What happened on site during April?

We’ve been making the most of this lovely, sunny spring weather to get ahead with our outdoor projects. 

Here’s a quick round-up of what we have been up to recently…

• The BIG NEWS is that we completed our hedgehog rehabilitation enclosure thanks to a generous youth led grant from FLVC and are excited to have released our first 2 hogs, who are now being cared for by two of our team.

• Moving forwards, we need to raise some money on an ongoing basis to buy food for the hedgehogs, so if you have any creative fund-raising ideas, please let us know!

• We have constructed our new office on-site, thanks to funding from the Bryn Gwalia Bowling Club. This fabulous new space has been made almost entirely from recycled materials donated to us.

• We have built a gazebo using reclaimed wood from our onsite woodland, and some tin sheets which were kindly donated. We have also installed a parachute over the sitting circle to give a little protection from the elements when we are enjoying sitting outdoors.

• We try to use as many upcycled/recycled materials as possible. We like to call ourselves “Waste Magpies”, so with that in mind, please let us know if you are planning to throw out any unwanted, usable materials, such as wood, windows, doors, metal sheets etc. We can’t always guarantee that we can take it, but we will probably have a use for it!

• We have been delighted to have the North Wales Wildlife Trust on site carrying out some projects for us, including hedge-laying (helped by young volunteer Sam, who gained so much from the experience), and also hedge planting. They have also emptied the pond, so we can get on with our project of refurbishing it over the coming months! 

• For the Gardeners, we have made (and given away) 5 Plant Swap packs, including tables and signs, to be used in the community. Look out for plant swap events happening near you soon, and if you attend one, please remember to send us some photos for our Facebook pages.

• Finally, our ‘runaway raspberry’ plants which had been a little neglected, benefitted from a much-needed prune by volunteer, Jenny.

Upcoming projects...

1. The pond refurbishment will be a major focus for this year. The project is being led by Luisa and she needs some volunteers to help her co-produce it. We also urgently need a pond liner to get his project off the ground, so please let us know if you know where we could get one (ideally for free, please).

2. The yurt will be assembled in late May and we can't wait to see this space finished!

3. We have secured funds from DVSC for a project, to be led by Stacey, in which we will develop materials to inform school children about dementia in a simple and ‘non-scary’ way

4. We also aim to develop our indoor growing space by replacing the broken greenhouse with an accessible, large polytunnel.

If you wish to be involved in any of these projects, no matter how small you think your contribution may be, please get in touch, we would love to hear from you!

-- Blog post Author: Penny Lynch --