Newsletter - Summer 2006
Monmouthshire, Brecon and Abergavenny Canals Trust A Green Consumer Guide for Monmouthshire Fairtrade blossoms in Monmouthshire Got a good idea for a project? Usk Civic Society's day of tribute to Alfred Russel Wallace Monmouthshire Meadows Group New local wildlife books
Monmouthshire, Brecon and Abergavenny Canals Trust
The Monmouthshire, Brecon and Abergavenny Canals Trust and its volunteers have had a very busy start to the year so far. The little environmentally friendly trip boat “Edith – Elizabeth” is doing very well. The monthly boat trips at Fourteen Locks are proving to be very popular. Newport City Council are providing back pumping to allow the use of the Cefn Lock, proving to be a very popular experience for the boat passengers. These trips will be arranged for the second Sunday of the month, the last for the year being in October. Over the Whitsun weekend the Trust attended the 40’s weekend at Goytre Wharf, over 150 people enjoyed the boat trips in a mixture of weather conditions.
A first for the Trust was attending the Langport River Festival in Somerset, supporting the River Parrot Catchment project. This is a £50m scheme to join up the rivers and canals of Somerset in a cruise way for boating, and part of a flood prevention scheme for the area, ready for the effects of rising sea levels due to global warming. The Trust’s trip boat proved very popular and over 30 visiting boats attended.
Our trip boat is unique in the fact that it can be used as one 26 foot boat carrying 14 people, or two 13 footers carrying 7 people. This is great for using on bits of canal that have no turning points, i.e central Cwmbran and the stretches of canal in Risca.
On Bank Holiday Monday we attended the opening of the new slipway in Risca, built by the Islwyn Canal Association and Caerphilly Council (the canal owners), the funding for this came from The People's Millions, and voted for by the public on ITV back in December 2005.
On the funding front, we continue to negotiate the lease for the Fourteen Locks Canal centre at Rogerstone, and funding has been secured for a tea room extension, and also for a Project Officer for two years, from the Welsh Assembly. The Trust was also please to receive £8,000 from the Gannet Foundation towards a vehicle to tow the trip boat and transport inventory for the many events we organise. Concerns about running costs for this vehicle were allayed when a Trust member came forward and match funded the original grant for running costs! The Five Locks project in Cwmbran has also taken a step forward, the £20,000 engineering & feasibility study has been presented to the partners recently. The scheme to reopen the five locks and extend navigation under Five Locks Road will cost £2.9m. An artist's impression of the finished works can be seen on the left.
The restoration of the canal and its communities is now part of a major lottery application as part of the “Living Landmarks” fund. We have successfully passed through two stages, and in August 2006 will find out if we have been successful for the crucial 3rd stage. The partnership has bid for £25m of the £32m required, restoring the canal through Cwmbran to Newport. The partners are the Trust, British Waterways, Newport City Council, Torfaen County Borough Council (lead partner), and Caerphilly County Borough Council.
The Trust has a lot planned for 2007, fancy being part of it?
Why not join us, call into Pontymoile Tea rooms, Goytre Wharf or Fourteen Locks to pick up a leaflet, or download a form from our website www.mon-brec-canal-trust.org.uk
A Green Consumer Guide for Monmouthshire
If you manage or work for a local green business or offer products or services that have a positive impact on the environment locally or globally, we would be delighted to hear from you. There are likely to be sections in the Directory covering waste minimisation and recycling, building and energy, nature conservation, food and drink, gardening and growing, health, local services, financial services, education, transport, arts and crafts, tourism and leisure. We hope that it will be a comprehensive directory that will help local people to source eco-friendly products and services close to home. We are planning to begin work on the project in September 2006. If you want to be included or know of a business or service that should be considered please email Dick Cole or Sue Parkinson.
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Fairtrade blossoms in Monmouthshire
Are you making Fairtrade your habit? Hundreds of people throughout Monmouthshire have signed up to support their local group in the quest to make each town in Monmouthshire a Fairtrade Town. Monmouth started the ball rolling by becoming a Fairtrade Town in 2005 and now Usk, Chepstow, Abergavenny and Caldicot are all looking to follow suit.
"Fairtrade provides thousands of people living in Developing Countries with a fair and stable price for their crops. This, along with a social premium, enables communities to invest in the future by improving health care, education and training. The increased wage that families receive means that children are able to attend school rather than work in the fields with their parents" said Margaret Davis, Chair of Chepstow Fairtrade Forum.
