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Spelthorne Civic Pride Volunteers
The following information has been provided direct from the group. If you have any queries please contact Jill Stephens, Chairman on 01932 829460. E-mail:jill@computer_solutions.co.uk
Spelthorne Civic Pride Volunteers
Newsletter Spring 2004
Celebrating 15 years of volunteer help 1989 to 2004!
Who would have thought that when the local police asked Neighbourhood
Watch co-ordinators to help with a litter picking in 1989 that 15 years
on we would have achieved so much. What started as a one off event with
local Guide and Scout groups, blossomed into clearing footpaths, restoring
ponds and working with schools.
We could fill this whole newsletter with the list of groups, organisations,
businesses and the 1000s of individual volunteers who have worked so hard
and been so generous with their money and time & with the projects
that have been so successfully completed. But, we hope you will understand
if we just pick out some of the highlights.
The Millennium Wood is complete.
You have collected over 6000 bags of litter.
You planted a total of 981 trees and 5299 shrubs
Black Ditch Walk footpath is now a lovely walk.
You have helped on over 240 work days at 30 different sites and
donated 12,356 hours of your free time to help improve Spelthorne.
Laleham Pond has been restored from a damp patch into a thriving wildlife
area.
How did we fund all this work?
Our biggest thank you has to go to Spelthorne Borough Council. Since the
beginning they have given us an annual grant which has paid for all those
bread and butter items like refreshments and printing that it are impossible
to get business sponsorship for. We must also say an enormous thank you
to the staff at Knowle Green. In particular the Client Services Department
and Depot. Client Services have provided administrative support and most
importantly advice. Without this we would have floundered years ago. The
Depot collects and disposes of all the bags of litter you collect and
help us in many other ways - vital services that we couldn't do without.
The business community has contributed substantially to our success. Many
local and multi-national companies have supported us, but we want to single
out our longest running and biggest contributor BAA Heathrow. Without
their £5000 for Laleham Pond we would not have been able to restore
it and their annual help with our Spring Clean campaigns has meant we
have been able run competitions and litter picks.
However, without YOUR help no amount of money or support could have made
any of this happen. So it is to the ordinary volunteers that we address
our special and most sincere thanks. One of the joys of being associated
with Civic Pride since it began has been meeting and working with so many
caring and delightful residents.
We would like to thank you all, and to say that we look
forward to working with you again soon.
Community Project Round Up
Millennium Wood
We had a double celebration at the Wood in December. After four years
and 18 work days we finally planted the last trees and shrubs. All we
have to do now is sit back and wait for the wood to mature with a little
bit of TLC from you. It has already become an attractive site for wildlife.
Ann and Arthur James marked their 10th Birthday as Tree Wardens by planting
a lovely beech tree at the wood. The residents of Shepperton owe Ann and
Arthur a great debt for all the trees they have planted and cared for
over the last 10 years.
Next work day Sun 29th Feb 10am. Following the very dry summer last year
it is important that we lock in the winter rain by putting wood chips
round the trees.
Laleham Pond.
The big news since the last newsletter is that we got the grant we were
hoping for from Surrey County Council's North Surrey Landscape Conservation
Programme. This paid for bank work, a colour leaflet, a 5-year management
plan and a magnificent additional dipping platform. We are hoping that
these new facilities will encourage more schools to use this as an outside
classroom.
Projects like this never finish they just evolve - and with the new management
plan the pond should continue to improve. We are looking for a new Pond
Warden to help Beryl Shattock. Is there a Laleham resident who could help
by keeping an eye on the site? Please call me if you would like any further
details.
Next work day Sun 25th April 10am Open Day Sat 17th July 12-4
River Thames Litter Pick
Sunday 28th March.10am
For the fourth year we will be tidying up the towpath from Laleham to
Chertsey Bridge. If you could spare a morning please fill in the form
enclosed. We will be offering voluntary groups £2 for each bag of
litter collected.
Funky Footprints Nature Reserve
It is difficult to write about this project without resorting to the over
use of superlatives. Suffice it to say that all is going very well. We
planted 100 little hedge trees in December to add variety to the hedges.
Thanks to the English Nature Grant we added hedgehog hibernation boxes,
bat boxes and dozens of bird boxes. We had great fun assembling them but
no one had warned us that we needed an engineering degree to put them
together!
Design Award to Tarmac - We were very pleased that Spelthorne
Borough Council gave Tarmac a Commendation for their restoration of the
reserve after the gravel extraction.
The only bad news is the continued graffiti on the brick hide. It is unsightly
and the language is foul. It has got so bad that we rethinking having
the hide at all which is a great shame because the children will loose
a valuable resource. But if we can't stop this vandalism we may have no
choice.
We have organised a special Wildlife Day at the reserve for Saturday
24th July from 10am to 2pm. Lots of local enthusiasts will be
there to answer your questions about birds, dragonflies, insects, trees,
wildflowers and even local history. Did you know that Black Ditch Walk
was a path in Saxon times between Shepperton and Shepperton Green?
We have lots of work planned for 2004 - Sun 15th Feb and Sun 14th
March. We hope to complete the bridge sides, erect information
boards and add barley straw to the lake to stop algae growth this summer.
Black Ditch Walk Sun 25th April
Litter pick along the footpath to keep it clean and pleasant to walk.
Full details of our work days and a map are given in the enclosed Community
Project Programme.
