A really big thank you to everyone for turning up or praying for the work party last Saturday morning. We were glad that the weather remained dry, was not especially windy and the sun was out for a lot of the morning. There were 17 adults and 1 under 18 for differing sections of the morning. Lots of different jobs were tackled, including for example:
- clearing intrusive weeds in the ‘gutter’ and drains round the outside of the church building
- cutting back incredible amounts of bramble
- clearing ivy from some of the old ‘table’ graves
- removing old Christmas wreaths from graves and memorials
- removing broken glass
- general tidying of the Ashes Memorial Gardens
- emptying the Compost bins
- our lovely regular volunteers who care for the sunken garden, which is either side of the church door, spent the morning tidying, weeding, and planting out young plants
- weeding of the young plants along the new hedge, designed to be wildlife friendly
- burning as much of the waste as we could manage
We are pleased to note the improvement in the new wildlife hedge, the mass of Ox-eye daisies across large areas, and to see some new species – eg Lady’s Smock, also known as Cuckoo Flower, favoured by the Orange-tip Butterfly – beginning to establish in the wilder areas of the churchyard. We are looking forward to hearing the Spring report on the nesting boxes installed around the churchyard. Thank you once again, and be encouraged – your efforts are making a big difference.