Background (see our recent Oct 2021 objectives and actions at the end of this page!)
Our ground is on an area that was an Inert Material Landfill site that was covered in 30 years ago. It was a gravel pit initially.
Following a £2000 expenditure to take samples and confirm that the ground was suitable for our purposes we purchased the land which at that time was a boggy field with areas of Japanese Knot Weed but in a lovely setting with a good location. We are located directly opposite a builders waste recycling centre, Elliott’s Sand & Gravel have become a major supporter of our project and we are very grateful to them and their staff and supportive of all the good work their business does.
Ownership
Since purchasing the land we have become Registered Environmental Body with Entrust who have supported us on a number of occasions through the Gloucestershire Environmental Trust.
We initially planted around 1500 hedging plants and trees and erected fencing.
We installed £32,000 worth of land drainage.
We eliminated the Japanese Knot Weed, cleared areas of scrub, planted more trees and with the aid of Tewkesbury Borough Council bought equipment including a compact diesel tractor to improve the grass playing surface.
We began to landscape and develop the field course. Installing pathways, building bridges all in a sensitive way. We also have begun a tree maintenance and planting programme which also supports our required Risk Assessment commitments.
We installed bird and bat boxes (we have 6 species of bats in our wooded area) as well as clearing more scrub and planting buddleia to attract butterflies and bees.
Wonderful grassed safety zone, part of which is to be planted with a meadow flower mix.
In late 2019 we have planted a tree for every single member of the club (210) which were provided by the Woodland Trust.
We are totally committed to improving our environment and rely on volunteers to help us achieve that.
We also have other recycling and carbon reduction programmes running to minimise our impact. The decision on the clubhouse design was influenced by its minimal carbon emissions impact compared with other designs.
In 2021 the Management Committee commissioned an external report on how we could reduce our carbon footprint. Following that report we are implementing a whole host of measures including the installation of solar panels, water tap flow reduction devices, automatic light switch off sensors. We have funding already set aside to achieve this objective. Watch this space!
In 2022 we continued our work on improving the management of our woodland, cleared a large area to plant meadow flowers as part of a Cotswold AONB project and cleared the stream of both debris and invasive species. We continued our work making bird, bat and insect boxes.
