Latest News
7 March 2010
Tree Planting Volunteers
Ranger Richard Tanner
worked alongside thirteen Volunteers today to plant 100
trees in Ice House Wood, as Park of the Trust's woodland
management. The wood is managed as a coppice and will be
cut in a regular cycle to provide wildlife habitats.
The Volunteers also place
guards around the trees to prevent them being damaged by
the deer in the Park, whilst the trees are establishing
themselves.
11 February 2010
Explorers in the News
This month has brought
certificates for the Cuerden Wildlife Explorers group
with a bronze Wildlife Action Award and Leader Helen
Thompson receiving her Fifteen Year Volunteer Award from
the RSPB. Two members of the Watch Group for 8-13 year
olds pictured here with their award and Watch Group
Leader David Beattie presents the award to Helen.
8 February 2010
Volunteers on the Park
Eleven Conservation
Volunteers joined Ranger Darren Williams on the Park
yesterday and cleared and cut back the overgrown cherry
and willow trees on the scramble track.
They built a bonfire to
burn off the brash and enjoyed a lunch of potatoes baked
in the fire. Thanks to everyone who turned out to do
this vital woodland management work.
27 January 2010
Cuerden Ranger at Fulwood Academy
Ranger Richard Tanner
went back to school today, when he attended the assembly
at the Fulwood Academy. The Principal had invited him to
come and collect a cheque for Cuerden Valley Park,
following their fundraising achievement for us as their
adopted charity. Richard had been to see them previously
to do a presentation about the Park and to leave them
some literature and the pupils were keen to give us
their support.
Anyone interested in
fundraising for the Park or making a donation to help
with the upkeep then please contact the Park Office on
01772 324436.
25 January 2010
Farmer's Market
The Friends of Cuerden
Valley Park are establishing a Farmer's Market, to take
place here on the Park, on the fourth Sunday of the
Month. The first one will be held on 28th March and we
have been told by the organisers that there are already
a number of food and craft sellers signed up to take
part. As visitors will know the Park is struggling to
meet the soaring cost of maintaining the facility and
the Fundraising Group from the "Friends" are using this
opportunity to help raise money for the Park. We
acknowledge a lot of help from Made in Lancashire who
are supporting our efforts by contacting their members
and offering advice. If you are interested in having a
stall or for more information visit the Cuerden Valley
Park Farmers Market website by linking
here.
8 January 2010
Let it Snow
The Park is looking
beautiful with it's blanket of snow this week and
visitors are enjoying sledging, snow balls fights and
walks in the valley. People struggling to drive up Town
Brow/Sheep Hill abandoned their cars in our Car Park on
Wednesday and Berkeley Drive is quite slippery so care
needs to be taken by visitors coming that way to the
Barn or the Park. Rangers are continuing to work hard
with their winter schedule of woodland thinning and will
be around the Park as usual seven days a week.
4 January 2010
Conservation Volunteers
Our working party of
twelve got the New year off to a good start yesterday
when they joined Ranger Daren Williams for the first
Conservation Volunteers day of 2010. They worked on the
scramble track cutting back some of the trees and
stacking them. We welcomed Neil a new volunteer joining
our group for the first time.
22 December 2009
Winter Wonderland
The Park turned into a
playground yesterday after fresh snow had fallen over
night and snowmen sprang up all over the place. People
also enjoyed sledging on the slopes and snow ball fights
in the valley. So wrap up warm, come out to play in the
snow and have a very Merry Christmas. Although the Park
looks wonderful in the snow we ask visitors to take care
on the paths and roads around the area as freezing
temperatures could make them icy.
17 December 2009
Information on Car Parking
Information on Car
Parking can now be found on the dropdown menu "About Us"
and the application form for a Parking Permit can be
downloaded from there. We are pleased to say that the
support we have received from members of the public,
visiting the Park, has been much more than we
anticipated, and we thank you all very much for that.
There have been a few
teething problems with the new machines and especially
with the dispensing of the tickets, which seem to stick
in the machine in the damp weather. Please bear with us
on this one, as we have ordered a different brand of
tickets in the hope that this will solve the problem.
