If you would like to join in with any or all of the volunteering activities , here's what is coming up in the next few months - watch this space as more will be added.

Woodland Play Launch event (see above)                                                                28th July 2010

If you have some time to spare, we could do with help with various activities to make it a fun day for all: 'stewarding' and encouraging people to take the woodland path from the Dene to Prudhoe Castle, helping out with setting up the site in the morning (and clearing up after), and assisting with  bugbox building and forest crafts. 

 

Plotting History (sign up now if you are interested!)

Recording and researching the industrial history and features of the site.  Volunteers would be joining Harriet Goudie from Tyne and Wear Museums, and Barry Wilson, the Woodland Management Officer for Northumberland County Council to explore how the Dene has been used over the years, taking photos of industrial remains for the archive, and thinking about how its past can be reflected in any new developments. We haven’t arranged a date for this as we would like to sign people up first, and then arrange date to suit those participants.

Wildlife Surveys

We kicked off with an earthworm survey earlier this year, part of the national OPAL (Open Air Laboratories) initiative. OPAL run various surveys throughout the year.  Anyone can join the surveys and get a pack to add their own findings to the OPAL website. Get in touch to find out how.

Past Activities

Ideas please!  

A chance to meet up at the Children’s Centre to look at progress on the designs and plans for the Dene so far.  There will be plenty of pictures of similar things elsewhere to inspire and spark your imagination, maps and photos of the area, plus opportunities to record what kinds of things you would like to see there – and what you wouldn’t. And of course the site is just across the road so you can nip across to remind yourself of what’s already there, and dream up future possibilities.   Tea, coffee, cakes and juice provided to oil those creative wheels!

Big Clean Up

A messy combination of litter-picking and cutting back undergrowth, and thinning trees.  The path has now been re-surfaced so we can get stuck into clearing the site.

Bird box building and installation     

We will be making up general purpose boxes suitable for birds that look to nest in holes in trees. Because a lot of the trees in the Dene are fairly young, ‘holes in trees’ are at a premium, so we will be helping out by constructing  good substitutes.  We will then put up at least some of the boxes we make – depending on the weather, of course.  We hope to have box kits available for easier construction (for children especially), as well as some to make from scratch from templates - for the more handy among us!

Following a door-to-door leaflet drop in West Wylam and Castlefields estates, we now have 40 volunteers signed up to be involved in various aspects of the project. There is a good mix of volunteers from both estates, Friends of Prudhoe Woods, West Wylam Residents’ Association and other individuals.   The age range is varied too, from young families to older residents who used to have connections with the pit, so it’s a great start.