News 2022
Christmas Tree Festival
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We were delighted to take part in the All Saints Church Christmas Tree Festival again this year, with a tree decorated entirely with items foraged from the woodland. Sue and a group of the volunteers did an amazing job collecting colourful and interesting things and making them into decorations. After the display in the churchyard finished, the tree was moved to Maes y Pant for Stan and the visitors to enjoy until Twelfth Night. |
Darland Community Theatre
We are very flattered and grateful to be chosen by Darland Community Theatre to receive one of the donations they make to local charities when they put on a production. Our chair, Dr Ian Happs, was invited to their performance on November 3rd to receive the cheque and talk briefly about the work that we do.
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Apples apples everywhere!
2022 has been an extraordinarily good year for the apple harvest, and Maes y Pant has been no exception. We have an orchard of heritage trees on the meadow, and although in previous years we have had a reasonable crop, this year we were amazed at just how many apples some of the trees produced. We had two ‘harvesting’ sessions, and gathered over 150kg of various varieties.
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We were determined not to let them go to waste, but clearly we couldn’t use that many ourselves. Directors and visitors to Maes y Pant were encouraged to help themselves, and we took what was left from the first harvest to the Autumn market at the Methodist Church. People there helped themselves, but we asked for donations for Wrexham Food Bank, and by the end of the day we had £82 to pass on to that very worthy cause. The second harvest was on our volunteers’ day on October 8th and it coincided with an event in Rossett run by the Beech Avenue Brewery and Brymbo Heritage Orchard in aid of the Unbeatable Eva Foundation. We were delighted to pass on our contribution to that. It’s great to be able to play our part in community events.
The pipe for the pond
We have been grateful to our friends at Hafren Dyfrdwy for topping up our pond on more than one occasion, and it helps to maintain it as an important environmental resource in the area. After last time, we agreed that we would hang on to the several hundred meters of plastic pipe they use to get the water to the right place. They cannot use it elsewhere because of the risk of contaminating the domestic supply, so if we don’t keep it, it has to be thrown away. Clearly, we don’t have storage for that sort of quantity of material - it’s very tough, and even when coiled it’s still quite unwieldy. The obvious thing to do is to keep it in the ground so that it is ready for next time. However, we can’t leave it on the surface where it could be a trip hazard and a temptation to ‘meddle’, so it needs to be buried. We may be on the site of a sand and gravel quarry, but where the ground is baked it becomes rock hard, and is back-breaking to try and dig by hand. We asked advice from our friends at EMY Plant Hire, and they delivered some very ‘toothy’ equipment for our volunteer session on August 20th. Several of our volunteers enjoyed learning new skills, but we all agreed that we will be much more aware of the expertise of the professionals now we know how difficult it is!
The Village Scarecrow Trail - Aug 13th - 27th
We were very pleased to take part in the scarecrow trail again this year, and the theme from the organisers was to make it anything that had happened during the reign of Queen Elizabeth. We decided to make pick up the connection between the woodland and one of the most iconic books of the reign. The Lord of the Rings has Ents - tree giants - as major characters, and so the idea for creating their leader, Treebeard, was born. Obviously, he had to be made from things in the woods, and amazingly we found a tree trunk, chopped down in a previous felling, that had a fork in exactly the right place to become a pair of legs when turned upside down. Another log for the body, a piece of wood to make a base for a face and some creative carpentry for hands and the ‘signature’ seven toes, and we were in business! Raid the woodland for materials to fulfil Tolkien’s description of the ‘sweeping grey beard, bushy, almost twiggy at the roots, thin and mossy at the ends’, and add a pair of ping pong balls painted green for eyes. We were pleased with the result! In fact, a lot of people thought he looked so ‘right' they asked if we’d just decorated a tree that was already there!
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We’ve had so many positive comments that we’ve decided he can stay for a while after the end of the ‘trail’. and keep Stan company at the gate!
Local School Visits
In the past couple of weeks we have been delighted to welcome children from both our local primary schools on site. Children from All Saints joined Rebecca, one of our Trustees, and worked in groups to learn more about the local environment and how to improve it for wildlife. A few days later children from both All Saints and The Rofft came to take part in a ‘photoshoot’ for Pentagon, who designed our new play area and wanted to take some ‘publicity’ shots of children using it. We were very pleased that our testers were happy to oblige
Our New Play Area
After two years of planning, the new play area is in use! We’re delighted with what’s been achieved, and we really hope the local community are as pleased as we are. We are grateful to funders at the National Lottery Community Fund, the Wales Government Community Facilities Programme, Brother UK and local individuals who contributed generously to our 10th anniversary Gofundme appeal. We’re also grateful to Pentagon Play who designed and built the equipment and have been excellent.
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We combined the play area opening with our 10th Anniversary celebrations, delayed from last year because of COVID. It was 10 years in March 2021 since the Maes y Pant / Hollowfield Action Group officially acquired the site. We feel we’ve come a long way!