7 December 2009
Children's Christmas Fair
Another successful day
for the Park when we opened our doors to local families
to start the celebration of Christmas. There were lots
of craft activities for the children, a visit to Santa,
who arrived at 11am, a tombola and seasonal
refreshments. Even our regular park users dropped in for
a cup of coffee and to enjoy the atmosphere. Visit our
features page for pictures of the event by linking
here
and if you missed us this year then make a note
of the date on our events page for 2010. A big thank you
to all our Volunteers and Friends of Cuerden Valley Park
who gave their time to help out by manning the stands
and clearing up afterwards.
30 November 2009
Newsletter
The Autumn Newsletter
from the Park is available at the Barn Visitor Centre
from today or you can link to it
here on this website.
24 November 2009
Thanks to the Friends
Woodland thinning work on
the Park is about to commence and Ranger Richard
Tanner's chainsaw was found to be beyond repair. The
Trust offers a
big thank you to the Friends of Cuerden Valley Park for
donating the money to purchase a new one for him. At at
time when we are trying to cut back on expenditure it is
good to know we have people who will support us. The
Chairman of the 'Friends', David Beattie, handed over
the saw to Richard who was delighted to accept it on
behalf of the Park.
18 November 2009
Park Programme 2010
The Park programme of
events is now available for 2010, just visit our
events page for all the
information on Friends events, Conservation Volunteer
days and children's activities.
18 November 2009
Friends go Environmental
Yesterday evening the
Friends of Cuerden Valley Park invited Kath Tanner to
give a talk about the Environment Agency and the various
roles she had been employed in during her career. Those
who attended were enlightened about where the water
supplies come from and some of the problems encountered.
Trying to balance the need for sustained habitat for
water based creatures and water needed for private and
commercial consumption is not an easy job. After a
lively question and answer session Ranger Richard Tanner
thanked his wife for her interesting and informative
talk and then went on to update everyone on what was
happening in the Park.
16 November 2009
Victorian Days 2010
Education Officer,
Pauline Taylor, is now taking bookings, from Primary
schools, for the 2010 Victorian outdoor experience days
during the spring, summer and autumn terms for available
date please visit the
schools page. This is a very popular activity for
schools throughout Lancashire so book early to avoid
disappointment On the day everyone dresses in Victorian
costume, school pupils take part in four activities
throughout the day and they can then apply for a job on
the Cuerden Estate.
2 November 2009
Conservation Volunteers
Yesterday our
Conservation Volunteers working party of eleven
volunteers were working with the Park Manager, Jim
Longbottom, to complete the planting of the remainder of
the 7,000 bulbs in the woodlands on the Park. Three
members of the party were young people working towards
their Duke of Edinburgh Awards who came along with a
parent.
27 October 2009
AGM
Cuerden Valley Park Trust
held it's Annual General Meeting yesterday evening and
the Trustees were joined by our accountant, Stephen
Gardiner, from John Goulding & Co and life member and
former Chairman, Colin Ovenden. Ian Dibben was
re-elected as Chairman of the Board of Trustees and he
invited Colin Ovenden to give the vote of thanks. Colin
remains an active supporter as a member of the "Friends"
group and regular user of the Park, he congratulated the
Park Manager, Jim Longbottom, and his staff for their
hard work in keeping the Park looking so good.
26 October2009
Messing about in the River
This morning our River
dipping activity attracted 17 children with their
parents and accompanying adults who joined our Education
Officer, Pauline Taylor, for the last holiday activity
of the year. They were amazed and the number and variety
of inhabitants we have here in the River Lostock.
All four of the School
Holiday Activities went down well with the public so
watch this space for what we have planned in 2010 to
entertain the children.
26 October2009
Bulb Planting
Watch Group The bulb planting got off
to a good start on Saturday morning with the Cuerden
Watch Group putting in some bluebells and snowdrops in
Cock Cabin Wood under the guidance of their leader,
David Beattie, and Ranger Darren Williams. David
returned with another group to plant yet more bluebells
on the reservoir bank.
This afternoon the public
joined Ranger Richard Tanner and Education Officer,
Pauline Taylor, down at the Kem Mill end of the park to
plant some more, guess what, yes! bluebell bulbs. With
over 7,000 bulbs to put in over the week we still have
some way to go.
