Malmesbury River Valleys Trust

Chairman’s Report

for year ending 31st December 2008  (delivered at the AGM on February 6th 2009_ 

Introduction

It does not seem possible that a year has passed since I took over the Chair.  The Trust has had another good year and whilst our main work continues to be centred around the development and protection of our two Nature Reserves at Conygre Mead and Wynyard Plantation, we have again pursued our educational commitment which is one of our main objectives.

The Trust continues to be actively concerned in its pursuit of the preservation of the natural and built environment of our historic town and, to this end, we continue to cooperate with North Wiltshire District Council and other organisations.  We will of course be dealing with the new Unitary Council (Wiltshire Council) after 1st April 2009.

We continue to keep a watchful eye on planning applications that, in our opinion, would have a detrimental effect on the town’s river valleys or its important conservation area, objecting when either could be endangered.  We liaise with other local bodies such as the Town Council; the Civic Trust; St Pauls and Malmesbury Residents Association but, despite this, success is rare.

Membership of the MRVT has increased (we now have about 146 members) and support at our sales events has been staggering.

Land Management

It has been yet another wet and cloudy summer with the lowest ever recorded amount of sunshine.  We had a beautiful Autumn but the coldest start to Winter for 30 years.

The practice of meeting on the first Sunday of each month to undertake routine and essential work in our Nature Reserves continues and the regular Land Management Team of volunteers has been augmented by others who have turned up on both a regular and an ad hoc basis to lend a hand and provide valuable assistance.  Extra help is always welcome though.  Just turn up at 10.00hrs at the Station Yard entrance to Conygre Mead for an enthusiastic welcome.  I would especially like to thank those people who regularly turn up and undertake tasks at other times.  In particular, I would like to offer a personal thank you to Derek Tilney and Terry Thomas who devote so much of their time and are always ready to step in if there is an emergency.

In October 2008 we drew up and approved a Management Plan for Wynyard Plantation.  My thanks go to all who contributed, in particular Peter and Betsy Little and Paul Darby.

Storage of tools has always been a problem and this year we purchased an old Anderson Shelter and have used it to construct a shed at the entrance to Conygre Mead.  Hopefully in time it will blend in with the surroundings once it has been backfilled.  Unfortunately, in view of the amount of vandalism and theft we have experienced, we do not feel it safe enough to store power tools in it.  This is a sad reflection and I do not like to sound negative.  However, especial thanks go to Phil Searle for all his hard work in building the shed.  He often came over in the summer evenings after a long and hard working day.

Every time I walk through Conygre Mead, it saddens me to see the amount of litter dropped and the problem of underage drinking on Conygre Mead seems to be on the increase.  Judging by the time my husband and I found a bra by the river, it seems that it is not just underage drinking going on there either!

Next year we intend to spend time on clearing out the pond on Conygre Mead and building a Dipping Platform.  The February working party will be spent planting about 25 new trees on the Wynyard Plantation as well as clearing the pond there.

Schools Week

In July we repeated the success of previous years when we invited local Primary Schools to Conygre Mead.  You may recall that this continuing project was the outcome of being granted Local Nature Reserve status by English Nature and North Wiltshire District Council.  Previously the event  was funded by English Nature but this year we funded the project ourselves.  However, we received considerable help from Wessex Water, a long and much valued supporter.  We are deeply grateful to them for the help we received from Cath Nicholls, one of their Education Officers who really engaged with the children.  The children greatly enjoyed the event in spite of the wet, cool weather.  Unfortunately, we had to cancel the event on the Wednesday due to torrential rain.

 Carnival 2008

As part of this year’s Carnival Procession we organised a walking group which involved carrying a huge fish around the route.  The fish was made at a workshop run by James York-Moore and our thanks are extended to him for his help and enthusiasm.

Paul Darby organised a Bat Evening and, although it was quite cold, more than 40 people turned up and we raised nearly £120 for Carnival Funds.

Fundraising and Publicity

This summer we produced a leaflet about the history of the Trust and its aims and objectives.  We successfully applied to NWDC for a grant of £260 to cover our printing costs.  The leaflets are placed in waterproof display boxes at either end of Conygre Mead as well as in the Tourist Information Centre at Malmesbury’s Town Hall.

We have received generous donations from individual members and we are extremely grateful for these.  All our usual fundraising efforts have been very profitable and our thanks, again, go to Woodlodge for their continuing generous donation of garden pots which they supply so willingly each year.  We have also built on our venture of producing preserves, jams, chutneys, flavoured oils and so on.  These have proved to be very popular and have been our main source of income on our stalls at St Aldhelms Day Fair, Carnival Petticoat Lane, and our annual sale in November at the Market Cross.  We also continue to produce our own Christmas Cards and are grateful to those who provide outlets for their sale eg the Tourist Information Centre, The Malmesbury Pottery,  and the George Veterinary Group.  This year we have introduced packs of Notelets which include 6 different images.

We have successfully bid for a grant from Wessex Water for £700 for our Dipping Platform.  Hopefully this will provide a safe facility which will come into its own during our educational events.  We have also successfully bid for a grant from NWDC for £750 towards the costs.

In October 2008 we organised an event which was open to the public when Richard Angwin, one of our Patrons, came to give a talk entitled “5000 Years of Weather Forecasting”.  The event was a complete sell out and we even had people waiting outside in case some ticketholders did not turn up.  We are very grateful to Richard and Renu for giving up a Friday evening, not to mention the race he must have had to get from a live weather forecast at 7pm from the BBC’s Bristol studio to the Town Hall.  They then had a long drive north so goodness knows what time they reached Renu’s parents home.

Next Year

I have already mentioned under Land Management some of our plans for 2009.  One event will be a family event in the Spring sponsored by BBC Breathing Places entitled “Do One Thing”.  By the time of the AGM we hope to have more details.  We have also registered our interest in  applying for a BBC Breathing Places grant under the Big Lottery Fund’s Breathing Places Phase Four ( and final) grants programme.  Details will follow in due course.  We are also investigating the possibility of an “Owl Prowl” in September, details of which will be included in our Spring Newsletter if we go ahead with this.

Thank You

Finally, there are so many people and organisations who have given their support during the last year.  It is impossible to name them all individually but I would like to thank our Patrons, The Lord Puttnam, Sheila Hancock, and Richard Angwin.  I would also like to thank our President James Grout who always has our interests at heart.  Sadly James is not in the best of health lately and we do wish him well.

The continuing success of the Trust is down to continuity and commitment of the Committee, Members, and volunteers who continue from year to year and who contribute their time and money to our work.

We are well aware of the gratitude we owe our volunteers and have therefore written a Volunteering Policy.  Let me know if you would like a copy.

The sixteen Trustees are Lesley Bennett, Paul Darby, Frances Goldstone, Ted Hall, Mary Hill, Peter Howell, Peter Lawrence, Peter Little, Betsy Little, Ted Palmer, Ceri Pulvirenti, Phillip Searle, Terry Thomas, Derek Tilney, Kathy Trobe, and Alan Walker.  Thank you for all your support for me personally in my first year as Chair.

Frances Goldstone

Chair
Malmesbury River Valleys Trust

 

Frances Goldstone from the Malmesbury River Valleys Trust

Frances Goldstone, Chair of the Trust since 2008