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For our Anniversary celebration, we shared an amazing cake from ‘Lakeside Bakes’ and were entertained by local children’s theatre group ‘Actors by the Alyn’ with their ‘Variety Show’. Refreshments were provided by Barrington's Coffee Ltd from Gresford, whilst the Country Market and Gresford Library both had stalls. We were delighted to have about 100 people there, and it was lovely to hear so many positive comments about how valuable the site has become to local people.
At our ‘Grand Opening’ on 18th June local gymnast Jacob Edwards (a member of the Wales Gymnastics team) was joined by Carys and Mair, pupils at All Saints and The Rofft. After a rousing countdown led by Jacob, Carys and Mair lifted the floral garland closing the gateway and a host of eager playground testers got to work! The new play equipment had a very thorough testing and we look forward to it providing many years of fun and exercise in the wonderful woodland setting.
Volunteers
Over the past few months the work has included strimming, fence repairing and building, gully excavating, path repairing, garden maintenance.. the list goes on and on! The session last month was concentrated on finishing the play area ready for the grand opening, and in just over 2 hours a group of our volunteers shifted 3.6 tonnes of play bark and raked it out to an even surface on the area. One of the things that made this possible in the time available was hiring in an electric ‘buggy’ and a mini ‘dumper truck’. We were grateful to locally-based EMY Planthire who were exceptionally helpful, and supportive of a community group. If you would like to join us, our sessions are open to all (under 18s need to be accompanied be a responsible adult) and the basic principle is that no-one is asked to do anything they are not comfortable with. We value people going for a walk with some litter pickers just as much as those doing heavy lifting.
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We restarted the sessions last year as Covid regulations eased, and since then the number of people attending has rocketed. We are now regularly welcoming between 20 and 30 people of all ages to our Saturday morning sessions, and their help with maintaining the site has been greatly appreciated. Some tasks are regular and on-going, others are what is a priority at the time.
We are delighted with the way our volunteer sessions are being supported by the
local community. We meet by the gates at the car park on Pant Lane at 10.00 on the second Saturday in the month, and usually wrap up between 12.30-1.00 with a drink and a biscuit and a chat - and a feeling of satisfaction for jobs well done!
local community. We meet by the gates at the car park on Pant Lane at 10.00 on the second Saturday in the month, and usually wrap up between 12.30-1.00 with a drink and a biscuit and a chat - and a feeling of satisfaction for jobs well done!
Fire
Sadly, we have some news to report that’s not positive. Over the last few weeks we have noticed evidence of a few fires being lit in Maes y Pant, but luckily no real harm was done. Last Friday (24th June), the situation was different. We are grateful to a member of the public who raised the alarm and called the fire brigade early on Friday morning, but by then the fire - which looked as if it had been burning all night - was well established.
The fire brigade attended very quickly, and hoped that they had sorted the problem. Unfortunately, the nature of the ground with lots of brash and leaf mould means fires can be really difficult to put out, and despite appliances coming back three times and firemen spending several hours on site - and, thankfully, some rain - it was late evening before we were sure it was out. By then a large area had been destroyed, and tree surgeons had had to be called urgently to take out pine trees which had become involved - Thank you, Treehogs! We were very fortunate that there was hardly any wind, or the outcome could have been much worse. As it is, it’s the worst incident we’ve had in 10 years and it’s a scar that will take several years to fade.
The fire brigade attended very quickly, and hoped that they had sorted the problem. Unfortunately, the nature of the ground with lots of brash and leaf mould means fires can be really difficult to put out, and despite appliances coming back three times and firemen spending several hours on site - and, thankfully, some rain - it was late evening before we were sure it was out. By then a large area had been destroyed, and tree surgeons had had to be called urgently to take out pine trees which had become involved - Thank you, Treehogs! We were very fortunate that there was hardly any wind, or the outcome could have been much worse. As it is, it’s the worst incident we’ve had in 10 years and it’s a scar that will take several years to fade.
The message is -
Please.. Please… Don’t light fires in Maes y Pant, or use disposable barbecues.
Please.. Please… Don’t light fires in Maes y Pant, or use disposable barbecues.
The whole area is a tinderbox when we have warm weather and a few moments carelessness can have devastating effects. We are sure this one was lit as a ‘campfire’ and no one thinks it was more than something that just got out of hand, but the consequences can be out of all proportion to the action.
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Storm Warning!
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Due to a weather warning of strong wind, we had to advise people to avoid the area. Fortunately we were lucky, with the worst of the wind passing north and south of us.
We think this was a 'wind shadow' from the Snowdonia mountains. The white dot on the weather map shows where we are in comparison to what was going on around us - the darker the red, the stronger the wind.
We think this was a 'wind shadow' from the Snowdonia mountains. The white dot on the weather map shows where we are in comparison to what was going on around us - the darker the red, the stronger the wind.
