Monthly Archives: February 2023

Urgent Appeal

Volunteers urgently needed

to repair field damage

Saturday 4 March at 11:00 hrs

Last week person/s unknown drove a vehicle onto Miss Whalley’s Field and caused significant damage. The field now has many deep ruts especially in the mown children’s play area.

It needs to be repaired asap to give the Field as much time as possible to regenerate before summer. Please can you bring spades, rakes, wheelbarrows and other useful tools.

Wear suitable clothing, boots and gloves. The field is still muddy especially in the damaged areas.

Meet at the bench in the middle of the Field.

Everyone’s help is needed to sort out the mess.

If anyone has any information about the vehicle and who is responsible for this vandalism, please let us know.

fmwfcontact@gmail.co.uk

Thank you

Vandalism

As most people are already aware, at the end of last week and probably under cover of darkness, some half-wit decided to drive from Kentmere Road to Derwent Road without bothering to use the tarmac. Starting at the bottom of the Field they used the new access (designed to help anyone with limited mobility) to drive onto the Field. Once there, it looks as if they promptly got stuck. They proceeded to dig deep ruts in the Field before finally ‘escaping’ onto Derwent Road leaving behind a mess for everyone else to clear up:

The Field belongs to the whole community, not to a few who want to ruin it.

Can anyone throw any light on those responsible? Did you see or hear anything? Have you seen a car that looks as if it has been through a ploughed field? It would be nice to think that whoever did this could take some responsibility and at least pay for the damage to be repaired.

Just let the Friends of the Field know (anonymously if necessary) and we shall see what can be done.

Help protect our Field from mindless idiots!

Pruning Day

At 09.55 on Saturday morning (18th Feb) there were only half a dozen people gathered at the Memorial Stone to take part in the Pruning Day on Jean Argles Wood. By 10.05 there were 30 people(!), all equipped with ancient and modern secateurs and much enthusiasm. A lot of well-known faces (including Rev. Carol looking very much the part in jeans and a dog collar!) but also many new faces of people moving into the area or just discovering Miss Whalley’s Field. Welcome to all!

The group had a briefing from David Redmore (our go-to tree expert) about how to prune….and also how to sharpen your secateurs! Thanks to Helen Brister from the Council who came along to support us with secateurs and sharpening files for the volunteers.

The aim is to allow the trees to grow proper trunks without lots of side branches. This will create an ‘understorey’ below the eventual tree canopy which will support a wide variety of natural life.

After this, Chairman Paul, (looking very inspirational!) led his troops down the rather boggy field to begin work.

By this time the sun had disappeared but it did not take long for the work team to prune most of the ‘wood’, taking care not to cut the birches, wild roses etc, which don’t need pruning. In the meantime a second group was planting specially selected fruit trees near the lower end of the wood. It is hoped that these will thrive better than the species planted some years ago. In order to help these trees to get off to a good start, they were planted in rich top-soil, courtesy of the thriving local mole population (see picture above!).

There was also some general litter clearing and tidying up. Everyone can look after the Field on a day to day basis, removing litter, reporting problems and generally keeping an eye on things. The Field is a huge asset to our area and we all have a responsibility to look after it. Thanks to all those who already do this, on their daily dog walk or just passing through occasionally.

Finally a special mention of one of our most loyal supporters, County Councillor Lizzie Collinge, seen here cheerfully brandishing her secateurs in her customary bright red coat!