With the generous help of Trowbridge in Bloom, BTCV and the Amber Foundation we now have a superb new notice board in Biss Meadows. Read more and see a photo here.....
The Committee is using a simplified Habitat Management Action Plan to guide the work undertaken by the Working Parties. It can be used by other groups undertaking work in Biss Meadows as well. The simplified Action Plan was produced by Steve Good and clearly shows the different tasks by month by suggested group. It is based on a more comprehensive plan produced in 2009 by the Wiltshire Wildlife Trust. All these plans can be seen and down-loaded on the Nature Page (see list on right hand side).
We have been successful in being selected to participate in the Virgin Media for Employee Volunteering Support scheme. Each member of staff is allowed 1 day a year to support community projects and it's up to the staff which projects they support. So we could use their help on for support tasks like PR and membership recruitment or help in Biss Meadows on countryside management, erecting notice our board, restoring the bench and help with constructing the Nature Trail. Many thanks for Virgin Media for their support.
Steve Good, our treasurer, was interviewed on BBC Radio Wiltshire about Biss Meadows and the Friends. Those of us up early enough on a Saturday morning, reported that Steve gave an excellent interview about Biss Meadows, the Group and its aims and just managed to mention the imminent Saturday Working Party before his time slot was up. Sorry, but the online iPlayer version has now been deleted after 7 days.
Back in October we submitted a Planning Application to Wiltshire Council in respect of our Pond Project restoration and to the Environment Agency for Flood Plain Consent. We have now received both consents. Planning requires just the need to agree some of the details with the Countryside and Rights of Way Department before construction and to ensure any protect species are not disturbed. The Environment Agency require steps are taken to avoid pollution when constructing.
All we need now is approval from the Big Lottery / Community Spaces Application for the £50,000 grant we have requested. We expect to hear at the end of January, but maybe end of February, if we have been successful. Read more about the project here.
Happy New Year to all Friends!
During 2012 we shall be having a mix of Saturday and Sunday working parties. Saturday will be from 2-4 pm and Sunday as now from 10 am to noon. Each month the Working Party will be on the 2nd Saturday or 2nd Sunday as applicable. The first working party is Saturday 14 January at 2pm. We hope that this arrangement will be convenient to a wider range of Friends.
*excepting April when we meet on the 3rd Sunday to avoid Easter.
Virgin Media based in Trowbridge are seeking ideas from community groups who could make use of their company-wide employee volunteering scheme. 528 hours of volunteering have been allocated for 2012. We have submitted an application for help with marketing, including membership recruitment and fund raising, as well as project management for the Nature Trail.
Good news! We have heard now that our request for help will be circulated to staff.
The home page now has a website Search facility (over on the right hand side below the map). Type in a search word or words and hit return. For more hints see here.
Those pesky ash trees are back but undaunted we attacked again. Read more and see the photos
After reading that the Green Insurance Company was offering £2,000 grants to community groups, at short notice we submitted an application including a 4 minute video to fund our Nature Trail Project. Read more about the project and see the video here.
Sad news. We were unsuccessful. Nevertheless, we can use the material to help with another grant.
Our application for a free Woodland Trust community tree pack has been successful. We will get them at the end of January. The 105 trees are suitable for short hedge or small copses and they have a Wild Harvest theme - jams, jellies, chutneys and cordials.
These free trees are among 6 million to be planted with the help of the Woodland Trust during Queen Elizabeth's Diamond Jubilee year. In February, go online to see how our planting contributes to an ambitious nationwide challenge to plant 1 million trees in just 29 days.
Now, where shall we put them?
After a year's hard work, today we submitted our Big Lottery / Community Spaces Application for a £50,000 grant to restore the pond area. We expect to hear at the end of January if we have been successful. Read more about the project here.
Fire! Fire! We now need to burn our cuttings so we appointed some fire marshals and ... read more and see the photos, including the other valuable work that was done.
