Chairman
Report June 2019 to June 2020
Firstly,
I would like to thank all the volunteers, without your help and support nothing
of what we achieve would be possible. SPECIAL thanks to Allan for his work as
chairman sadly Allan had to give up his role to focus on other things and with
no other candidate wishing to take up the role at this time I agreed to step in
,however this next year should I be re-elected
will be my last.
Also, many
thanks to Rosemary and Margret for their commitment and hard work and to the
ladies and gents who look after the café they do a brilliant job. The next part
I will keep as short as possible and go through the year on a month by month basis.
In June Allan stepped down as Chair ,
Yorkshire wildlife trust started repairs to the river bank and we started doing
some path upgrades , and we found out we had won a grant of £22130 from the restrict
big local the trailer that had been
purchased the previous month arrived on site. We had our first stall at the
Brighouse gala
July saw us make 60 bird boxes in kit
form and donate them to Old Earth School Elland and our volunteers took the to
the school and with the children’s parents put them together at the school.
Plans were ongoing for the viewing platform
and thanks to Tesco’s and Brighouse Ladies Circle for their kind donations of a
joint £7300 the platform was completed in November/ December
August
saw us with a
problem with the RBL grant we had previously put in for moneys to complete an
upgrade to a path from the William Henry school in Rastrick to the reserve ,with
us not wining the vote we were left with the remainder of £65000 which was not
enough to complete the proposed contract at £22300,as quotes were £33000 going
back to the RBl committee we asked if we could spend the money on the reserve
and this was granted .
We have
always wanted the reserve to be for all to this end we asked a group called
access for all to look at the reserve and recommend where we could improve
things for disabled individuals or groups, this they did and we received the
report with their recommendations , 2 of these were a disabled toilet and
upgrade the paths .
September saw changes in the committee with Rosemary
(treasurer) and Margret (grants) leaving created a large hole for us to fill,
and I would like to thank them both for their commitment and hard work.
My thanks
to Jeff Milne who agreed to fill the treasures role at short notice and was
duly elected on to the committee.
Some great
news was we had Barn Owls nesting on site, after being checked with the BTO representative
Steve Downing was found to be a female on 4 eggs 3 of which went on to fledge
October saw the handover of accounts from Rosemary
to Jeff.
After discussions
we decided to use the RBL grant money for upgrading the paths on the reserve which
considered with the access for all review, this was put to RBL and was granted
we could use the money for that project.
Prices were collected and preferred contractor
selected, time scale agreed which was November to mid-December.
Val and
Lynda were very studious and put together a stunning book on Cromwell called Thank
you for the days this is still available at £10 from the cabin when we reopen,
along with a second book on our Barn Owls also £10 from the cabin (not many left).
November It rained and rained and rained just as we had started to do the path
upgrades however this did not deter our contractor and paths from the bailey
bridge to the bird feeding area was
first , the bund path between the lagoon and wet woodland was next we were
hoping to make this a wheelchair accessible
path but trees and unstable ground made it impossible however it
did make a fine path and a lot safer.
December it was still raining work continued
on the paths the top
Medlow path
was scraped and cleaned and the only path outside the reserve was started up to
the railway line ,this was knee deep in mud in places and with Old Earth School
children using this path it was decided to upgrade it this was completed by mid-December
and it was still raining , some of the
paths will need looking at again in the summer when properly dry.
On one of
the weekends we donated all our takings from the Café to Overgate Hospice in
memory of Sally Henshaw this is something we like to do is give back something to
others at least once a year.
January still raining, we put in for a grant
for a new disabled toilet and were pleased to find we had been successful, this
has now been purchased and is on site awaiting fitting….
Work continued
on North Loop doing the stock fencing this is for an ESIF GRANT that was won by
Calderdale MBC, and will allow us to graze cattle from August onward, which is
a much gentler way of looking after the meadows.
February to
June covid 19 took its tole and we have had to make the decision to hold everything
until such times as we can get back safely .
Keep safe
and we hope to see you all back soon .
Yours Graham
Haigh chair
