| | sara's diary |
| 4th September 07 | Visited site with Rosie Wooley from Glos Wildlife Trust. She thought there was great potential for both allotments and wildlife area. |
7 September | Attended Parish Council meeting to propose idea. PC was encouraging and very positive. Suggested a leaflet be circulated round the village to explain idea and gage interest and invite to a meeting |
27 September
| Visit to Glos Community allotments with Gabi Sommerville to meet Alison Ensor and discuss their project. Very informative and inspiring |
29 October | Meeting in village hall to gage interest. Twenty three people attended! All very interested in the idea of allotments, wild life area and community orchard. They also came up with other ideas. They filled in forms to show interests/skills and whether they would be part of focus group.
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14 November | Meeting with Roger Pettit – chair of PC – to discuss and ask some questions. Wrote to CDC to ask for confirmation that the land could be used for this purpose.
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23 November | Attended PC meeting to report on allotment meeting and discuss further. |
25 Nov | Meeting on site to look at land and discuss. Only a small number of people attended. Notice in Parish news to update residents on project. |
Jan08 | Email and message from CDC to confirm go ahead for project. |
Feb 2nd | Meeting on site to look at land and come up with ideas, followed by first focus group meeting. 15+ people attended the site meeting and 12 met at Jan and Witheal’s house to take the project forward. Roles were assigned – chair, secretary, treasurer, legal specialist, PR person, site manager etc. Action points agreed.
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Feb 3rd | Emailed John Birch at CDC to ask for length of time in writing, size of land, fees to be charged etc.
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| Feb 9th | Site meetin |
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| Area 49 | |
g with Alison Ensor from Glos Community Wildlife Trust. Mark, Freddie, Jenny, Fiona, Jan, Gabi, Matt, Sara attended the meeting and toured the site with Alison who listened to our ideas and gave advice on the best way to proceed sensitively and sustainably. Photos were taken by Gabi’s partner for a press release to the local paper. Alison agreed to be our consultant, produce a design for us and help us on work days. By taking on this role, she can us our project for an assignment for her diploma in Permaculture.
Feb 11th Spontaneous meeting on the site initiated by Matt and Gabi because of the lovely weather to start clearing brambles. Glen and Jo with Jacob and Jade, Gabi, Matt and Sara made pathways through the brambles using sheers, scythes, secateurs, a machette and loppers. Managed to join up some areas and make more accessible. Press release to Parish news
Feb 12th Gabi, Marj, Marjorie, Sara, Freddie met to cut more pathways. Marj and Marjorie cut a path through the brambles from their back gate and made us a cup of tea!
Gabi bid successfully for a ride on lawn mower on ebay which she will use to help cut paths! Gabi put a wanted message on freecycle for a number of things we need
Feb 21st Photo and article in Standard about project asking for support in form of sponsorship or equipment or labour.
Feb 22nd Gabi and Sara attended Parish Council meeting and discussed the Project. PC very supportive and agreed £1000 funding. Proposal to be sent to CDC for approval and to secure written agreement of lease.
Feb 23rd Work day to clear site. 27 people in total (including 5 children and two teenagers) visited/supported/worked at different times throughout the day. Brambles were cleared and tea, homemade biscuits and cakes consumed! Sheers, secateurs, loppers, scythes, machetes, brush cutters and a lawn mower were used to do the work and big piles made for burning. One of the apple tress was pruned to improve yield and accessability.
Feb 24th A small group worked to rake and burn the piles of brambles with advice from visiting fire man!
Feb 25th Meeting of Focus group at Tavern pub. Discussed aims of the project and ways forward. Six new people had heard about the meeting and joined us to find out more!
Feb 26th Travis Perkins contacted to say they would like to support us with equipment and labour.
27th Feb Gabi and Sara attended Kemble Garden Club meeting to update the group about our project. Stayed for talk on propagation by Jenny from Malmesbury Garden Centre.
Feb 29th David from Travis Perkins visited the site with Sara and Gabi to discuss what TP can do to help us. They can offer to clear some of the brambles with a small digger which would be a compromise between doing by hand and using a tractor. They may also be able to support us with some equipment.