Pupils from Paxcroft School have been helping our Pond Project by undertaking a multi-disciplinary project on the subject of Biss Meadows. It included surveys and a visit to Biss Meadows. Read more here and see some photos.
Lots of fun making bug houses, habitat piles and bird feeders. Read more and see the photos here.
Today we submitted a Planning Application to Wiltshire Council and a Flood Plain Consent Application to the Environment Agency. Please go to the Planning website and give your support to this major project of the friends. We are soon to send in our Community Space Grant application for £50,000.. Read more here about the project.
Click here to see photos of what we did.
A walk led by local enthusiast Geoff Birrell to discover bats. See the pictures here.
Jacky and Alan visited Trowbridge Oaks to support their nature theme week. Read more here.
Today we were presented with 2 awards: a RHS Its Your Neighbourhood Award 2011 and a Trowbridge Town Council Service to the Community 2010 - 2011 award. Click on the links to see the certificates. Our many thanks to these two bodies and to Trowbridge in Bloom for recognising the work the Friends do in Biss Meadows.
Hurricane Katia missed Trowbridge and the sun shone brightly. Click here to see what we did.
Great news! We have secured a £7,000 grant from Community First to pay for professional services for the pond project. This will be used to employ a landscape architect, undertake a site survey and various fees. We are very grateful to Community First for this award and to Wiltshire Council Rights of Way and Countryside department for a third party contribution of almost £900. Read more here.
Senior Management from Wiltshire Council visited Biss Meadows today and met with a Friends' Committee Member. Read more here.
We may have been a bit short on numbers due to holidays, but this did not dampen our enthusiasms and vigor. Click here to see what we did.
The new logo designed by Jill Hillman is now on the web site, both on the Welcome page and made into a banner at the top of every page. It brings a new fresh look to the web site and Jill deservedly won the Logo Competition. Jill received her prize at the recently Nature Discovery Day.
Thanks to John Sansom's photos from the U3A Photo Shoot and the Bank Holiday Bug Hunt, we now have over 600 photos in the Biss Meadows flickr pool. You can see them in on the Gallery page. Why not join flickr and upload your photos of Biss Meadows? Full instructions can be found here.
This was an opportunity to get ourselves known in the community. Text and photos here.
A fun packed afternoon of discovery and creativity. We have 3 pages with news of the afternoons's events:
Local moth expert Roger Beckett led a moth trapping session at Biss Meadows Country Park commencing 9pm and lasting for 2-3 hours. Specimens were available for viewing the next day at our Nature Discovery Day (see above), after which they were released into the woods. Our thanks for Roger for leading our first Moth Hunt. We hope to have some photos soon. Read about the Moth Hunt here. A list of the moths spotted can be found in the Nature section under Moths
A good turnout today with regulars, new faces and a return of absent friends. See the good work they did on this page.
Wimpey developed the Old Farm Estate off West Aston Road. As part of a Section 106 agreement the land behind the estate has been transferred to Wiltshire Council. Read more and see some photos here.
As stated on the Councils web page "The Wiltshire Core Strategy Consultation Document sets out how Wiltshire will provide the new jobs required by our economy and the new homes for our growing and aging population whilst protecting Wiltshire’s natural environment and strengthening our communities."
There are proposals for over 2,500 houses, a secondary school and employment areas between the current Biss Meadows County Park and the A350 at Yarnbrook to the West Aston Road traffic lights. This brings opportunities and risks for the Biss Meadows County Park and for the Friends. You can discuss this on the Friends Forum in the "Wiltshire Core Strategy" section.
Comments to the document are requested by 5pm on Monday 8 August, 2011. Such comments will be used to develop the draft core strategy, which will be produced later this year and, subject to Council approval and a final stage of consultation, will be submitted to the Secretary of State for an ‘examination in public’ early next year.
The Committee discussed a proposed response to the Core Strategy and agreed with amendments its submission.
We now have our first Leisure article and it's about how Biss Meadows inspires a local artist.
Jill Hillman tells us how the changing landscape of Biss Meadows inspires her to capture its beauty in paintings. Click here to read her article and see some examples of her work.
