Between Saturday, 27 February, and Sunday, 6 March voting will be open in the Abergavenny Tesco to choose between three projects, which will then receive grants of £12,000, £10,000 or £8,000, according to which is voted most deserving. One of the three is a Friends of Linda Vista Gardens project to refurbish and renew the gates to these Abergavenny gardens which are currently badly eroded.   Another is the Laurie Jones Community Orchard and Garden project and a third is Outdoor Gym Facilities in Bailey Park.  You can vote every time you visit. The Tesco Bags of Help website is www.tesco.com/bagsofhelp.

The Welsh Perry & Cider Society are currently looking for a part time (27 hours, £19k pa pro rata) Administrative Assistant as part of a job share role, working on a new two-year HLF funded project and also taking on day-to-day administration of the Society.  Details from Cressida Slater heritage@welshcider.co.uk.  Closing date: 3 March.

Gwent Wildlife Trust is launching an appeal to help create new wildflower meadows at its reserves.  The money raised will be used to buy organic cattle to graze the reserves in a way that favours conservation.  The appeal will close (not open, as previously stated) on March 7.  To donate £5 or more simply by JustTextGiving, text MOOO16 £5 to 70070. To find out more visit www.gwentwildlife.org/Give-for-Grazing.

Monmouthshire County Council is to improve signage on the Wye Valley Walk following the receipt of a £3,677 rights of way improvement grant from the Welsh Government.  Monmouthshire’s stretch of the scenic route runs from Chepstow via Tintern, Whitebrook and Monmouth, to the English border near Symond’s Yat.   In addition, £14,500 is being spent on improving a bridleway near Redbrook and on footpaths in Llanishen, Wolvesnewton and Rogiet.  The improvement works include drainage, surfacing and replacing furniture to make the paths more accessible.

Monmouthshire’s Countryside Access Team has also received training to install equipment that indicates the number of walkers who use the county’s regional routes. Electronic sensors detect and record people as they pass fixed points.  They hope to involve community groups and volunteers in collecting the data, which will help support grant bids.

Abergavenny’s sixth annual Seedy Sunday will be on Sunday, 6 March at Park Street Community Centre (11.00-3.00).  It’s an Abergavenny Transition Town event, mostly about swapping seeds and plants, donations for more seeds, and looking after parks and gardens – with Sarah Price, an RHS Chelsea Gold Medal winning designer, and a Fair Trade cafe.

Subject the Royal Assent, Wales now has the Environment (Wales) Act to tackle climate change with a target of at least an 80% reduction inj emissions by 2050.  Natural Resources Minister Carl Sargeant says the Act will ensure that the sustainable managementof our natural resources will be a core consideration in all decision-taking.  The eco-system approach of the UN convention on Biological Diversity is now in our legislation, probably the first in the EU to do so.  The Act also enables action to be taken to achieve higher levels of recycling business waste, food waste treatment and energy recovery.  More at http://gov.wales/topics/environmentcountryside/consmanagement/natural-resources-management/environment-bill/?lang=en

The first Wales-only legislation to improve the protection and management of the country’s historic environment has also been passed by the National Assembly for Wales. When it becomes law the Historic Environment (Wales) Bill will introduce new measures to protect Wales’ historic environment. It will make it more difficult for individuals who damage protected monuments to escape prosecution by pleading ignorance of a monument’s status or location. It will also introduce new powers to take urgent action to stop unauthorised work to historic sites and to stop historic buildings from falling into disrepair. The legislation will allow the development of a system of preservation notices and will give local authorities new ways to recover their costs when they have to take direct action.  More at http://gov.wales/newsroom/cultureandsport/2016/160209-Bill-to-make-history/?lang=en

The Institute of Welsh Affairs is seeking a Project Officer to work on an innovative new project looking at making Wales a net exporter of renewable energy. This ambitious three-year project is setting out to provide a fully worked out plan to enable Wales to meet its projected energy demands entirely from renewable sources by 2035.  £26-30k pa.  The full job description and person specification can be found at http://www.clickonwales.org/wp-content/uploads/EnergyProjectOfficerjobdescription.pdf.  Closing date:26 February.

Monmouthshire Meadows Group fundraising has reached its target of £96,000 to buy two traditional flower-rich meadows at Kingcoed, near Raglan. Many groups and individuals contributed but a Biffa Award of £45,000 has enabled the purchase to be completed. The appeal is still open as a little more money is needed for information material and events; the meadows will be open to the public on National Meadows Day on 2 July.

The Woodland Trust is hoping to recruit volunteers to join its Woodland Working party at Cefn Ila near Usk. Volunteers will be working on uncovering original features in the magnificent grounds, cutting back invasive plants, restoring fences, creating new paths and making benches for the site as part of a two year project. You can get in touch and find out more information at
http://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/get-involved/volunteer-with-us/opportunities/woodland-working-party-cefn-ila/.