Our New Van

We were able to buy a new vehicle in the autumn last year in order to have sufficient vehicles for all the activities we do - volunteer work parties, community group activities and going to events.

We have now finally had it signed up so you can tell that it is a National Trust vehicle. Using money from the Youth Offending Team to get the work done, our shiny new van has on our logo and on the back a super picture of conservation work on the moors - a beautiful sunny day doing some flag laying on White Moss.

As we were able to use the Youth Offending money to get it done, we have also put their logo on the van to highlight our work together. Our partnership working ables us to work with many young people that would not necessarily come to somewhere such as Marsden Moor - it is a great project of which we are very proud.

Highfields Joint Work

A group from Highfields Community Centre in Huddersfield have been doing more work with us recently. Over the winter, they have been planting moorland seeds in the hopes that they will grow into plug plants that can be planted onto the moors when the are large enough.

Now that spring is finally here, they are continuing to grow seeds for us, but now it is vegetable and flower seeds that they are growing. These will be sold at our Plant and Spring Fair, which is our largest plant sale of the year, as well as at the weekly yard sales throughout the summer.

The latest project is a small group working towards their John Muir Awards. The group had their first session for the award on the moors yesterday, digging out rhododendrons from the Wessenden Valley - a spectacular spot. They will be coming for 6 sessions over 3 months as well as doing work back at their base as well.

A Whole Lot of Activity

I know it's been a bit quiet on the blog recently but that's not because nothing has been happening - quite the opposite. It's been incredibly busy!

The flagstones that we had delivered at the beginning of the year are at last being moved into place. We have had 2 airlifts so far, moving the stones from their piles on the moor opposite the Carriage House pub on the A62, out onto the Thieves Clough footpath.

The flagstones have to be weighed out into packs to make sure that they are not too heavy for the helicopter, and then airlifted into place ready for the footpath work to begin. The Thieves Clough footpath is in a poor state and very boggy for much of it. The stones can now be moved into place by our hard-working volunteers and the work on the path can begin.