At the Elmsett Greenlife Grove Scheme AGM on June 30th, the following indicated a willingness to belong to the Steering Group: Sue Mackie, Margaret Nelson, Maria O’Donnell, Jackie Parkinson, James Seeley, Alison Grant, Blanche Seager, Liam Glennan, Diane Diss, James Hitchcock and Sue Gull, who will take over the treasurer’s role from Celia Wright. Since the AGM, Hilary Furlong has joined the group.
Margaret (as Chair) reported on the scheme’s progress over the last year, saying that our success in getting the scheme going took some by surprise. She thanked those who’ve made it possible to get this far: Sue Mackie MBE, for her hard work as EGGS Secretary; Grenville Clark from the Green Light Trust, for his advice, support and encouragement; Paul Marshall and the children and staff of Elmsett School for their enthusiastic involvement; Celia Wright, for keeping the books - we’re sorry to lose her; James Hitchcock, for the bridge and notice boards; Babergh District Council, in the form of Peter Berry, for a grant to pay for the latter; all the active members of the group, for their practical help and involvement; Gary Battell from the County Council and Mark Nowers from the RSPB, for their advice and support.
Some local people have made gifts of money or trees, and we’re hoping that more will follow. We’re providing certificates to mark their generosity.
Keith Young from Partridges in Hadleigh has said that they’re willing to give us a discount on any tools we might need, so we hope to provide them with a list soon.
The Steering Group will elect its officers for the coming year at its next meeting in September. Margaret won’t stand for re-election as Chair, so this vacancy must be filled.
Alison Grant reported on the school’s involvement with the scheme. The tree nursery has been filled, emptied and filled again ready for this year’s planting. The children have been learning about trees. In September, younger children collected seeds from the hedges around the wood to sow in the nursery. The older children were eager to use tree nursery stock to begin the school plot. Grenville Clarke led these sessions and presented certificates to children who’d attended the village planting. We thank the PTA for buying a tree for each member of staff and child. The school has been busy building nesting boxes, looking at water conservation, and developing the gardening club. Hopefully, there’ll soon be water butts to irrigate the nursery, bought with a grant from the Recycling Fund. Grenville came to the school again in May to work with Year 5 and 6 children on tree identification, check the trees planted last November and fill the tree nursery, aided by Blanche, Jackie and Hilary from EGGS. The school is grateful to Grenville and Margaret for their input into the school project; the children have gained a great deal.
On 3rd September, members of the Steering Group, Grenville Clark and Duncan McLennan from the Village Hall Management Committee met Peter Tilley, Suffolk County Council Access Development Officer, who gave advice about how we might provide access to the wood for disabled people, as we’re obliged to by the Disability Discrimination Act. At a subsequent meeting, a majority of the Steering Group voted to ask Suffolk County Council to upgrade the public footpath and investigate the possibility of a parking space for two cars at the end nearest the school.
The next working session at Buckle’s Wood will be in September. Please look out for notices nearer the time. The working session on 24th June was poorly attended, so we hope more people will turn out next time.
Thank you John Jewers of Ashbro Feeds for providing the FREE mulching material for our next working party session (Saturday 31st March) and James Seeley, who brought it back to Elmsett
Mix it all together with an enthusiastic, hardworking group of green volunteers.
Last year, with help from a lot of willing volunteers, we raked and heaped up grass from about 3 acres of the field, planted and mulched over 1500 trees and shrubs and managed to select good weather for our working party days! So, thank you everyone for helping to make last year such an enjoyable success.
We would like to thank Bob Dewes and the crew of the Sea King search and rescue helicopter, who, with special authorisation from Elmsett and Wattisham airfields hovered over our village, to take some great 'photos of our newly planted community woodland.
Another gorgeous day for our working party. 
Our next tree planting session will be on 
Maybe this is the sort of thing Sue meant?
On a lovely warm Saturday morning, starting at 10.00 o'clock, about 60 adults and children raked, wheelbarrowed and heaped the hay into big piles. We were sustained by delicious refreshments, supplied by Blanche, Jackie, Diane, Lorna and Alison and were finished by early afternoon.
We need to prepare the field for our next tree planting session in November, so Russell Goodchild mowed the grass on Monday 9th October, watched by excited members of the playgroup.
There was a disappointing turnout for the working session yesterday. Anyway, thanks to those who came to rake and mulch. Those who didn't come missed some excellent cakes - thanks to the cake-bakers!
Bumblebees are in decline. A new organisation has been set up to try to save them - the Bumblebee Conservation Trust. Some bumblebees might find suitable food plants in the hedges around Buckle's Wood, but since Elmsett's full of nature lovers (judging from the number that turned out on planting day), maybe we can provide more for the bees in our gardens? Traditional native plants like bluebells, rosemary, geraniums and honeysuckle are all good for them, but there are more suggestion's on the BCT's site.
The Green Light Trust, in partnership with Suffolk County Council, is organising two events where you can learn more about owning and managing a community woodland. On Wednesday 21st they'll be at Moreton Hall Community Centre, near Bury St Edmunds, and on 22nd June they'll be at Debenham Community Centre. Both are from 6 to 8pm, beginning with a presentation and ending with a visit to the local community woodland. RSVPs by 16th June. If anyone would like to see what other groups are doing (especially what Moreton Hall woodlanders have done for disabled visitors), please let us know.
Babergh District Council has awarded EGGS a grant to pay for the costs of the bridge (built by James Hitchcock) that leads from Village Hall land to Buckle's Wood across a ditch, thanks to Babergh's Countryside Officer, Peter Berry. The grant includes the cost of the temporary notice board (also made by JH).
I had a stroll around Buckle's Wood this morning.
All the rain we've had lately might have interfered with your half term holiday, but it's been good for our young trees. They've thrived in the wet weather. Let's hope the summer is sunnier, but not too dry.
We've collected more tree seedlings at the school's tree nursery. Thank you to everyone who brought plants they'd rescued from their gardens. As one donor said, “it's good to know they'll be taken care of and allowed to grow, instead of just being thrown on the rubbish pile”.
We won’t be providing dog mess bins at Buckle’s Wood. There are already bins on the meadow, by the road. No one will empty bins by the wood. Many walk their dogs along the footpath by the wood and there is evidence that some allow their dogs to relieve themselves there, without clearing up after them. Please bear in mind that this whole area is open to the public and the school will increasingly use it as an educational resource. Please clear up after your dogs! Recently, a team of volunteer litter-pickers discovered that dog-walkers had picked up their dog’s mess in plastic bags and then thrown the bags of mess into hedges or onto verges. What did they imagine would happen to it there? Only a small minority of local dog owners behave in this anti-social way. It’s disgusting – please don’t do it.
Local RSPB Warden Mark Nowers reports on a walk around Buckle's Wood.
This was Elmsett School's tree nursery last year, since when the children have nurtured the seedlings and most have been planted in Buckle's Wood. That means that there's room in the nursery for more tree seedlings donated by villagers - or anyone else, we're not fussy about where they come from!
There'll be a Design a Woodland session in Elmsett & Aldham Village Hall on Saturday next, 3rd September, starting at 10 am. If you can’t come but would like to contribute your ideas, please click on this map, save it, print it A4 size, add your suggestions, and return it to Sue Mackie before Saturday.
On the afternoon of 16th June, our community woodland scheme was formally launched at a tree-planting in the grounds of Elmsett School. It was attended by staff, parents and children from the school, and villagers and visitors.
