part of a project encompassing The Common, Village Hall and Non-Conformist Graveyard. Hello All
There's good news about the work this winter. Trustees realise how hard the raking and dragging work is, after all we do it too, and are always looking at ways to make things easier. We want to make enough time to give some attention to other parts of The Common for which we are equally responsible as, although the SSSI has to get priority, it is only half the total acreage of the six sites that together make up the commons of Southrepps.
We are also concerned about the changing nature of the SSSI and have taken advice on re-drawing the various parts to take account of how certain rare species are proliferating. For example, a healthy population of Tubular Water Dropwort has been recorded on Southrepps Common since at least 1880 although it is now on the endangered list nationally; so that is clearly something we must look after. There's a picture of the small leaf on the left so please take care not to step on it. Perhaps more important is that the plant, especially the round seed head is poisonous, so avoid touching it.
We thought two radical new things were going to happen but at the eleventh hour they fell through. We were hoping to team up with the new community composting scheme in Trunch but, although the organisers were keen to take our waste, Norfolk County Council wouldn't give the credits that the scheme relies on. The other thing which we only withdrew from after very careful consideration was to set aside a whole area of reedbed to be managed commercially. Whilst superficially attractive, it would have meant too much of the Common would have been left bare all at once, to the detriment of bird-life, and it would have seriously reduced our ability to adjust maintenance routines in the future.
The good news is that we have secured a firm commitment from the Probation Service Unpaid Work Unit to do all the raking and dragging for us this winter. They should carry out the work in October or November in a single 2-3 week period and although David, John or myself will have to cut sufficient each day, at least it lets all of you of the hook.
So, the next three working parties will involve general tidying up. But immediately after that we have to deal with the willows in the East Warren Rd. area. Regular coppicing has only encouraged them to come back even stronger and the time has come to get the roots out; certainly easier said than done.
Next time I write it should be with a full calendar of working party dates right through to next Spring, and I will give you a map showing the various areas so you can identify more easily what's going on. Our botanists are still surveying parts and changes have to be agreed by Natural England.
Hope to see you at forthcoming working party, unless it's the type of rain that makes it silly.
Regards from John
Volunteers Newsletter - May 2008
The AGM forces us to look at our work throughout the previous year and it draws attention to what has been achieved, which is a lot. In his speech David thanked everybody who has helped and made it plain that the work would be impossible without you. We also realise how hard it is for people to turn out on cold, wet winter mornings and want desperately to find better methods.
This message will be repeated in our Annual Report to the Parish Meeting next Tuesday, after which it will appear on the website for all to see.
To those who couldn't make it to our "Thankyou" social gathering last Saturday, we missed you, and you missed a very pleasant, informal evening of drinks and natter.
Lastly, this is advanced notice of a chance to confront our old adversary Himalayan Balsam. The old rogue is already showing itself alongside Fox's Beck, just by the car park . This year, things should definitely be easier as we mowed the area late, giving us a chance to see and pull out the young shoots, whereas before we had to wait till they were much bigger and all but innaccessible. The work isn't hard but you do need wellies. There is an optimum time for pulling the weeds and it must be done before they seed. We will be sending out emails to volunteers to confirm the date.
Regards from John
-Part 2- Update from 13th January:
A very big thank you to all who helped this morning. You confounded our worst fears and we all worked together to achieve a really encouraging result. It is truly a case of many hands making, if not exactly light, then certainly more pleasant and achievable, work. Thank you again for putting us back on track to complete this year's cutting programme. I hope you will be able to help out again again. The next working party reverts to Saturday in two weeks time and I shall send out a reminder to those on the e-mailing list a few days before. -Part 1- 10th January:
Sunday 10th & Saturday 23 February.
Sundays start at 10:00 and Saturdays at 9:00. Volunteers newsletter - Old News
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Volunteers Newsletter - November 2007
This is just a reminder about the working party on The Common this Saturday, 1st.December. This is the last until the New Year as we thought you would all have more pressing engagements for Saturdays in December. We will meet at Warren Road at 9:00am and finish by 11:30. You may have noticed we have secured the services of The Norfolk Reed-cutters Association which means there are now a lot of tied bundles of reeds to move. This promises to be much easier work than the raking and dragging we've been used to though it's up to Dave to decide exactly what we do on Saturday morning. Anyway, it's going to be a lovely, bright morning spent in the company of lovely, bright people. See you there.
On a joyful note, I can report that your efforts have been noted on a wider stage, because following hard on the heels of the NNDC Environment Award, just this week we were presented with the prestigious CPRE Norfolk Award, at a ceremony in Norwich. (CPRE is the well-known national group lobbying about environmental issues and is not politically aligned.)
Norfolk County Council has again come up trumps with £2660 towards materials which, together with a nice present from the Village Fayre, will enable us to replace the bridge and about 80 metres of boardwalk towards Warren Road. This work will start soon.
This week John and Duncan will install 24 sponsored bird-boxes.
