Village Life February
It was this time last year that volunteers joined together to litter pick in the
Ewden Valley and were appalled by the amount of the rubbish we shifted in one morning.
A few of us have spent a good deal of time during the intervening 12 months trying
to persuade the various agencies responsible for the management of the valley to
generally do a better job. I have to say we have made little progress. A meeting
of most of the “interested parties” was convened by John Charlton of Sheffield’s
Street Force and undertakings were made by various participants to try to manage
the site better. Peak Park Rangers did carry out their own litter picking operations
and a new dog bin has been provided. Nick Sellwood, SCC’s woodlands manager, has
kept us informed of the tree clearing operations taking place on SCC land in Ewden
and, at a recent meeting, brought us up to date with the developments that come within
their “forest design plan”. Even so we feel that Yorkshire Water and SCC show signs
of great complacency where Ewden is concerned and the problems we highlighted at
the original meeting are still not being effectively tackled. We hope more progress
will be made this year. If there is anyone out there who uses the Ewden Valley regularly
and feels as outraged as we do about its neglect and has some time to chase up the
culprits and co-
It was also this time last year that we had just completed the first phase of the
Bolsterstone Castle Project. Since then we have been awarded Lottery funding to
pursue the second phase and to explore more thoroughly the manorial complex discovered
in the earlier excavation. Sad to say our Project Co-
Last month we received our Yorkshire in Bloom Judges Pack, a vast document covering all aspects of the competition which focuses upon four core pillars – horticultural excellence, sustainable development, environmental awareness and community involvement. Our incentive as a village community to take part is, above anything else, the latter. The pleasure and satisfaction of working with friends and neighbours in a common cause that improves the surroundings for everyone is beyond price or prizes. We had a glorious morning last Saturday, when more than a dozen of us turned out to sweep and litter pick, weed and plant. A new guttering and fall pipe leading into a water container was fixed to an outbuilding bordering onto our community garden guaranteeing us a better water supply this year. Plans are afoot to provide a dropped kerb to enable easier access onto the area in front of the village hall and timber lengths have been cut and treated in order to repair two benches that stand beside the Lych gate of the church. The time spent on In Bloom activities is never wasted. The horticultural excellence will no doubt come with practise as well as from the good quality plants we acquire from the plant sales we run, in conjunction with Stocksbridge Garden Society, in May. Sustainable development of that planting is aided by the resources we are building up in our community garden. Our environmental awareness is increased every time we come together as a community and working group to discuss areas of the village and so see them through each others eyes. If you have an In Bloom group working near where you live do join them – you can be sure they will be glad of your help.
Free membership of Bolsterstone Community Group is open to anyone who supports our aim. For further information please contact Group Chairperson, Frances Tivey on 01142 883390 or email bcg@bolsterstonevillage.fsnet.uk or go to www.bolsterstonevillage.info