RSPB Big Garden Bird Watch
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This is an annual RSPB event which has been run for many years and gives valuable information about bird numbers in the UK. We decided as an ‘environment-friendly’ organisation we would take part this year, and so we set up the gazebo and invited friends and visitors to count birds for an hour in which ever part of the site they chose. Nothing exceptional, sadly, but we spotted 14 different types of birds, including kestrel, buzzard, wren, robin, blackbird, woodpigeon, blue tit, great tit, long-tailed tit, chaffinch, carrion crow, magpie and great spotted woodpecker. This was useful citizen science proving the importance of Maes y Pant and that it is an invaluable habitat for many different species of bird.
Calendars
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We were delighted with the calendar for this year which was put together for us by Sarah using photos from the site. Sales raised just over £200, which as we are a not-for-profit company will all be reinvested in the site. |
EssentialsMag Article - January
By Chair Ian Happs
It’s been a busy few months since my last article in Essentials. We’ve had three monthly volunteer sessions, which are now being held from 10am to 12.30 on the second Saturday of the month. Up to 18 people have attended each time, and we’ve been able to achieve a lot with their help. The volunteers have cleared paths, tidied up the pond, repaired the steps to the viewpoint, planted trees and much more. We’re very grateful for all the help.
After a long dry period over the summer and early autumn, the wildlife pond was getting very low on water. Once it had been tidied by the volunteers, we were delighted that Dwr Cymru came to the rescue and topped it up, using 450m of temporary pipeline!
The level has stabilised and is still below full. Dwr Cymru have offered to do another top up if the winter weather doesn’t do it for us.
The qualities of the site have been recognised by ‘Keep Wales Tidy’ and Maes y Pant has been given another ‘Green Flag’ award for 2021/22. The award is given ‘in recognition of its dedicated volunteer involvement, high environmental standards and commitment to delivering great quality green space.’ It’s the international mark of a quality park or green space and we’re delighted to have received it every year since 2016.
We’re looking forward to our new children’s play area being installed in the next few months, probably in March. We had another big boost to the project with the award of a grant of £10,000 from the Welsh Government Community Facilities Programme, we’re now just waiting for the materials and contractors. Many thanks to everyone who has supported our fundraising efforts.
Storm Arwen caused a lot of damage to the trees in Maes y Pant, as it did all over the country. The wind strength and the unusual direction brought down more trees than any storm we have had since taking over the site in 2011. A number of trees were left ‘hanging’ over paths, so we took the decision to close to visitors until they could be made safe. We were very grateful to ‘Tree Hogs’, who were able to help our volunteers to do the necessary work very soon after the storm. Maes y Pant was closed for just 48 hours. Many thanks to all our visitors for their cooperation and understanding at that time.
The storm damage and other maintenance issues have had an impact on our funds, and we would welcome your support.
If you are a regular visitor and you would like to hear more about Maes Y Pant and support our work, you might like to become a Friend. There is no set fee, we just ask for donations. For a few pounds a year you can help us to care for this wonderful resource and keep it safe for future generations. Please visit the 'Get Involved' page on our website.
It’s been a busy few months since my last article in Essentials. We’ve had three monthly volunteer sessions, which are now being held from 10am to 12.30 on the second Saturday of the month. Up to 18 people have attended each time, and we’ve been able to achieve a lot with their help. The volunteers have cleared paths, tidied up the pond, repaired the steps to the viewpoint, planted trees and much more. We’re very grateful for all the help.
After a long dry period over the summer and early autumn, the wildlife pond was getting very low on water. Once it had been tidied by the volunteers, we were delighted that Dwr Cymru came to the rescue and topped it up, using 450m of temporary pipeline!
The level has stabilised and is still below full. Dwr Cymru have offered to do another top up if the winter weather doesn’t do it for us.
The qualities of the site have been recognised by ‘Keep Wales Tidy’ and Maes y Pant has been given another ‘Green Flag’ award for 2021/22. The award is given ‘in recognition of its dedicated volunteer involvement, high environmental standards and commitment to delivering great quality green space.’ It’s the international mark of a quality park or green space and we’re delighted to have received it every year since 2016.
We’re looking forward to our new children’s play area being installed in the next few months, probably in March. We had another big boost to the project with the award of a grant of £10,000 from the Welsh Government Community Facilities Programme, we’re now just waiting for the materials and contractors. Many thanks to everyone who has supported our fundraising efforts.
Storm Arwen caused a lot of damage to the trees in Maes y Pant, as it did all over the country. The wind strength and the unusual direction brought down more trees than any storm we have had since taking over the site in 2011. A number of trees were left ‘hanging’ over paths, so we took the decision to close to visitors until they could be made safe. We were very grateful to ‘Tree Hogs’, who were able to help our volunteers to do the necessary work very soon after the storm. Maes y Pant was closed for just 48 hours. Many thanks to all our visitors for their cooperation and understanding at that time.
The storm damage and other maintenance issues have had an impact on our funds, and we would welcome your support.
If you are a regular visitor and you would like to hear more about Maes Y Pant and support our work, you might like to become a Friend. There is no set fee, we just ask for donations. For a few pounds a year you can help us to care for this wonderful resource and keep it safe for future generations. Please visit the 'Get Involved' page on our website.
