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Christmas Celebration

On the 22nd December we had our annual celebration to thank volunteers for the time they have given us over the last year. The work for that day was coppicing at High Woods Country Park and burning some of the large amount of brash on a bonfire. We cooked jacket potatoes, beans and warm fruit cordial on the fire, supplemented by mince pies, homemade chutneys and marshmallows. A total of 14 volunteers attended, alongside park rangers and of course us at BTCV, everyone enjoyed the warming food around the bonfire, a jolly time was had by all. On this day we also gave rewards to those individuals who have done the most volunteering days over the year. The top three are as follows: * Noel Carter – 137 days * Nike Nicholls – 123 days * Steven Woodard – 111 days Congratulations to these individuals and all our other volunteers who regularly give their time to our projects – it is very much appreciated!

Got any pots?

Work is continuing on our new Tree Nursery at Weald Country Park, in the last news we told you about the seed beds. Now we need some help with the next stage of the growing process – plant pots. We know that many plant pots get thrown away, or sit unused in sheds for years, so now is the time to dig them out, and donate them to a worthy project! We are looking for any size of pots, any type to grow our baby trees in. Any pots you wish to donate can either be dropped into our office in Colchester, or given to a one of our project leaders if you are out volunteering with us.

Preparing for Winter Weather - Brrr!

It finally looks like colder weather is upon us, which is important to think about when working outside. If you are planning to be outside for any length of time (i.e. volunteer with us!), the best way to keep warm is layer up with clothes. A good idea is to wear a thermal under-layer next to your skin, such as long-johns or even tights, to trap heat next to your body. With snow, ice and rain it is important to have a waterproof layer on top, including a coat and trousers. They will not only keep you dry, but keep the wind out too. A scarf or snood will keep the wind from going down your collar, and a thin pair of gloves under your leather working gloves will help keep your hands warm. Finally remember how important your feet are, if you can fit more than one pair of socks on in your boots then do so, alternatively a carrier bag over each foot in your boots is amazing at keeping feet warm.

Big Green Weekend 2011

On 22nd and 23rd October we took part in BTCV’s first ever ‘Big Green Weekend’, to promote what we do as a charity and also to encourage more people to volunteer. We organised an event at High Woods Country Park with several different activities. For families there was a stall next to the visitor centre with lots of different tree seeds, and also the chance to collect seeds for our tree nursery. For adults we organised some hedgelaying in the park, and managed to get a 20m section fully laid, complete with stakes and binders. Many thanks to all the volunteers who took part over the weekend, I think everyone agreed how enjoyable it was in the sunshine! We are planning to run the event again next year, so watch this space….

Essex Tree Nursery @ Weald Country Park

Project Officer Nicola Downs has been carrying on from previous work building our new Tree Nursery. This year we have collected lots of native tree seeds, which will be grown in the nursery, to then be planted back in the ground throughout Essex. Nicola and the team have now created our first seed frame, and planted the first seeds, so fingers crossed for good growing conditions. Thankyou to all the volunteers who have helped collect seeds, and if you are interested in volunteering down at the tree nursery (near Brentwood) to care for the seedlings please contact Nicola at the office, or by email n.downs@btcv.org.uk

Green Flag for Communities Award

As mentioned in the last newsletter, Carla Davis is working with community groups to help them apply for the Green Flag for Communities Award. This recognises greenspaces which are managed by community volunteers. If you know of or are part of a group which may be eligible, please get in touch with Carla at the office, or by email c.davis@btcv.org.uk

Christmas Task

Finally, we will again be holding our traditional Christmas Task on Thursday 22nd December at High Woods Country Park. It is a chance to do some interesting work, and also for us to thank those volunteers who have given the most time over the last year. There will be baked potatoes (cooked on the bonfire), warm fruit cordial and mince pies for everybody. All volunteers are welcome, so please join us

Multifor Project finishes

We have been part of a European funded project with Essex County Council looking at ancient woodland interactions in the south of Essex. Volunteers may remember making traps for catching beetles and installing them in old Oak trees around Hatfield Forest. The project is now coming to an end with an International conference, with the presentation of the beetle research on Friday 9th September. We have been asked to help with running the event, so we are looking for volunteers who would be willing to give out badges and direct people on the day. We will be starting early, leaving Colchester at 8.15am, and coming through Chelmsford at 9am, and anyone who volunteers will get a free lunch and be able to take part in the conference, listening to all the interesting speakers from several countries. Please call the office if you are interested, as we have limited spaces available.

Boardwalk bonanza!

