Progress report

We have made the following progress so far:

  • We have 9 regular members on the steering group, the
    youngest of which is 8 years old.
  • We have had 4 meetings to date, which are generally 2
    hours long and have actively planned the volunteer days,
    next actions and potential plans for the future.
  • We have a recording system in place to record details of
    people involved
  • We have had 16 volunteer days, generally running from
    10am-3pm, sometimes up to 4.30pm
  • We have had 3 further planned, which were cancelled
    due bad weather.
  • To date we have had 25 people involved and 398
    volunteer hours spent on the project. Volunteers have come from the Time bank and also via networking locally.

The team is currently planning:

  • The common area
  • Main path
  • The composting toilet
  • Other paths to designated spaces.
  • All the volunteer days and special events for 2015.
  • Promoting the project
  • Training

Rubbish

Rubbish cleared in most key areas i.e. at entrance and main paths. This has filled one large and two smaller skips in total. There is a lot of buried rubbish which has
accumulated over 13 years including waste from the adjoining allotments, building/household rubbish including white goods and mattresses, clothes, glass,
metals, car bits, plastics, old sports equipment and wire fences. This has involved wheel barrowing any rubbish from the playing field side of the site to the skips approx.
80 metres away. The asbestos is being bagged and is now ready for safe removal.

allotment clearing-min  wheelbarrowrubbish  IMG_3592-min

the gate

We have erected a gate and fence at the boundary with the allotment site. This not only provides additional security but also gives us a proper entrance to the site where we will be erecting a notice board in February.

gate  gate progress

The fire pit

Fire pit – we have built a makeshift fire pit with a BBQ top. This has been used to make refreshments, lunchesand is the central point of volunteer days. And to keep warm! It was used to cook marshmallows on November 8th.

fire

The sculpture

We have built a sculpture using the recycled rubbish which is being added to by volunteers when they find something of interest

sculpture1 copy  sculpture3

The wishing tree

We have set up a wish tree so that people can have a say in what they would like on the site.

wishtree copy  wishes2 copy   funderswish copy

the shed

This involved clearing a large bramble area, flattening the site, laying down sand, putting down breezeblocks and erecting the metal shed. The heavy materials for the
shed had to be wheel barrowed from the car park of the cricket ground approx. 500metres away across grass. Equipment can now be left and stored on site.

shedstart  shedprogress2  shedbuild copy  newshed