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A group of keen walkers and community minded individuals in Bridgnorth approached Outdoor Partnerships with a view to setting up a new P3 group to help improve the network in and around the parish. Bridgnorth is already a great place for walking with lots of paths benefiting from a project to replace stiles with gates a few years ago. Paths however still need maintenance particularly in the summer months where vegetation takes over. The first workday took place on the 3rd of October, supported by Helen Beresford, to do path clearance and installation of a kissing gate to overcome an obstruction. The day was very productive and the group of five worked hard to complete all the tasks. The group are planning another workday soon and are establishing priorities to focus their efforts on. Below is a picture of the almost completed kissing gate.
 For more infroamtion on forming a P3 group or joining one or for more information email Helen Beresford, call on 01743 255957 or see our webpage
For more infroamtion on forming a P3 group or joining one or for more information email Helen Beresford, call on 01743 2559 or see our webpage
The Long Mynd Bridleways Association are both an active
riding and volunteer group that cover a wide area of the Shropshire Hills.
Earlier this year they were successful in gaining a £2000 grant from the
Stiperstones and Corndon Landscape Partnership Scheme. A significant part of
the funding was to be spent on “ improving bridleways now”. The group
approached Shropshire Council which already supports the P3 group to provide 3
training days, which would also help achieve some improvements to the riding
network. On each occasion 2 officers from Shropshire Council have offered the
training, provided tools and materials.
The first session was to improve gates on a Ride UK circuit
near Gatten. 12 volunteers attended, gates were improved by fitting D loops and
latches. This makes opening easier from a horse as the latches are near the top
of the gate, bolts sticking out from the field gates were removed as they can
cause great injury to a passing horse. A 12 foot field gate was also rehung
following the digging in of new posts. We will follow this up with further gate
work with the P3 group especially fitting different types of gate handles and
also installing self closing 5ft bridleway gates.
The second session related to clearing overgrown paths, a
difficult route was selected for working on near Nipstone Rock Nature reserve.
The path was becoming increasingly restricted because of side growth of
brambles, gorse and tree branches. A number of ladies who had already received
brushcutter training had the chance to gain more experience clearing along a
mile stretch. There was also the chance to use petrol hedgecutters and also
hand tools such as loppers and bow saws.
The final session was to deal with drainage issues.
Bridleways around Lower Vessons, south of Habberley, were selected for some
improvements.
Most of the earth moving was done by a mini digger
operated by Shropshire Council staff but volunteers could talk through methods
and gain a good appreciation of what needs be done. A difficult point next to a
cattle grid and a gateway near a stream were improved.
This training has certainly enthused many from the P3 group
to have the confidence to tackle more different types of work. Shropshire
Council also look forward to providing further assistance in maintaining and
improving riding routes in the beautiful Shropshire Hills.
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Outdoor Partnerships would like to welcome Lee Fraser who joined the team in August as our new Volunteer Ranger Coordinator. Lee's role is to support the existing volunteer rangers across all our sites and to form new groups from communities around sites which don't currently benefit from a volunteer group. Lee has extensive knowledge of working with volunteers and conutryside management from his time working at Wren's Nest Natural Nature Reserve in Dudley. If you are interested in getting involved with volunteering on any sites in your area please contact Lee on 01743 255956 or email lee.fraser@shropshire.gov.uk.
In the area surrounding Bridgnorth we have four different
volunteer groups helping us to keep our nature reserves and country parks in
good order. Here is an update on some of the things they have achieved
recently.
 Severn Valley Country Park
The excellent work of Severn Valley Country
Park Supporter’s Group has been recognised by a national award. The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service is the highest award given
to volunteer groups across the UK. It is given to recognise outstanding work done
by local volunteer groups in their own communities.
The award committee noted the ‘continued
reclamation of a colliery site to create a country park and wildlife
sanctuary’. Work to reclaim the site began in 1986, with the official opening
in 1992. Some of our volunteer team have been volunteering since that time.
The award was presented to the chairman of the
group, Don Bannister, by the Lord Lieutenant of Shropshire, Sir Algernon
Heber-Percy. 60 of our volunteers (and their partners) attended the presentation
during which a champagne toast was made to the Queen.
The volunteers deserve huge
congratulations for this well-deserved award. Their constant dedication to the
park is what makes it such a beautiful place to visit.
To find out the latest from Severn Valley Country Park visit their Facebook page.
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 Our volunteers have been working hard on not
only Severn Valley Country Park but also supporting volunteers at our other
sites.
The Thursday Group have carried out hedge cutting at Birch
Meadow Park in Broseley, footpath maintenance and step building at New England
near Highley, trimming back paths and carrying out green hay strewing at
Stanmore in Bridgnorth and Station Road in Highley and worked alongside the
volunteers at Albrighton once a month.
Our Tuesday Group have been working
mainly on Severn Valley Country Park and have been preparing the park for the
visit of the Lord Lieutenant with their
Royal Award. Additionally they have carried out preparatory work for the installation of a new pond
dipping platform and our education volunteers have helped run our busy
programme of summer holiday activities for the children.
We are unable to take anymore new volunteers on a Tuesday
but we would very much welcome new members to join our Thursday group. The
Thursday group will meet mostly at Severn Valley Country Park at Alveley but
will from time to time meet at other countryside sites in South Shropshire.
Please ring 01746 781192 for more information of email james.brookes@shropshire.gov.uk..
