Friends of Danby Wood (FoDW): The Norwich Fringe Project supports many “Friends” groups around the area. On Saturday 16th November Matt Davies led a workday with the FoDW where 32 volunteers from nearby Eaton Rise cleared glades, cut back ivy, picked litter and planted over 100 trees. We had a good fire going to burn the brash which left me with a rosy glow at the end of the day. Tim, who is a regular volunteer with the Norwich Fringe Project and an Eaton Rise resident brush-cut the glade.
The FoDW were awarded Silver Gilt by Anglia in Bloom in 2018 for their work in the woodland and received nearly £10,000 from the “Lottery Grants for All” to help finance their work. You can read more about FoDW and their work here.
Outdoor Projects Network (OPN): On Saturday 30th November the Norwich Fringe Project hosted a workday for the OPN organised by Lou Curtis from the Community Enabling Team at the Norwich City Council. The OPN brings together people from various “Friends” groups, other volunteers working in conservation and other outdoor projects.
There were representatives from Friends of: Danby Wood, Tud Valley, Woodland Parks, Heigham Park and West Earlham Woods; Norwich Historic Churches Trust; Norwich Environmental Weekenders; Norwich FarmShare; Tuckswood Library; Grapes Hill Community Gardens, TCV and other groups. Both Matts from the Norwich Fringe Project were on hand to lead the activities with Fireman Chris, myself, Owen, Debbie Murray and Louisa lending our support.
The plan was to spend the day on projects at Marston Marsh but flooding following recent heavy rainfalls meant that some of the activities were relocated to a nearby woodland, Danby Woods. The main task on Marston Marsh was to top-up the path at the Ipswich Road end of the site with around 4 tonnes of crushed concrete which was spread along the path and compacted with a wacker-plate. In Danby Wood the team cleared up various fallen trees and burned them with a crackling bonfire. So, all and all a great turnout of around about 20 people on a cold, frosty morning!
Our Blog – “We are not alone” – from February this year highlighted an OPN meeting where some of the conservation groups working around Norfolk talked about their activities.
Paula is Retiring: Paula has been working with the Norwich Fringe Project from a time when many of our trees were seedlings but will be retiring at the end of the year (although she says she intends to join us as a volunteer). Paula has led our Thursday sessions for the past few years but with her retirement our workdays will now be Wednesdays led by Matt H and Thursdays and led Matt D. We will, of course, give Paula an appropriate send-off.
Our new Wednesday sessions may take a little while to bed-in since many of our volunteers also work on projects for other organisations or have regular commitments. It looks like there is an opportunity to build our team of volunteers and create a Wednesday group. So, dear readers, if you are interested in getting involved in conservation work or know of someone else who might interested please look at the volunteer pages on our website for further information about us and our sites. Get in touch and we will tell you more about what we do.
Norwich Fringe Project 