UPDATE ON BROMYARD DOWNS COMMONS ASSOCIATION
Whilst Christmas and the New Year has come and gone, the BDCA have continued apace with their activities.
They have conducted their bi-monthly meeting and the volunteers have continued their excellent work in maintaining the Downs through following their planned conservation activities which follows their detailed sub-plan which is in accordance with and aligned with the BDCA Management Plan and the Stewardship scheme.
On Monday 20th December Graham Barker and Andrew (Mac) MacLean installed the Dave Cave Memorial Bench at the top of Burying Lane where it can be seen by his widow as she drives to and from her house. The bench was made by “Say it with wood” from Cannon Frome and is a wonderful memorial. A plaque will be installed on the bench with the wording as requested by the family.
The volunteers, under Graham Barker and Andrew (mac) MacLean, took a short break over the Christmas period, and have recommenced their work. They have been focussing on the area above Downs manor and have cleared lots of brash and improved the general area. They have also taken down a large overhanging branch of a tree on the approach to the Bowery Cottage which required the assistance of Hugh Davies the local Tree Surgeon as it was beyond the capabilities of the volunteers. Hugh also did some work on Golf Lane.
The diary for the next year’s Downs’ Days has been produced and sent to all the Volunteers and will be available on the website in due course.
A training matrix has been compiled indicating the skills of the volunteers which will enable better targeting of future training.
The BDCA have also installed a new notice board in the Downs car park to display the byelaws together with repairing other notice boards across the Downs.
The committee have agreed the purchase of wood for Hereford College for students as part of their course work to construct a quantity of Birdboxes, of varying sizes, which will be installed across the Downs this Spring.
The website, which had become badly out of date, will be updated by Pete Stoddart who is looking to update the content and also install a Secure Sockets Layer certificate to upgrade the security of the website.
The electronic GPS collars for the sheep grazing trial have not yet been received. When they arrive, the will trial them locally before releasing them onto the common to graze within the mapped area. Information on the trial will be made available through signage on the downs, updates on the website together with the Bromyard Info and BDCA Facebook page to alert walkers and dog owners to the trial.
The next BDCA Committee meeting is scheduled for Wednesday 25th January, 7:30PM, at the Falcon Hotel.