Work parties take place every Sunday, usually on Bedelands, between 10 am – 2 pm, meeting at the small shipping container between Big Field & Furze Common Field. Stay as long or as little as you like. Any volunteers under 18 must be accompanied by a parent or suitable relation. This year (2022) Christmas Day falls on a Sunday, so there will be no work party then. Winter tasks may include tree planting, path lining, ditch clearing, hedge laying, removal of saplings encroaching on the meadows, while spring, summer & autumn are largely taken up by cutting back brambles, bracken & other vegetation from the footpaths & meadow verges.
We also hold a couple of winter sessions on other sites, namely clearing sprouting willow & other vegetation from the pond island on Hammonds Ridge Meadows, also similar work at a site off Sussex Way.
Volunteers are covered by our insurance policy against personal accidents if sustained during these various tasks. Those who wish to volunteer on a regular basis can be added to a confidential email & WhatsApp list so they can be notified about each work party during the week before.
Today (18 November) Woodlands Meed sent a party of 28 children as part of their environment week studies to find out what we do to help the wildlife on Bedelands and why protection is so important. There were 2 groups who alternated between tasks of lining the paths through Big Wood and litter picking. They worked all morning and the path lining seemed to race ahead so it was difficult to keep pace with them. It’s made a huge difference to showing where the paths lie so that visitors follow them and don’t unwittingly trample the bluebell areas.
They finished the morning with a much needed and deserved picnic in the woods.
Thank you Woodlands Meed from all of us.
Even the dog got special headgear as it was Children in Need Day!