March 1st Site meeting to plan and design with Alison. Seventeen of us attended, toured the site with maps, marking where trees are and jotting down ideas of where things might best go. After this, Alison led a smaller group in an exercise using a large outline of the area and post-it notes to make a design for the possible layout. Five of us plus dog went to the Tavern for lunch with Alison.
March 4th Gabi visited Malmesbury Garden Centre. David Butcher offered an expert to prune the fruit trees and to pass in our direction anything which becomes unsaleable, ie: split bags of compost, out of date seed, plants past their best for sale, etc. Any purchases from the shop will be discounted (not discussed further so no idea what %)
March 5th Martin Hutchins from CDC visited the site and talked with Gabi, Sara, Jan and Witheal about the possibility of getting permission to carry on clearing brambles before the birds start nest building in the brambles.
March 6th Alison Ensor sent her design plan/proposal to CDC
March 7th CDC agreed verbally that we could continue to clear brambles subject to a bird survey to make sure nest building had not started. Permission would be confirmed in writing.
March 7th Gabi arranged for Gareth – a bird expert - from Cotswold Water Park to spent an afternoon observing the site and he did this and submitted a detailed report of bird activity and other wildlife. It seems we would be safe to clear more brambles at the moment as the birds who nest in brambles are only displaying, not building yet.
March 10th Witheal was contacted by Prince Charles’ estate manager in answer to the letter Witheal had written on behalf of our group. HRH wants to support our project with a donation and may possibly be able to help in other ways!
March 12th Committee meeting – extra – to decide quickly about bank account as we have a donor!
March 30th Sara visited Malmesbury Garden Centre to collect potatoes for community patch – 3 bags donated free. Clearing brambles form community patch
March 31st Allotment committee meeting at Matt’s house. Seeds from Highgrove had arrived!
2nd April Committee met on site to mark out individual plots and visit by tree man organised by Gabi re fruit trees. He would charge £200 to remove one which is diseased and to prune the others. Decision deferred.
4th April Ray Hawes – a tree expert from the National Trust and colleague of Laura’s visited the site and met with Sara and Laura to inspect the woodland area and give advice on the trees. Ray had many helpful suggestions and has volunteered to return and lead a work session.
5th April Site clearing session 2.00pm – 5.00pm. Community plot area was cleared and meeting area expanded. Fires were lit to burn brambles, tea brewed and cake shared. Three new people turned up to help, wanting to commit some time to the project. Excellent progress was made.
7th April Witheal, Jan and Gabi went to Highgrove to pick up check donated by HRH. They had a tour of the garden with estate manager.
9th April Second load of manure arrived courtesy of Kemble Farm By laws meeting to draw up list of rules – first draft completed to be circulated
12 April Mulch bed session with Alison Ensor – 20 people attended and the first phase of community plot was established with potatoes and broad beans being planted.
28th April Site meeting with 2 CDC members to discuss plans and ways forward. Alison Ensor, Gabi Somerville, Sara Lawlor, Averil attended. A lease will be drawn up by CDC and a three year period granted initially
. Focus group meeting in village hall with first half hour for members of the public to ask questions and see plans.
4th April Ray Hawes from the National Trust visited the site to look at the woodland and advise.
5th April Further clearing of site by hand
10th April sub committee meeting to decide by laws for plot holders. Draft produced.
12th April Mulch sheet work day – set up community beds and planted potatoes and broad beans.
17th April Group met to measure out plots
28th April Committee meeting at Matt’s house
18th May Composting, comfrey and water harvesting workshop with Alison
22nd May 21 Kemble School children came to the site with Mrs. Pyeman the head teacher and set up their own plot 2mX2m sq. They used the mulch method on half the plot and digging on the other half to plant runner beans, courgettes, corn and strawberries.
7th June Community work session 1-3pm to create 2 new community beds using sheet mulch method, re cut pathways into orchard as they were over grown again and to put remaining fly tipped rubbish into skip.