Our Environment Awards
We are delighted to announce the winners of our Environment Awards for
2003. These two awards
are given annually to a group or individual who has made an outstanding
contribution to improving Spelthorne's environment.
The Junior Award will be presented to St Nicholas Church of England Primary
School in Shepperton for their work and support for the Funky Footprint
Nature Reserve.
The Senior Award most unusually goes to a non-Spelthorne resident. However,
David Pope's work as a Tree Warden within the Borough has been exceptional.
Both awards will be presented by our Mayor, Councillor Gerry Ceaser at
the beginning of the full Council meeting in April.
Make A Difference Day
For the third year running groups from all over Spelthorne helped to tidy
up our parks, streets and footpaths last October. They collected nearly
190 bags of litter and certainly "Made A Difference"! We would
like to thank them all for their hard work and for making our area better.
The groups who took part were:-
4th Ashford Guides 11 bags
5th Staines Guides 35 bags
Charlton Residents Assoc 14 bags
Church of Jesus Christ
of Later-day Saints 12 bags
Clarendon School 5 bags
Laleham Village Hall Committee 3 bags
RARA 11 bags
Shepperton Residents Assoc 8 bags
Spelthorne Tree Wardens 21 bags
St John’s Ambulance 4 bags
Staines Rotaract 9 bags
Stanwell Village Hall Committee 5 bags
Stanwell Youth Club 4 bags
As well as making our area look better these groups raised £364
to help with their running costs.
Tidy Headquarters Competition.
No youth clubs have ever entered this competition, but you are eligible
just as all Guide and Scout groups are. So why not enter your club and
you could win £150! See the entry form enclosed. Each group that
enters will receive a special certificate.
Bin Your Gum
If you were shopping in Staines over Christmas we hope you saw our caterpillar
posters asking everyone to put their chewing gum in the bin. This was
part of a joint initiative with Spelthorne Borough Council. They cleaned
the thousands of bits of gum from the precinct paving in December. Let’s
hope their efforts combined with the poster have an effect. I saw one
shopkeeper on her knees trying to scrape gum from their carpet. Why can't
the chewers put their sticky mess in the bin?
If you would like copies of this poster for your school, youth group or
business please contact us. This black & white reproduction really
doesn’t do it justice – you need to see the caterpillar in
it’s bright yellow and red!
£2 for a bag of litter.
Where else can your voluntary group get money for picking up litter? We
will lend you litter grabbers, gloves and bags for organised litter picks
during the whole of MARCH and APRIL this year. To register please send
in the enclosed form.
Bulb planting October 2003
Sponsored by BAA Heathrow
Despite this initiative being 9 years old, interest is increasing rather
than dwindling. A record 55 groups from every section of the community
planted over 22,000 daffodil and crocuses last autumn. We are extremely
grateful to BAA Heathrow and Groundwork Thames valley for their continued
support. I have added up the total number of bulbs that BAA has given
us, and you have planted since 1994, and it is a staggering 183,235! Our
sincere thanks to all 455 groups who have helped to make our streets,
parks and schools such a delight every spring.
This year's planters were:-
1st Staines Scout Group
2nd Laleham (Methodist) Guides
3rd Ashford Guides
4th Ashford Guides
4th St Mary’s Brownies
5th Staines Guides Paxmead
APEX Housing Grove Barns
APEX Housing Beechwood Court
APEX Housing Berryscroft Court
APEX Housing Elizabeth Court
APEX Housing St Martins Court
Ashford Park Primary School
Ashford Sports Club
Ashford Youth Club
Ashurst Drive Improvement Soc
Buckland County Infants
Charlton Village Residents Assoc
Chennestone Primary School
Christ Church Parochial Church Council
Clarendon Primary School
Crane Park Primary School
Echelford Primary School
Fairways Day Centre
Flowers-R-Us
Fordway School
Halliford Women’s Institute
Laleham Village Hall Committee
Leacroft Residents Assoc
Littleton Infant School
Manor Mead School
Manygate Lane Residents Assoc
Oast House Environmental Studies
Our Lady of the Rosary Primary School
Salvation Army
Saxon Primary School
Shepperton Horticultural Assoc
Spelthorne Junior School
Spelthorne Tree Wardens
Springtime Nursery School
St Andrew’s Baptist Church
St Mary Magdalene Old School
St Mary’s Church Fellowship
St Matthew’s Church
St Peter's Church
St Saviour’s Church Garden Helpers Group
Stanwell Moor Residents Assoc
Stanwell Women’s Institute
Thames Meadow Residents Assoc
Thames Valley Horticultural Soc
Town Farm Primary School
We are very grateful for your help.
As well as the thanks we have offered on the front page we would like
to add two more. BP Sunbury has been most generous in 2003 not only with
money but also with physical help from their staff at the Millennium Wood.
And we would also like to thank Russell Bull of RR Bull Garden Services.
He turned out Sunday after Sunday to transport equipment to and from work
sites.
Anti-Litter Poster Competition
Sponsored by BAA Heathrow.
A big thanks to all 1713 children who sent in drawings. I have had a sneak
preview and I can warn the judges that they will have a difficult job
choosing the winners from so many excellent entries. The winners will
be notified by the end of February, and look out for the new posters all
round Spelthorne in the spring.
To contact us or to be removed from our mailing list please contact Jill
Stephens, SCPV, 87 Briar Road, Shepperton, Middx, TW17 0JB,Tel 01932-829460
Mon-Thurs 9-4pm, email jill@computer-solutions.co.uk.