Dear Members, I know I always reflect on the fact that time seems to slip by but can it be that 2019 has disappeared as if in a heart beat?! It has certainly been a good albeit quieter year for the Association and I do hope it has been a positive year for you too.
Apart from giving you the headline news, this letter acts as our invitation to you to renew your membership into 2020. 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. She 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.
On to a brief summary of the year on the Wildlife Area.
After a particularly busy and wonderful year when we constructed and opened the new Winter Bridge, it has been a year of quiet consolidation but with an ever increasing number of visits from brownies, cubs, schools, rainbows and scouts - very much fulfilling our aims as a charity to enhance and increase knowledge of wildlife. Around the New Winter Bridge, we have now spent the additional funds we managed to raise on further tree work to open up that area and to improve the path approaches and levels on either side of the bridge. I know that Roy Johnson would be very pleased with the results and would, of course, have been a keen member of the working party! The New Winter Bridge will always be a testament to his enormous contribution to the Wildlife Area from its foundation. Visitors to the Wildlife Area will hopefully enjoy reading the new history board by the bridge which John Shawyer and Heather Coverley have used their skills to create.
During 2019 we have again been greatly helped through our much-valued partnerships with Network Rail and the Pirbright Institute. What would we do without them?! The small trusty band of Network Rail volunteers, led by Nigel Emmerson, has continued to do much good management and practical work – coppicing to help to open up vistas across the site, replacing rotting posts around the wildflower enclosure, digging out the leat to improve water supply to the pond, raising up the sleeper bridge, laying scalpings, tree felling and removal of dead trees, bank path improvements. This is very much an ongoing list and we are particularly grateful to our site manager, Nigel Emmerson, for his leadership and plain hard work, often on his own with John Shawyer. He has also enabled two students to work on the Wildlife Area as part of their D of E silver and gold awards by finding suitable jobs and giving them good guidance. We also benefit from the practical help of Pirbright Institute staff who come to support our working parties in good numbers to pull Himalayan balsam and to do weed clearing in the pond as part of their local charity effort. Their enthusiasm is infectious and encouraging to us!
Another pleasurable partnership has been continued with the Fox Pub who very generously hosted our summer BBQ for members last August. A good crowd of around 60 attended. We hope to be able to continue this successful event in 2020.
Last autumn, we were particularly delighted to receive a Gold Award in the prestigious Guildford in Bloom competition in their new category of Nature Conservation which attracted entries from a diverse group of organisations/businesses. The winners were a very specialist butterfly conservation group doing amazing work. Looking into the future, we are needing to update our original 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. 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 so very encouraged by members’ response to my appeal last year. In addition to 7 very generous donations totalling over £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 and we will process the rest. 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, 14 April – AGM in the Church Room, St Michael’s Church, Pirbright. We have wildlife photographer Nigel Choate as our speaker on the subject of ‘Wild Surrey’.