Category: Working Parties

Having survived both the Christmas and New Year celebrations, the group returned refreshed and raring to start 2025, and to continue the good works it had undertaken in 2024. As it turned out the first task was to continue a job started in the summer of 2024, to clear the existing ditch that runs along…

The volunteer team met as usual on the second Tuesday of the month outside the tool store up by the café, on a wet and windy morning, ready for action! It had previously been agreed that we would remain flexible regarding tasks to be carried out at this time of year due to the weather,…

The Rangers had identified a buddleia bush for removal which is an invasive plant, not native to the UK. Half of the team headed to the eastern end of the park and was able to cut the bush back, although the root system (pictured below) requires special equipment due to its size. The same team was…

We were joined by the wonderful team from the Newbury Building Society for our working party this month. The weather was overcast with occasional light drizzle, but not enough to dampen our enthusiasm for a number of tasks. With the augmented numbers we had the opportunity to split into two groups, with one group (pictured…

The recent site review had identified an area requiring thinning to allow more light in and encourage ground based plants to thrive. The Rangers had already surveyed the area and marked trees and bushes which needed to be removed with a blue spray (which showed up really well despite the rather gloomy weather conditions). So…

As can be seen in the photo of the live hedge the weather for this month’s working party was a little menacing… We managed to tidy up the hedge a little before the rain fell heavily and then retreated to the Holly Blue for some shelter and well earned coffee and cake. The Flower Boxes…

For this Working Party the group was augmented by a fantastic small team from the Newbury Building Society. The weather was looking a bit threatening so we spent some time clearing a path then reverted to a common task of removing tree guards left behind from the planting phase of the park. It was great…

It didn’t feel much like June, it was overcast and cold but was significantly brightened up by Stacy Hart, our newly elected local councillor, who joined us for the morning. Below is the before picture…

Our May Working Party took place on a lovely sunny and warm day. The main task was to clear the ditch around the northern perimeter of the park to expose the chalky soil and open the bank up to sunlight. This makes a perfect habitat for solitary bees and our local blue butterflies. After all…