Meeting attended by 17 members and Chris Riley from Broxtowe Borough Council. Apologies from Norman Clyde-Watson.
Path. Amanda Blicq, Chief Landscape Architect at Groundwork Greater Nottingham, who handles our application has been on holiday. Walter hopes to report at the next meeting. Chris Riley reiterated Broxtowe’s support.
Stapleford Carnival. Arrangements were discussed in detail: what to sell (plants, seeds, bird boxes and garden jigsaws), pricing, transport, the loan of trestle tables and a gazebo, rots of helpers. Special thanks were offered to John Appleton and his team for making bird boxes.
Work Session on 23/24th September. Broxtowe BC would arrange the mowing and hire of skip. Friends would clear as last year. Utmost participation, with rakes and gloves, was called for.
Car Dumping. The rapid removal of the wrecks by Broxtowe and the site clearance by the Friends were welcome examples of cooperation. After the skip has been moved the bollards on top of Sandy Lane would be resited closer together to prevent car entry.
Future meetings. A number of suggestions were made which Walter will follow up. (see Postscript 1 for meeting on 2 October.)
Chris Riley informed the group that Broxtowe would repair/replace 3 damaged steps on the top of the bridleway from Sandy Lane to Wollaton. He asked for the group’s help in maintaining the section of path above Brookside Avenue. Funds allocated to the County Council for path maintenance were limited. Unit was agreed that the October work session would focus on this section. Chris also asked for views on mowing the triangle above Brookside. It was agreed that this area should be included in the mowing programme at a higher cut and grass removal by the Friends.
The Carnival. Shortly after 10 o’clock on Saturday 9th September an estate car arrived at the Ilkeston Road recreation ground close the Jaguar public house on Hickings Lane and drove up to on of the 67 stall positions marked out on the grass in a big circle. Soon an attractive canopy, mysteriously acquired, was in place, two trestle tables borrowed from a school, were put up and our display board, compete with publicity leaflets, prominently positioned. Two car loads of plants were then set out, together with seeds, bird boxes and jigsaw puzzles. The plants were of many varieties, both for outdoors and indoors. Each had been carefully labelled and priced. Some had been offered by members of the group unable to be present but keen to contribute.
From 10:00 to 14:30 our stall was fully staffed, visitors encouraged to take a leaflet and sales concluded. Our net profit for the day, after the charge for the stall position and the cost of the materials for the bird boxes had been deducted, was over £60 with a few bird boxes still available for sale.
Many thanks to all members who made this such a successful event.
Postscript 1. Bramcote Hills Comprehensive School has formed an environmental focus group (eco-schools committee), comprising students, teachers and support staff, parents and hopefully local community representatives. The aim is to move from environmental awareness in the curriculum to environmental action in the school and wider community. Current projects include the creation of a wildlife area (meadow) at the north end of the site, paper /textile recycling and general improvements to the school grounds.
Our next meeting on 2 October will be attended by Phil Burman and/or Stan Pyle from the school, when we can explore how this new group and the Friends of Bramcote Ridge can help each other.
Postscript 2. Reminder! Our biggest working session of the year takes place this coming weekend, Saturday 23rd September 10:30 till 4:30 and Sunday 10:30 till approx. 12:30. Please try and come along for one or both of these days.
The Friends are always looking for extra pairs of hands to help out or to simply support their work, so...
- to find out when the next work session will take place, click here, or
- to find out about becoming a member please contact us here, or
- to discover what goes into managing the sites click here.
