Winter Newsletter 2011
WINTER NEWSLETTER 2011
AGM An early notice that our AGM next year will be held on Thursday 15th March 2012. It will be held at the Harlow Community Centre (Green Hut) at 7.30pm. Further notices will be sent out nearer the time.
Our speaker for the night will be the Deer Society. They will be doing a talk on the general species of deer in the UK and then focusing on Roe Deer. They will also cover the issues of poaching which is considerable in the North Yorkshire area.
We still need more Committee Members so if anyone is interested in joining us please contact me. Nomination forms will be sent out before the AGM.
All welcome so please come along & support us!
Irongate Field We have not moved forward on this project at this time. We have been concentrating on all the recent planning issues so have just put this to the side for now. We would hope to pick this up again next year.
Balsam Bashing We did hold a balsam bash on the 16th July but apart from 2 of us no one turned up!
We have been thinking of some ideas of how to tackle this next year which would involve people doing it in their own time rather than on organised days as we do not get people to turn up.
Bat & Bird Boxes These have been cleaned out again recently and we have a good uptake of the boxes by both the bats and birds. Some of the bat boxes are more popular than others and we may move some as they are not being used. The bird boxes are well populated and most had nests in. Some have got broken and need replacing and some have squirrel damage so a bit of maintenance work is needed.
Members Meetings We have not held a Members Meeting in November as we would usually and we have discussed in Committee Meetings the viability of holding these meetings in future. As meeting attendance by members has historically been poor we would like to try to understand the reasons for this. Possible reasons include wrong day (Friday), wrong time (7.30pm) or possibly the speakers we are choosing are not of interest. It is also possible that members do not feel the need to meet as a group and that other than meetings with a very specific purpose (e.g AGM) we should not feel the need to organise members meetings. These meetings cost us money for the hire of the Green Hut, printing out minutes, agenda etc not to mention time in planning the meeting so it is a little disheartening when people do not come. Please, please can people let me know what they think so we can plan for next year
RHS We put in our objection to the planning permission for the new Harlow Carr car park. As everyone knows RHS obtained permission for the car park and for the footpath through the Pinewoods.
As some members will be aware we held a meeting with Harlow Carr to discuss the route of the footpath through the woods so that the only trees that will be affected are some of the self-seeded saplings and no mature trees would need to be removed. We are trying to work amicably with the RHS to do what we can to reduce the impact of this on the woods.
We were also asked to go to attend a meeting with them at the beginning of October where they announced that they wanted to lease the bottom area of the Pinewoods. The area they wished to lease from the council is up to level with the top of the North car park. This news came as a bit of a bombshell! As you all know we have asked for Members opinions on this and a number of Members felt strongly enough to write direct to the council, RHS and the local press (who have provided excellent coverage on the issue over the last few weeks). The majority of members are very strongly objecting to the lease and many of you have kindly forwarded to me a copy of your letter so the committee is aware of your views. We now need to ensure the matter is not dropped and that we continue to actively oppose this and keep it at the forefront of the public’s attention. We have written back to the RHS and are currently are awaiting their response. Once we have this we will be continuing to take the matter forward and we will of course keep you all updated on this as things develop.
Committee In order to strengthen the committee during this difficult time it was suggested that we invite Peter Blaney back onto the Committee. This suggestion was put to a vote and the majority voted in favour of the suggestion and we welcome Peter to the committee with immediate effect. Many of you will remember that Peter served on the Committee previously and he will now remain on the Committee until the AGM or such a time as we feel is right.
Open Day Our Open Day was on the 17th September 2011 and despite the weather, we had a very good turn out. This is despite having lots of rain and the tree climbing and the bouncy castle being late cancellations. A big thank you to everyone who turned out and braved the weather as it was a good day. The birds of prey proved to be a big attraction again and the flying display was excellent.
Work Days Over the year we have had Open Country in the woods a few times to carry out work for us. They have done some balsam bashing and have also made a very good job of clearing the rhododendrons at the top of the recreation area, which the Council contractors had previously made a poor job of. We are trying to get this area cleared so that it is more open and we can hopefully discourage people going in there and drinking and leaving lots of litter in that area and on the recreation area. Unfortunately the tree planting we did in there was not a success and most of the trees have completely vanished.
We would like to wish all our Members a very Happy Christmas and would like to thank you for your support throughout the year and look forward to your continued support next year.
END
We can only get the text version of our Newsletter on the website but we do have a prettier version! Please email me if you would liketo see our proper verion of the Newsletter and it can be emailed to you ; secretary@harrogatepinewoodsgroup.org.