21 October2009
Police Visit
Yesterday evening the
Friends of Cuerden Valley Park hosted an event where PC
Duncan Thomas came and talked about his role as the
Lancashire Police Wildlife Officer. There were around 25
people enjoying an insight into how he deals with
poachers, dog fights, badger baiting and disruption of
wildlife habitat. Despite suffering with a bad toothache
PC Thomas was able to make his talk both amusing and
informative and a very good evening was had by all.
Cuerden Valley Park Trust and staff are grateful for all
the support they receive from the local police force, in
the work that they do to help keep the Park and it's
wildlife safe for visitors to enjoy.
16 October 2009
Public Bulb Planting
We are inviting members
of the public to join us on Monday 26th October 2009 to
help us plant the 7,000 wild flower bulbs purchased with
funding from the Lancashire Environment Fund and the
Friends of Cuerden Valley Park. Anyone wishing to join
in should look out for us in the woodlands along the
main path from Kem Mill to Lancaster Lane between 1.30pm
and 3.30pm. Everyone is welcome, so we hope to
see you there.
9 October 2009
Working with Wood and Words
Friday is our day for
using the wood from our coppiced FSC standard woodlands
and Volunteer Dave, worked with the rangers to cut and
load four trailer loads of logs to deliver in the area.
Nothing is wasted on the Park, where the winter cutting
back and thinning in the woods the smaller pieces are
put through the chipper to produce woodchip for paths
and gardens and the larger branches and tree trunks are
left to season in over the summer and sold for firewood
in the autumn and winter.
This evening the Park
Manager, Jim, gave a talk on the Restoration of the Park
under the Heritage Lottery funding, to Leyland Gardening
Club. As a result he found members who would be willing
to volunteer their time to helping in the award winning
Restored Victorian Walled Orchard and with helping out
with the further excavations at Kem Mill.
8 October 2009
Fencing with the Volunteers
One of our regular
Wednesday and Thursday Volunteers worked alongside the rangers to
repair and replace fencing around the field of one of
our tenant farmers. Fence repair and replacement is one
of the tasks that requires attention at this time of
year. The support of the Mersey Basin campaign allows us
to provide tools, transport and refreshment for the
Volunteers working on the Park.
6 October 2009
Sheep and Education
This is the time of year
when the sheep begin their breeding cycle with tups
being put in with the ewes. The small flock of Jacob
sheep is used for meadow management to keep the grass
and scrub down. Volunteers working today with the
rangers caught up this years lambs for market and
introduced the rams (tups) to the ewes.
Holy Cross College
visited the park today to do an independent study of the
River Lostock with 50 students braving the weather to
measure the width, depth and velocity and to observe the
meanders and oxbow. Cuerden Valley Park's Education
Officer runs a simpler programme for primary schools to
learn about the river.
5 October 2009
Volunteer Gardeners
The Mersey Basin campaign
continued today with one of our regular volunteer
gardeners, from Brindle Gardening Club, coming to work
in the Restored Victorian Walled orchard. These
volunteers have been coming in since the spring to make
the garden look good all year round, by weeding,
planting and cutting back. The orchard was restored as
part of our Heritage Lottery project and contains a fine
herbaceous border, apple, pear and plum trees.
4 October 2009
Conservation Volunteers
The Sunday Conservation
Volunteers group continued their support of the Mersey
Basin Campaign again this year, when eleven people
joined Ranger Darren Williams behind the lake to cut
back and burn the overgrown bushes and trees, they
cooked their lunch of baked potatoes in the fire. The
workers included 14 year old Elliot, who is doing this
as part of his Duke of Edinburgh Award, and his mother
Dawn. The group also welcomed newcomer Kayleigh who
joined them for the first time today. The group meet on
the first Sunday of the month and get involved in a
conservation project to help Cuerden Valley Park Trust
keep the Park looking good and preserving it for future
generations to enjoy.
2 October 2009
Victorian Start to Mersey Basin
Mersey Basin week on the
Park started today with eighteen children from Cuerden
Church School coming with their teachers to experience
life on the Cuerden Estate in 1881. The children split
into two groups, in the morning they spent time with the
Charcoal Burner cutting and stacking logs in the kilns
and with the Game Keeper (oh no it was the Poacher) in
the woods learning about poverty and the need to catch
food. In the afternoon the children spent time with the
Gardener in the walled garden weeding, watering and
raking and with the scullery maid making strawberry ice
cream and learning about life at Cuerden Hall.
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