Coming up in the next few months we will be constructing several boardwalks in different locations. The first is at Coggeshall Pieces Nature Reserve in Halstead, which some volunteers may be familiar with. We last worked on this site in 2006, and recently the local friends group has managed to secure funding to extend the current boardwalk through some of the wetter areas. The second project is at Wat Tyler Country Park in Pitsea, as part of their big green project to improve access and interest in the park. The boardwalk will link the new visitor centres to the craft workshops, passing ponds and reedbeds along the way. We will also be complementing this work with other habitat improvements at the park in including Hedgelaying and wildflower planting.

Staff changes

It is with sadness that we will be saying goodbye to Jon Bayley, who has been working with offenders through the Gateways Project and Weald Tree Nursery for the last two years. He and his team have made some great improvements to habitats and access in sites across the county including Bradwell-on-Sea and Leaden Roding. Jon is moving to Wales, so we wish him all the best in his new place, and thanks for all the hard work he has done in Essex. Nicola Downs will be taking over Jon’s role until December, as her Orchards and Allotments Project finishes.

Green Flag Community Award

Carla Davis has again been working with community groups to help them apply for the Green Flag for Community Award (formerly Green Pennant). This recognises Greenspaces which are managed by community volunteers, rather than the main Green Flag award which is for big areas, usually managed by local councils. This year 12 awards have been given to sites in the Eastern region including Chelmer Valley LNR, Marconi Ponds and St. Peterad- Vincula Churchyard, Coggeshall in Essex. Congratulations to the Winners! This is an increase in numbers from last year, and we will be continuing with this support in the future, to encourage more community groups to apply for the award. If you know of or are part of a group which may be eligible, please get in touch with Carla using our normal contact details.

Volunteer AGM and Day Out

The 28th June was our annual day out, to thank volunteers for their hard work. This year we again met up with former project officer Debs Crawford, who is currently a ranger at Dunwich Heath in Suffolk. Volunteers enjoyed great weather, and had an interesting guided walk around the reserve. Thank-you to Debs for showing us around, and we hope to find something just as interesting for next year. The 21st July was our annual volunteer AGM, which we held at Weald Country Park near Brentwood. We started with a walk around some of the different areas including the viewpoint across the Capability Brown inspired landscape. We held our meeting over lunch, and then had a walk over to the Tree Nursery site where Jon Bayley introduced volunteers to the project. Thanks to everyone who attended, and the minutes will be available shortly.

Southview School Allotment

We have been working with Southview School in Witham and Braintree District Council to improve an area that was given to the school for outdoor activities. The school is exclusively for physically and neurologically impaired learners from 3yrs old to 19yrs old, and is the only school in Essex of its kind. The school are keen to introduce the natural world into their learning curriculum, and had already planted a new orchard, with old Essex varieties of fruit. Through a grant from Braintree’s Green Heart campaign, we have been helping out by installing some raised beds for growing vegetables and fencing to make the area safe. Work on this has now almost finished, with only the final pieces of path to put down. We are assured the school will make full use of the area, and we hope it will be a useful tool to inspire their children about the environment in which they live.

Waitrose Community Matters

We have been successful in becoming one of Colchester Waitrose’s charities of the month this June. So if you shop there and get your green charity token, you can put it in the BTCV box, and at the end of the month we will get a share of £1000, which we will put towards some much needed new tools and equipment.

Essex Business Awards

We were chosen as finalists in the Essex Countywide Business Awards in the Environmental Awareness category. So on Friday 20th May, Project Officer Carla Davis attended the glittering awards ceremony at the Cliffs Pavilion in Southend. In the end we didn’t win, but it was a big achievement to get into the final and we are planning to enter again next year.

Weald Tree Nursery

Work at the new Essex Tree Nursery at Weald Country Park near Brentwood has been storming along! The area has now been completely cleared, and the old tree stumps removed. The posts for the new deer-proof fencing have been installed and Jon and his team are busy putting the wire on and preparing seed beds. We are planning lots of seed collection this autumn, which will then need to ‘stratify’ over the winter to make sure they germinate, ready to plant and grow on next spring and summer. We will be collecting seed from ancient native trees around the county including Oak and Hornbeam, so if you are interested in getting involved, please let us know! Jon will also be starting volunteer and community work parties at the site, so if you are in the Brentwood area, have a group who would be interested in being involved or would like to get stuck in yourself, again get in touch!

