Dear Members, Can it be that 2018 has been and gone in a shake of two lambs’ tails?! I hope it has been a good year for you as it certainly has been for the Association.
Apart from giving you the headline news, this letter acts as our invitation to you to renew your membership into 2019. The enclosed membership form shows details of any members listed at your address. As you may recall, our membership arrangements assume that you wish to continue to be a member unless you indicate otherwise. If you wish to discontinue your membership, if the information shown is incorrect or if you wish to add other residents at your address, please make any necessary amendments and send it back to the Secretary at the address shown below.
Without doubt, the major work of the year has been the design, construction and official opening of the New Winter Bridge. I have chaired this wonderful trust for 27 years and I think I can say with some authority that this has been one of our very proudest moments. How many small charities can not only raise the funds to build a bridge but also have the expertise, energy and resourcefulness to construct it themselves…?! It has been a true team effort under the expert direction of Roy Coverly on the construction and design side ably assisted by John Shawyer and Nigel Emerson who also led on the environmental improvements around the bridge; Heather Coverly on our publicity and last but not least Peter Morley, our fundraising officer who worked so hard to persuade potential sponsors to believe in the Wildlife Area and part with their money. In fact donations exceeded our hopes and we had over £1000 additional funds to carry out bank, path and tree improvements around the bridge. Barbara and Steve Hull provided additional practical support. We combined the grand opening of the bridge with our annual BBQ at the end of August and we were delighted that Roy Johnson’s daughter, Helen Myers, agreed to cut the ribbon thereby officially continuing the link between Roy, his sister, Doris Winter, and the Wildlife Area. The New Winter Bridge will be a lasting testament to the enormous contribution of our dearly loved and very much missed Roy Johnson, my last remaining founder member and tireless worker and creator of the Wildlife Area.
We can look back on 2018 as a productive year generally helped greatly through our much-valued partnerships with the Pirbright Institute and Network Rail. We are only a small charity and with 14 acres to manage it is sometimes a big challenge for our small team of volunteers with limited financial resources so this help goes a long way. Despite a significant reorganisation at the Pirbright Institute we still have the practical help of PI staff who come to support our working parties to pull himalayan balsam and weed clearing in the pond as part of their local charity effort. In addition, a small trusty band of Network Rail volunteers, led by Nigel Emmerson, has done much good management and practical work - important drainage improvements and repairs around the woodland crossing, tree felling and removal of dead trees, bank path improvements, spraying himalayan balsam, mowing the wildflower meadow, hedge trimming. Very much an ongoing list!
Another pleasurable partnership has been continued with the Fox Pub who very generously hosted our summer BBQ for members last August. Combining this with the opening of the New Winter Bridge brought a good crowd of 30+ to join us for a tour around the wildlife area and another 30 added to our number as we enjoyed a tasty BBQ at the Fox. We hope to be able to continue this successful event in 2019.
The Management Committee has been delighted to welcome the appointment of a new committee member – John Shawyer - who had already proved his great practical worth with his carpentry skills and then used these to excellent effect with the bridge project. Last autumn, we were particularly delighted to be presented with a certificate for ‘Service to the Community’ by Woking Borough Council in acknowledgement of our valued community asset to residents in Woking.
Looking into the future, we are considering updating our information boards, continuing our yellow rattle experiment in the wildflower meadow and looking at tree management work across the site especially in areas where trees and shrubs are becoming too dense.
Finally, it is important to record the wealth of wildlife which is regularly using our wildlife area – kingfishers, slow worms, small fish in the pond, deer, herons, ducks, frogs and toads are just some. Last summer, Butterfly Conservation in Surrey identified the presence of the Hairstreak Butterfly which is a UK BAP High Priority species! The Management Committee would like to encourage all our members to join our “Wildlife Watch” to tell us what you have spotted on your visits. Email us via the website – foxcornerwildlife.org.uk – or telephone any of the officers on this newsletter. We would love to hear from you!
Every year, we are very encouraged to receive donations of all sizes from Association members, the vast majority of which is gift-aided which adds 20% through tax reclamation. Needless to say your continued support and generosity is still very much needed as it costs around £1000 pa to run our Wildlife Area. We were very encouraged by members’ response to my appeal last year. In addition to 6 very generous donations totalling £1000, members’ donations were generally increased so that we were able to achieve our aim of donations covering our outgoings and to look optimistically into carrying out future projects. Thank you! If you are a UK taxpayer, you only need to sign the Gift Aid declaration when sending your donation – we will process the rest. Our Secretary can also supply standing order forms if you wish to set up a regular donation which we would greatly appreciate as it makes our forward planning so much easier.
Another very straightforward way in which you can help us to increase our income is by shopping online through easyfundraising.org.uk. Each time you shop, you can raise money for your chosen charity at no cost to yourself. Participating retailers include Amazon, Sainsbury’s, John Lewis, M&S, Ebay etc. All you need do is to register at easyfundraising.org.uk and then log in each time you shop. Search for the Fox Corner Community Wildlife Area in the listing and then shop in the usual way by clicking on the link to access the retailer’s site and make your purchases as normal. The retailers then give us a percentage donation which would soon mount up and transform our finances! Our Treasurer, Julie Harland, would be delighted to advise you further – her contact details are at the bottom of this letter.
With all good wishes and thanks for your support.
Yours sincerely
Catherine Cobley
Chairman
NB: Tuesday, 2nd April – AGM in the Church Room, St Michael’s Church. We have Francis Kelly from Surrey Butterfly Conservation coming to give a short talk on ‘Pirbright’s Special Butterfly’s and Dragonfly’s’ and an agenda will follow nearer the time.