Update on Gleaning Project - collection point for Ledbury Volunteers St Katherine Car Park or meet at The Nest

 

Please contact Ruth Pullan on 07951 399176 or ruthpullan@hotmail.co.uk to register as a volunteer in advance.

This is to make arrangements for refreshments and equipment on the day

Town Trail - clearing in the ditch

 

Despite the weather yesterday morning, four of us managed to get out for an hour on the stretch of the Town Trail between Bridge Street and Woodleigh Road. We've finished the project funded by Severn Trent Community Fund #STCommunityFund but the work goes on! 

We were clearing around the wetland plants that we bought with the grant funding. They are still getting established and need a bit of help.

The photos show 'before' 

and 'after'.

There's still lots to do and we hope we have better weather for our next session in a fortnight.

If you'd like to join us, contact us via email on sustainableledbury@gmail.com for details

New - Fruit Gleaning Project

As some of you may know, we've been involved in setting up a fruit gleaning project with Herefordshire Food Alliance. The aim is to make use of fruit which is not harvested for various reasons. There are two locations for the project, one Ledbury based and one Hereford based. Details are as follows.

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 1^st October - Ledbury picking day 11-3. Sites in and around Ledbury. Meeting point TBC.

6^th October - Hereford Picking day, Lower House Farm Herefordshire Wildlife Trust reserve near Cock of Tupsley, HR1 1UT. 11-3

8^th October - Ledbury preserving and community cooking day, preserving the harvest for Ledbury Food Bank at Pot and Page community hub 11-3

14^th October - Hereford preserving and community cooking day at the Living Room. 11-3 

 

Lunch provided on each day, please bring your own mug for soup on the picking days as we won't have kitchen facilities available to us!

 

Transport to venues:

 

Picking days are at rural locations.

We will be hiring the community bus in Ledbury to go to the picking locations, picking up point TBC.

 Lower House Farm Orchard is accessible by public transport with the 420, 469 and 476 from Hereford bus station stopping at the Cock of Tupsley pub, a 10 minute walk from the orchard. There is also a car park for those coming by car. We are also hoping to hire the Hereford community bus for those without transport and to bring the apples back to the Living Room in the afternoon. We will set off from The Living Room at 10.30.

 

The processing days are in central town or city locations and we encourage the use of public transport where possible, however there are large car parks nearby if coming by car.

 

Please contact Ruth Pullan 07951399176 or ruthpullan@hotmail.co.uk to register as a volunteer. We need to know numbers so we can make arrangements for refreshments on each day and to have enough equipment available.

 

If any volunteers have fruit, particularly in Ledbury, we could pick as part of the 1^st October date if a large quantity or they are welcome to bring smaller amounts to the Pot and Page date on the 8th.

 

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These promise to be fun events which will also help the community. The produce from the Ledbury event is destined to go to our Food Bank. Thanks to a grant obtained by HFA, they have a new freezer.

 

If you know of anyone who might be interested, please share this information with them.

 

Town Trail project completion report, and a celebration.

A couple of years ago we got a 'Licence to Cultivate' from Herefordshire Council giving us permission to do conservation work on the Town Trail. In 2022 we were very pleased to be given a grant by the Severn Trent Community Fund to work on the ditch running alongside the Trail between Bridge Street and Woodleigh Road. 

We started work in October 2022. Now, over 200 volunteer hours later, we have completed the project.

The ditch was in a sorry state, overgrown, filled with debris, and liberally sprinkled with litter. The grant covered the cost of hand tools, plants and an information board. 

Over the winter, volunteers worked to dig out the ditch, remove litter, and clear a strip of land along the bank, ready for planting. 

In April, we planted 250 native wetland plants along this stretch.

The information board was designed and made during the early summer and we took delivery at the end of July. Balfour Beatty installed this for us - a professional job as there are gas pipes in the area.

On 4th September 2023 we had a small celebration to mark the end of the project and say thank you to our volunteers and supporters.

We've had very positive feedback from residents, both when we're working and via Facebook. The wildlife seems to like it too. We saw frogs 'inspecting' the ditch in the spring, and have noticed more birds and butterflies, now the area is getting more light.

The plan is to continue to maintain this area and hopefully cover a longer stretch of the Trail. We try to get out on the Trail once a fortnight on a Monday morning and new volunteers are always welcome.

(See the dates for the next sessions in the sidebar on the right.)