Despite the wet weather, the Milford Community GreenSpace, with the help of the volunteers, has continued to be developed at quite a pace since our last update in October (see here).
Thanks should be given to the Bull family in particular, who in November filled 45 bags with chipped bark, carried them up Church Steps, and then spread them on the paths in the GreenSpace. These now dry paths have proved invaluable for getting round the site, which is becoming quite muddy and slippery with all the rain.
On Saturday 5th December the 6 fruit trees (2 plums, 2 apples 2 pears) provided by Blooming Milford using a Belper Town Council grant of £122 arrived so on Sunday morning 6 of us from the Milford GreenSpace group dug thoroughly for an hour to prepare the ground for the trees (near the wall at the back if you want to have a look). At the same time the volunteers gathered the raspberry canes that had sprouted up around the site and created a formal raspberry bed, which will also define the edge of the the proposed story telling area for the primary school children. They also made a start on clearing the proposed story telling area. It is situated under a large buddleia and will have stone seats.
On Wednesday 9th December three of the primary classes (Wye class, Kinder Class and Amber Class) trooped up to the GreenSpace with their teachers and assistants, one each hour over 3 hours. The first class, the Wye class, also covered the GreenSpace with Christmas decorations and presents to keep the other classes amused when they weren’t planting fruit trees. Blooming Milford helped the children plant two trees per class. They were extremely keen (it was lovely to see) though social distancing is a bit of an alien concept to the very little ones!
The Milford GreenSpace community group was formally created in November with a committee to co-ordinate activities and move the project forward. They produce regular update newsletters, which are published on this site, we now have a web page on this site in the “activities” section (here) and we also have a Facebook page, here.
We are still very keen for more volunteers to come and help with improvements of the site. In the next month we plan to build a composting toilet, build raised beds for growing vegetables and create a story time seating area for the children. Anyone interested in helping out please contact Kate Tuck on 07794268059. Dates of the next work parties are below, but due to social distancing rules each work party will be limited to 6 people.
Volunteer work party
dates
Saturday 12th December 10-12 am
Saturday 19th December 10-12 am
Monday 21st December 10-12 am
Saturday 2nd January 2021 10-12 am