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Donington Pool Local Nature Reserve (Albrighton)
The volunteer group here now number six regular volunteers and
have been joined over the last few months by members of our Thursday group. Recently
the group have cleared the channel of the Humphreston Brook to reduce the risk
of flooding, maintained the paths through St Cuthbert’s Meadow and with the
help of the Thursday Group and the Rights of Way Team they have installed a new bridge in
the conservation area so that maintenance work can be carried out on the far
bank.
More volunteer days are planned at Albrighton, please ring
01746 781192 for more information or email james.brookes@shropshire.gov.uk
A big thank you to all our volunteers at our sites for all
their hard work. If you would like to join any of our groups or would like to
find out more please contact the staff at Severn Valley Country Park by calling
01746 781192.
It’s been a
busy few months for the Shropshire Wild Teams, we’ve added a new member of
staff to the team and acquired a new van meaning we can now take out more
volunteers and further expand our groups. Hannah Langford-Rhodes joins as the
Shropshire Wild Teams Assistant, helping to supervise the expanding groups.
Hannah graduated from Aberystwyth University with a degree in Countryside
Management. The Winter Programme is full of challenging jobs and exciting new
sites and partnerships.
Perhaps the most exciting news is that Shropshire Wild Teams have been nominated for the CaBA (Catchment Based Approach) Volunteers of the Year by Mike Kelly, River Valleys Officer for the AONB. The award recognises the dedication, hard work and enthusiasm of volunteers who help to improve our precious water environments. The Wild Teams have helped with a number of tasks such as tree planting and clearance within the River Clun Catchment, here's what Mike has to say:
"Woodland creation is an important component of the River Clun Recovery Project and without the support of the Wild Team we could not have achieved the great numbers trees planted along the River Clun and its tributaries. We enjoy working alongside the Wild Team because of their great enthusiasm, and even when the weather is doing it worst they continue smiling. We at the Shropshire Hill AONB are a small team and rely greatly on volunteers to help deliver our work in the Clun Catchment. We believe this is a valuable partnership that is not only making a positive difference to our landscape and rivers, but also it is about promoting well-being and achievement in the face of life’s challenges. We always feel very positive after day on the river with volunteers and would like to nominate Shropshire Wild Team as Volunteer(s) of the Year." Mike Kelly
Oswestry Tigers
The Tigers have got off to a busy
start with the Winter programme, they’ve been doing partnership work with
Caring for God’s Acre, helping to maintain and care for churchyards to prevent
them from overgrowing. The Team have also started clearance work for the
Wildlife Trust at Llanymynech Rocks, where they’re working to clear the areas
that the flock of sheep aren’t reaching and grazing down. Llanymynech Lime
Kilns is another historical site that the team have started tackling, doing
essential clearance work keeping the areas accessible. They’ve also been
braving all weathers to complete several Rights of Way Assessments on footpaths
around the Oswestry area.
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Shrewsbury Hornets
The Hornets have again been working
alongside the Wildlife Trust, this time at Black Rhadley where the team helped
to remove Birch Trees that were draining the site in order to allow the ground to
return to wetland. The team have also installed several of the Iron Age Hill
Fort Route wayposts at Earl’s and Pontesford Hill. Steel Heath has been a new site
for the team where there will be extensive work carried out in order to return
the land to valuable heathland. The vegetation removed was piled up to
make habitat piles for the wildlife on the site.
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Craven Arms Alpacas
The Alpacas
have been kept busy doing some beautiful walks installing the new Shropshire
Way Main Route discs on the posts surrounding the Craven Arms area. They also
undertook some much needed path clearance at Berrymill Wood cutting back the
encroaching nettles to widen the path again making it more accessible for its
users. This team have also helped to put
in one of the Iron Age Hill Fort posts at Pontesford Hill. The team will
be linking up with the Shropshire Wildlife Trust to work on sites such as Rhos
Fiddle and Catherton Common in the coming months.
Bridgnorth Zombies
The Zombies have visited several
sites taking on the challenge of putting in a kissing gate at one on behalf
of the Council Maintenance Team. They’ve also returned to Lime Kiln Woods to continue installing
rustic steps on a muddy incline at the site. Further partnership work has
included working on new site of Blists Hill where the volunteers have been
helping the sites Rangers to clear the canal path and canal basin with the aim
of the refilling its full length in the future. Teamwork with sites volunteers
have also had the team working at Stanmore Country Park where they worked to
remove Blackthorn and overgrown vegetation from the parks pathway.
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 If you think you, or someone you know, would benefit form joining one of our four Wild Teams please email Simon Brown or call on 01743 255055 for more infromation.
On Saturday the 16th of September Cockshutt WI
held a walk around the footpaths of village.
Eighty walkers turned out to enjoy the sunshine and a picnic overlooking
Crosemere. Access around the parish has
been greatly improved by the new Parish Paths Partnership group who have
replaced a number of stiles with gates and installed new footbridges where some
have completely collapsed. The group is
a real asset to the village and surrounding areas. Credit also needs to be given to the local
landowners who kindly mowed out many of the paths to allow them to be followed
with ease.
On Friday 18th August Keith Pybus led a group of
walkers around Market Drayton giving a talk about local people and how they
were connected to the First World War.
Keith has produced a leaflet which provides a map with accompanying
information so that people can do this walk themselves and become more
educated about the War itself and the effect it had on local people.
There was a good turnout for this walk and the Shropshire
Star included a picture and article the following week.
Keith’s War Walk in Market Drayton is number 12 of a series
of walks designed to cover Shropshire and tell the story of local people who
were caught up in this conflict. They
are available to download from Shropshire’s Great Outdoors website.
 For more information on Walking for Health in Shropshire email Liz Evans or Helen Foxall or call 01734 255059 or visit our webpage
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