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Recent work sessions – Hollingbury Rise West

 

Our major project during the winter has been to create a hedge along the edge of Hollingbury Wood where it abuts Hollingbury Rise West. A ‘dead hedge’ or woven fence was put in place, mostly using materials from our woods, and a row of young trees and shrubs was planted on either side of it, sheltered by tree guards. We thank the Woodland Trust for a grant that enabled us to purchase the trees.

 

The site is quite prominent, and our work has attracted much favourable comment – and new volunteers as well. The work session in February 2010 included 11 newcomers, and all-time record! We hope that with the area now decidedly smarter there will be a marked decrease in the amount of litter which has been disfiguring it in recent years.

 

Our territory is extended

 

The boundaries of FHBW woods have not, we think, ever been formally defined.  However, in practice we have taken the road to the Golf Clubhouse as marking the northern limit of Hollingbury Woods, and we have not been active beyond the east-west path at the northern end of Burstead Woods.   In both cases there is woodland to the north which forms a natural extension of our traditional territory.  We now have authority to manage these two further areas, and look forward to developing suitable plans for them.

 

Bluebells

 

Some 500 bluebell bulbs were planted in Burstead Wood during Autumn 2009. These were native bluebells, not the more vigorous ‘Spanish’ type, and have been plantyed well away from our small groups of the latter, to minimise the chance of cross-fertilisation.

 

Working with schools

 

A great deal of preparation by our publicity officer, Brenda Pollack, and our Ranger, Dominic Franklin, preceded visits to the woods by children from Downs Junior School on 1 and 2 October 2009. Classroom sessions had been held beforehand, involving teachers, teaching assistants, and FHBW members, so the children had some sense of what to expect and to look for. All reports have been that the sessions were highly successful, and the children prepared a marvellous ‘thank you letter’ with individual messages on ‘leaves’ stuck to a ‘branch’.

 

This is an exciting new area of activity for the group and we are keen to make use of the skills or time of any members who are interested in such work.  If you have, or would like to develop, experience in this area, please do contact us.  Tel 01273 553044 or email pollack.brenda@yahoo.co.uk

 

 

Big Draw in partnership with Dupont Art Club

 

As part of the national The Big Draw initiative which is held every October to encourage people to create and enjoy art, we were joined on 3 October 2010 by members of the Dupont Art Club who were prepared to sit sketching in the woods despite miserable weather. Our members were also persuaded to have a go at doing a bit of sketching, sometimes surprising themselves by what they could achieve. As one of the objectives of FHBW is to encourage people to use the woods as a resource, we feel using the natural beauty to inspire works of art is very appropriate.

 

 

 

Children policy

 

It has been delightful in recent months to welcome more parents with children to work sessions.  This has required some rethinking of work programmes, tool provision, and refreshments, and we may sometimes have been a bit slow in making sure that younger helpers were properly and adequately welcomed.  However, we hope that by now we have adjusted as necessary.  Please let any committee member know if you have suggestions which would further improve our workdays so far as children are concerned. 

 

Whatever initiatives the committee takes with regard to children it has to remain the responsibility of the accompanying parent or other adult to ensure that children are safe at all times, in respect both of their own activities and keeping a prudent distance from the activities of others.  Looking after their children may well limit the contribution of the parent to a workday, but the committee cannot, and does not, accept responsibility for the welfare of children during work sessions. 

 

 

 

 

Page last updated: 14 April 2010

Friends of Hollingbury and Burstead Woods