Here is Jonathan’s message:
Greetings All,
There’ll be a volunteer session in Fairfield Orchard, Flora and Fauna this
Saturday, August 8th, commencing at a convivial 10.00am and finishing at
an equally welcome 1.00pm or thereabouts.
Please come along for all or some of that time if you are possibly able to
do so.
Activities you may well find yourself persuing include…
* Clearing up the remnants of the scythed grass around the Fauna stones.
* Cutting back vegetation around the benches along the Pads footpath,
protruding onto the Orchard grass paths and around the notice boards.
* Weeding the wildflower bed adjacent to the stump circle to remove
bramble and self seeded thorn.
* Continuing to clear the vegetation growing around the fruit trees.
* Checking out and trimming the Pads footpath to keep it clear.
* Running the mower along the edge of the Fauna path to keep it clear.
* Repairing the gap someone has made in the Pads / Orchard hedge.
* Trimming back encroaching bramble along the Fauna path.
* Putting the ‘Don’t pick too early’ signs on the apple trees.
And finally, if you’re the proud owner of a battery powered leaf vacuum
and have always fancied a go on the Tool Shed roof, so to speak, then this
is your big chance.
As you’ll doubtless be aware, the green roof of the Tool Shed lies
directly below a sycamore which is currently cascading seeds.
A stitch in time, or in a our case, a vacuum in time could save ourselves
a lot more work later along the line.
So if you’re willing to either lend the Association your leaf vacuum, or
better still, come and show off your cool skillz in person, we’d be
tremendously grateful.
And that would quite literally appear to be your lot for this time,
Best wishes,
Jonathan.
And here’s what we achieved:
The Saturday volunteering session saw 21 volunteers assemble on a warm and sunny morning.
• We cleared the remnants of the scythed grass around the Fauna stones in preparation for the wildflower plot to be dug out later this month.
• Vegetation around the benches in the Orchard and along the Pads footpath was strimmed back.
• Overhanging vegetation along the Orchard grass paths was cut back, along with that surrounding the south noticeboard.
• Fruit bushes overhanging the path were tied back.
• The wildflower bed adjacent to the stump circle was cleared of bramble and self seeding thorns.
• Vegetation surrounding fruit trees was cut back. In areas we cleared last time we strimmed and then mowed to continue the process of getting these areas back to grass.
• Overhanging vegetation was cleared from all along the Pads footpath.
• We ran the mower along the edges of the Fauna path to stop encroachment onto the path.
• The gap in the Pads / Orchard hedge was repaired with hazel withers.
• The ‘Don’t pick too early’ signs were tied to the apple trees.