Back to the practical business of reed/grass cutting. We have been talking to The Norfolk Reed-cutters Association about the whole business of managing the reeds. The issues are a bit complicated but as a starter they are going to run a trial with their sophisticated machinery possibly as soon as tomorrow, Sunday. You are welcome to have a look.
That's all for now, the next working party is Saturday, 17th November at 9:00am at Warren Road. If you can only spend a short time with us it will still be a great help and there's no embarrassment in having to leave early.
Regards from John
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Volunteers Newsletter - October 2007
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Boardwalk Replacement Programme
Volunteers Newsletter - January 2007
A very big thank you to all who helped last Saturday. You enabled us to complete this season's work as laid down by the English Nature cutting programme. And we have done it before the real winter sets in, whereas last year we held one never-to-be-forgotten session in the snow! Thanks again for all your help without which Southrepps Commons Trust could not function and a precious amenity, appreciated by many, would be lost.
You should also realise that the very fact of you turning up for working parties creates a great impression on the fund-raising scene. Grant-giving organisations are more likely to help a community which is itself making an effort. Keith Porter is our superhero with the begging bowl whose efforts this year have made possible the purchase of materials to replace most of the boardwalk, on which work is starting 28th of this month, as well as funding a project to provide the school with teaching facilities on The Common. A very big round of applause to Keith please.
Finally, although we have finished the specified work, we want to cut a small part by The Beck which got missed last year and is getting very scrubby. There is also a patch of willows which have all been cut down and sawn into logs but now need converting into beetle-banks, homes for hedgehogs etc., or just moved away. The working party for these tasks is on Saturday 27th when we can also make sure everything is set up for work to commence on the boardwalk the next day.
So here's to another enjoyable morning and as many Cheddars as you can eat.
Regards from John
Hello All
A very big thank you to all who helped on the 4th November, especially the children. If they are going to come again, we must do more to keep them involved, any ideas?
We achieved the target admirably without anyone getting too shattered (I think) and finished on time. The next date is 18th November when we shall move into the reeds on the other side of The Beck.
If anyone has ideas as to how we might deal with the large number of alders left in the ground and also removal of willow, we would be pleased to hear from you. All suggestions will be given due consideration and anyway it won't be as daft as me asking the shire horse centre for help - they haven't replied yet!
Regards from John Houlgate
If you've been enjoying "Blizzard" on BBC2 as much as I have, now you can try man-hauling for yourself, courtesy of Southrepps Commons Trust. Those of you who helped last year will know just what I'm talking about, as it's nearly reed-cutting time again. We've settled six dates, all Saturday mornings, 9:00-11:30, when we really need all the help we can get.
By common consent, the SSSI has never looked better; a credit to all who helped last autumn/winter. As you know, the reeds are managed on a four year cycle dictated by English Nature. We cut, rake and drag them off-site and the work is only achievable with lots of help. So please try and come along, it WILL be appreciated.
The dates are: 7 & 21 October, 4 & 18 November, 2 December and 13 January.
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You know that in June the Trustees held a special meeting, facilitated (at no charge to us) by a London-based specialist. A number of priority areas were identified and these will be developed into a strategy for running Southrepps Commons Trust into the foreseeable future.
For example, it is recognised that the whole 25 acres area, comprising five commons, is the Trust’s responsibility but the same level of management is neither appropriate, nor possible, throughout. Consequently, we will manage the whole common to a basic level while more important areas will benefit from greater attention. We have also discussed the most desirable character of each individual common and its man-agement needs.
These are the principles of our basic-level management which Southrepps Commons Trust aims to implement on all sites:
These principles will be enhanced where necessary, e.g. on the SSSI, where we have to comply with the English Nature programme which requires additional work.
One consequence of the above is that the Trust will be investigating the remoter parts in the near future in order to establish boundaries and tackle the inevitable incursions. Be it garden waste from an adjoining household or something much worse, we do our best to act even-handedly in all cases.
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Another key priority area is getting to grips with the labour requirements for the tasks we would like to do and those we are committed to doing.
We are heartened by volunteers like yourself, but we have to organise properly, not only to get the job done but also to make sure you enjoy yourself and want to come again. Also, there are other jobs, such as rebuilding the board-walk, for which we have to find labour elsewhere. Developing the most efficient working methods and projecting our demand for labour is complicated but one of our Trustees is leading on this specific subject.
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So far, we have only asked for your help as part of a working party, and nothing will change the importance of that. But there’s plenty of opportunity to help in other ways which may suit you better; perhaps you could consider one of these:
The list goes on and on. You probably have a skill which we could use so please don’t be shy, get in touch.
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Hope you welcome this newsletter; we do value your interest. People so often ask why The Trust doesn’t do this or that. They make good, obvious, sensible sug-gestions and my reasons for not complying always seem so feeble. But like in all similar groups, loads of work falls to just a few people. That’s why if enough people just take one job each, we can do an awful lot.
We are very lucky to have Southrepps Common and with your help we can do it justice.