Why not write your own article as to how you enjoy Biss Meadows. See our Leisure page for topics. There is quite a range to choose from including walking, dog walking, and bird watching. And we can always create some new topics. Send your contribution to the webmaster via the Contact page - you will need to use the email links and not the web form to send any attachments.
A small and loyal band of members turned out today despite the awful weather. See the good work they did on this page.
University of the 3rd Age (U3A) members made a visit to Biss Meadows to take photographs. See what they found on this page.
Martin Askey, a member of the Friends and until recently also a committee member, sadly died last week. Today committee members attended a Thanksgiving Service for his life. Read more about Martin's love of trees, fungi and Biss Meadows.
A group of about 8 from the Community Payback undertook some serious clearance work on the bank of the river by the Tesco car park. See the results here.
Thanks to newcomer Jenny Bartlett uploading her swan photos, we now have over 500 photos in the Biss Meadows flickr pool. You can see them in on the Gallery page. Why not join flickr and upload your photos of Biss Meadows? Full instructions can be found here.
Despite the rain, children had great day in Biss Meadows Country Park with some nature inspired fun. A gazebo provided a dry area for children to make nature inspired art before heading off to find the creepy crawlies that lurk in Biss Meadows. Click here to read more and see the photos.
Many new volunteers joined us today on a pleasant sunny day for a wide variety of conservation task.Click here to read more and see the photos.
The Youth Offending Team have done excellent work on clearing the lagoon. Click here to read more and see photos of the results.
Wiltshire Council organised a community event to welcome the new residents of South View Park and we were there. Read more here.
Children had great day in Biss Meadows Country Park with some nature inspired fun. Events throughout the day included pond dipping, bird walks, nature trail, things to make and take home, wild flower seeds, and more. Adults too had the chance to see displays about our plans for Biss Meadows Country Park. Click here to read more and see the photos.
Next Saturday we're having a Go Wild! Day, so a good clean up was needed - cue litter picking! But we did other tasks as well. Read more and see the photos here.
Why not come to our next Working Party on Sunday 8th May. Come and stay for as long as you can. Bring stout footware and gloves. Equipment is provided. A warm welcome awaits.
The concept designs produced by our two landscape architects are now online and there is an opportunity to give us your feedback. Click for a full outline of the Stage 2 Community Spaces Grant Application, the concept designs and the feedback form.
Our AGM was an opportunity for our members to view the ideas and hear about our many plans for the Biss Meadows Country Park including the Pond Area restoration and the proposed Nature Trail. Read the chair's invite letter here. Read more and see some photos here.
The Friends of Biss Meadows Country Park is seeking donations to support our administration and working party costs and our projects. In particular we will soon launch a fund raising programme to build the Nature Trail. If you can provide a financial donation to help us maintain and enhance Biss Meadows then please visit our Donation page. There are a variety of ways to donate including online with debit or credit card.
The Trowbridge Civic Society kindly printed an article by the webmaster about Biss Meadows in their Spring 2011 Newsletter. What's more, the front page had a large colour photo of a winter scene across the scrape. Many thanks to John Austin, one of the editors, for giving us an opportunity to make ourselves known. The previous Newsletter had an article about the nearby Green Wood.
Expert John Austin led a walk on the birds of Biss Meadows . There was a good turnout, with many families, and lots of different species were spotted. Read more and see the photos here.
Next week end we're having a guide tour by expert John Austin on the birds of Biss Meadows (see our event page). So we wanted it to look good - cue clear up! Read more and see the photos here.
Our application for £50,000 to restore the pond area has reached Stage 1 approval. We now need to submit our Stage 2 detailed proposals by 14 June 2011. Click to read about the next stage.
On the advice of Lindsay (the botanist) we focused on the area near the big Ash Tree. The cannot be access by machinery so it didn't receive a haycut. Without regularly cutting then scrub and trees will take over and meadow flowers and the wildlife they attract will be lost. Photos are here.
