 |
Home
Weobley Churchyard Festival
Weobley God’s Acre - what we achieved
Project Image Gallery
|
|
|
|
Weobley God’s Acre - what we achieved
Location: Herefordshire
What was achieved by the successfully completed Weobley God’s Acre project, and the lasting effects it has had in the community.
The project group invited specialists to conduct surveys of the site, covering reptiles & amphibians, birds, plants, butterflies, small mammals, lichens, fungi, bats - and trees, which were pruned as necessary. Two forums were held to share the findings with the general public, one of which included a guided walk around the churchyard to explain the topography and archaeology.
A notice board was erected in the church porch to publicise news, coming events and items of interest. An explanatory leaflet was produced detailing special features including a medieval preaching cross, scheduled as an ancient monument. Plans were made to keep an archive in the museum.
The committee continued to work together, with some changes of personnel, to build on the first stage of the project to use the information as an educational resource and to promote the churchyard as place for quiet reflection.
Groups from the local primary school were invited to explore the history and biodiversity of the churchyard with fun activities. They learned with an archaeologist the significance of the gravestones and the war memorial. To make the natural history element more memorable, small mammal traps were set beforehand, so that the children could see field voles and wood mice at close quarters.
Explorer Kits for Kids were created for visiting children, and a Wander, Wonder and Explore leaflet was produced to explain the management plan. A programme of science field work in the churchyard for year 8 was set up for Weobley High School, with a previous session for staff to enable them to use the churchyard as an educational resource.
Volunteers from the community were involved in various ways - in a headstones recording project, in the repair of the dry stone wall, in making and putting up bat boxes, controlling brambles, clearing and re-seeding a shady area of the churchyard with wild flower and grass seed and growing plants for this and adjacent spring and summer meadow areas.
The group also organised the replanting of a hedgerow, with much of the work done by adults with learning difficulties from a Social Services funded day centre called Marshfields in Leominster. With guidance from their project leader and from a tutor from Holme Lacy agricultural college, they prepared the site and planted 45 metres of mixed native species of shrubs. The Marshfields workers later attended the Churchyard Festival
The Weobley God’s Acre committee planned to continue working together in an informal way.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