Pitsea Willow Planting

We have had many enquiries and interest in the activity days we have spent at Pitsea landfill site near Basildon planting Willow. We have been working on a restored area of the landfill site – which means an area that has been filled with waste, then covered over with clay and then topsoil, and is ready to be used as productive land again. We have been planting a species of quick growing Willow, which in years to come will be harvested to provide fuel for a biomass heating and hot water system installed in buildings in Wat Tyler Country Park just next-door. Big thanks go out to everyone who has taken part in the planting, in all sorts of weather conditions! We have all fingers crossed that the cuttings will do really well on the site, and provide a great renewable resource for the future, so watch this space.

Biodiversity Action Team Recent Tasks

In March we visited ‘Constable Country’ at Flatford Mill to work on the ‘Living Landscapes’ project. A total of 100m of hedge was laid by BTCV volunteers and National Trust volunteers. It was a lovely site to visit and hopefully we will be involved in the project again later in the year. A site some of you will remember working on is the Blackwater Trail in Braintree where we constructed a 100m boardwalk 3 years ago. We had the chance to return and build some extra sections there for the Friends of Bocking Meadow. A BIG thank-you for all who attended for their hard work; we had an earth moving experience working on the bank there!

Johnny Mac

We were very sad to hear the news that one of our long-serving volunteers, known to most as Johnny Mac passed away recently. John was a great character, and everyone who had the chance of working with him, will never forget his sense of humour and his helpfulness towards others. Eleven staff and volunteers, past and present attended the service on 14th March at Weeley Crematorium to say a last farewell. Our thoughts go to his family, for he will be sadly missed by all. Donations were made to St. Helena Hospice for their care of John.

New Town Garden, Colchester

http://www.newtowngarden.org/ Work will continue in April and May to transform a corner of Old Heath Recreation Ground into a community garden for all. The edible hedge planted on the first task back in February is looking healthy and the first soft fruit was planted this weekend under glorious sunshine. This garden is being created and managed by volunteers and all are welcome to join the group on action days being led by BTCV.

New Town Garden Action Days

10am - 4pm: Tues 19th April, Sat 30th April, Wed 4th May, Tues 10th May & Sat 14th May

There will be no minibus pick up for these tasks but volunteers can meet the group on site by the Port Lane entrance to the Recreation Ground. For more information, or to ask about specific tasks please contact Nicola Downs, BTCV on 01206 764 470

Volunteer AGM

We have the Volunteer AGM planned for April. This is a chance for everyone to raise any points that they wish to discuss on BTCV in Essex. It will run as a normal task day with the pick up at 10am at the Britannia car park Colchester and return by 4pm. The site at present is a surprise! We will be having the meeting in the morning, when we finish the meeting we will have a walk around the site. If you’re not able to attend and wish to have a topic or any points discussed on the day either email: essex@btcv.org.uk or call the office on 01206 764470.

See you out soon!

Goodbye FJF

Over the last year we have taken part in the Future Jobs Scheme, which provided young unemployed people aged 18-24yrs, with six-month work placements as Project Assistants. This project has now come to an end, as the government has stopped the funding, so we will have no new placements in the near future. We are hoping that a similar scheme will arise from the new government, and will be involved if possible. I’d like to say a HUGE thanks to the eight individuals that came to us, and wish them good luck for the future, it won’t be the same without you!

2nd Witham Boys Brigade

It is with great pleasure that I can announce that we have been successful in an application to the Heritage Lottery Fund Young Roots Programme for another project with the 2nd Witham Boys Brigade! Some of the longer serving volunteers may remember the site at Twinstead near Sudbury, which is a mixture of woodland and grassland with a lake and boardwalk. The site is used by the boys for outdoor activities such as den building, camping and stargazing, but is also an important habitat for wildlife. The project will involve coppicing some of the woodland, hedgelaying along the lane, getting involved in some wood craft activities, and even building a compost loo!

New Town Community Garden

Our allotments and orchards project in partnership with ECC continues into 2011 with many projects across the county, including the beginnings of a new community garden for Colchester. Local residents around the Old Heath Recreation Ground worked enthusiastically last year to design the New Town Community Garden with the help of Colchester Borough Council and permaculture expert Marina O’Connell. The garden will include vegetable growing areas; orchard trees and nuts; wildlife areas and a social and learning space. Practical work to turn this corner of the Recreation ground (nr Grants Meadow) into a community garden will start in February. The local community interest in this project so far has been fantastic but more volunteer help will be needed to turn these plans into a garden paradise for all. Three dates have been set when the public are invited to help with the planting of an edible hedge and orchard. The New Town Garden will be established and maintained by volunteers so the community group want as many people and groups to be involved and enjoy the garden to ensure the site is part of the community for years to come. If you are interested in volunteering or the detailed plans for the New Town Community Garden please contact Project Officer Nicola Downs for more information or visit www.newtowngarden.org