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The Story so far
Completion of the work
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The Story so far
Location: Cambridgeshire
Initial work was carried out last Winter before the breeding season started. This comprised heavy pruning of some of the old apple trees, much ivy clearance, and improving access to the site by raking back huge accumulations of dead brambles, undergrowth, and clearing rubbish left on the site over many years.
A ‘Picnic Area’ was cleared and the cut down branches and small trees were used to barrier off the S.W. corner of the site to keep visitors away from the badger sett there. Children were given the task of clearing out the old dip well which they did with great enthusiasm.
The intrusive activities were then suspended for the Spring and Summer seasons, but quieter work was continued, including grass seeding in the cleared areas, making a trial length of path from wood chippings, keeping back brambles, spraying nettles and marking dead trees for future removal. Flowers were recorded as they appeared.
The grass area near to the road was kept strimmed. A picnic bench was bought and installed in the picnic area, partly to assess the vandalism problem, which thankfully has not materialized. The water in the well was analysed and proved to be good. One group member was funded for a chain saw course, which he has now completed. Several fund raising activities were carried out.
In late September, work was again started with a chain saw gang clearing away obstacles from the line of the proposed paths and drainage works. On October 2nd, a general village working day was arranged, and under a brilliant blue sky some thirty people (11 of them children) spent a happy time clearing the debris left by the chainsaws, putting the larger branches into conservation heaps and burning the smaller rubbish.
The picnic bench was put to good use all day with tea coffee biscuits and cakes provided by several of our supporters – one of whom is too frail to do physical work but who is happy to make cakes for the workers ad interim! Two children were sent to the well to fetch a pail of water for washing hands. A resident from the old people’s bungalows adjoining the site came to help and, as a retired professional gardener, made a valuable contribution.
The site is now ready for the contractors with their mini-digger. They are expected in November.
Everything has gone very well. We are particularly pleased with the levels of interest and support shown in the village. People of all ages (family groups especially) have said how much they enjoyed working together. The children have had a wonderful time having big bonfires, and poking sticks into the hot ashes – not something they can do every day. A few volunteers even thanked the organizers for arranging the work days. They obviously think that it was all laid on for their entertainment!
Fund Raising has also gone better than expected. One coffee morning alone raised £430, while a fund raising concert was a sell-out. Some people only bought tickets “because it was for Chapel Orchard,” but the show actually was excellent and will be repeated next year, and the tickets next time will surely sell on their own merit. The plum jam made from Chapel Orchard bullace trees has sold readily and now has a great following, while our local wood turners have used wood from the Orchard for some of their products and have donated the proceeds to us.
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