More flag laying in Easter sunshine

17 flag stones were laid today on the Thieves Clough path by some of the Kirklees Youth Offenders. It was very hard work, and a good thing there were a fair few of us so we could break often! Some flags were so large it took all of us to move them into place. I think everyone will deserve their Easter Eggs tomorrow...!

The Highfields Garden Group

Highfields Community Centre in Huddersfield have been growing a variety of plants for us which we will be selling at our Plant and Spring Fair on 22nd May. The group started off growing moorland plants for us which we will planting out on the moors once they are big enough, and have now moved on to garden plants and vegetables. It is a great project for the group as they can watch the plants growing through the weeks, and it is an activity that helps to improve their co-ordination skills too.

All the money raised from the plants sold at the Marsden Moor Plant and Spring Fair goes towards the conservation of the moors. The plant sale runs from 10am - 3pm on Sunday 22nd May. There is free entry, free parking and more than just plants too! Children's activities, Thurlstone Owl Sanctuary, local food producers and more!!

Kirklees Youth Offending Team video

The Kirklees Youth Offending Team are carrying on with their sessions - the last one was in fabulous sunshine, flag laying on Thieves Clough. Some rather big slabs to move, some needing everyone there to help shift them! A good session until it was unfortunately cut short by the fire on Close Moss.

Check out the video about the partnership working between Marsden Moor and the Kirklees Youth Offending Team at www.outdoornation.org.uk

Welly Walks

Fancy a family walk during the Easter holidays, or just fancy a guided walk that is easier than a hike over the moors? Come on our Welly Walk! Our first one is on April 20th, meeting at Marsden Station at 10am. The walk will be going down the canal towpath to Slaithwaite and back. Hopefully there will be plenty of puddles to be jumped in on the way!

There will be more Welly Walks through the year too, one on May 30th and one on July 29th. Check the website for more details on these.

Don't forget - our health walks also run on the 2nd and 4th Wednesday each month, come along to enjoy the scenery and have a good chat with our friendly volunteers and wardens!

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.

Wind Flags on a Windy Day

Today was our half term activity - making wind flags and other windy items. The wind flags were colourful with pictures painted on them, and we also were making wind mills and wind twirlers, also looking fabulous fluttering around.

The children that came along seemed to have great fun running around with their flags waving along behind them. A fun activity for the half term.

February Health Walk

The health walk this week was busy, despite the rather grey start followed by rain. The walk took them up towards Scout, and then back down to Sparth reservoir and back up to Marsden along the canal - a nice walk to get out onto the edges of the moors.

There are several different routes that we have for the health walks, but due to this being Marsden, there are usually hills to climb up and then back down again! However, it's worth going up to get the fabulous views - if the cloud isn't too low.

The daffodils are on their way up, and we are now looking forward to seeing the first of the yellow flowers to appear. Spring is on the way!

Perfect Conditions for Flying

The Tuesday work party this week had some good weather. And they weren't the only ones making the most of it. There were plenty of people up at Buckstones taking advantage of the conditions and out flying in one form or other. The work party were up at Buckstones doing a litter pick and spotted seven paragliders altogether!