Certificates were awarded in July to 7 organisations in Usk, 8 in Abergavenny and 14 in Chepstow who pledged to support or sell Fairtrade. Over 30 certificates have been awarded in Monmouth to date. This means that there is more opportunity to buy Fairtrade products in shops and cafes throughout the County. Gill Branch, Chair of Abergavenny Fairtrade Forum said ; "Fairtrade Towns is about increasing both the awareness and availability of Fairtrade products in the area. This has worked really well in Monmouth and we look forward to the same kind of success"
County Hall is doing its bit by switching over to using Fairtrade tea at all their internal catered meetings. The taste is proving to be a big hit as staff realise that not only is Fairtrade good for farmers and the environment, it also is of very high quality.
Got a good idea?
Twenty four ideas for environmental projects were suggested at the Community Strategy workshop held in April by the Environment Partnership Board in association with GreenWeb. The event was attended by over 40 people, including representatives of Monmouthshire GreenWeb member groups, the public sector and lcoal agencies. You can read the report on the event here.
The ideas generated are now being assessed for further development and support. A significant number of the ideas related to energy issues, including support for community renewables, low energy social housing for local families, developing wood fuel and incentives for energy conservation. There were also suggestions for several transport related projects including a local car/lift share scheme, a lower Wye Valley cycle route, and a National Express coach stop in Monmouth. Waste minimisation projects were also suggested, and a strategy for environmental education. Nature conservation was represented by a suggestion for a project aimed at conserving the wildlife in our churchyards.
The Board wants to encourage more ideas to be brought forward. Resources are tight and perhaps only a few will get through the sifting process, but if you don't speak up you don't stand a chance. A good place to start is by talking to Rural Community Action (01873 736037) - they cover the towns as well as rural areas, and are members of the Environment Partnership Board.
Day of tribute to Alfred Russel Wallace
On May 20th 2006, the Society along with the Usk Conservation and Environment Group and the Friends of Usk Rural Life Museum, held a day of tribute to Alfred Russel Wallace, the eminent Victorian biologist and co-discoverer with Charles Darwin of the process of evolution by natural selection.
The day was the culmination of 18 months of work by the Society Secretary John Barrow and Society member and poet Ann Cluysenaar to erect a suitable and distinct memorial to Wallace near his birthplace in Llanbadoc, just outside Usk on the river bank. Apart from plaques on the backs of two seats provided by the Society, there has been nothing substantial to mark his birthplace at Kensington Cottage in 1823. Encouraged by the enthusiasm of the Chairman of the Wallace Memorial Fund and Curator of Grasshoppers at the Natural History Museum, Dr George Beccaloni, the two Society members toured several quarries in South Wales before finding a suitable large rock of Carboniferous limestone with exposed fossils. The quarry owners Messrs Hanson Aggregates generously donated the rock from the quarry near Ogmore.
Equally generous were Messrs Mossfords, Stonemasons of Culverhouse Cross, Cardiff (Director Brian Morgan) who not only offered to transport the rock to the chosen site just outside the churchyard wall of Llanbadoc Church (for which planning permission had to be obtained) but offered to design and manufacture a plaque with a portrait of the great man and a brief account of his travels, distinctions and awards.
Illustrated is the rock and plaque with, from the left, Mr Richard Wallace, one of Alfred’s grandsons, who unveiled the memorial; the President of Usk Civic Society the Lord Raglan; Secretary John Barrow; Society member Ann Cluysenaar; and Mrs Richard Wallace.
At the ceremony attended by over 60 people, Lord Raglan said "Wallace was one of the greatest biologists and undoubtedly the greatest man to have been born here since Adam of Usk".
In his response, Mr Richard Wallace said "this is a most appropriate place, overlooking the River Usk, because Alfred used to catch lampreys here with his brothers and take them home to be cooked."
The illustration of the plaque itself shows Wallace’s portrait in early middle age and his links with Llanbadoc, Usk together with his later exploits and awards. The plaque is of honed granite as is a smaller plaque (not illustrated here) stating where the rock came from and the name of the donor and supplier.
Before the unveiling, Dr George Beccaloni gave an illustrated talk in the morning to about 100 people at the Three Salmons Hotel in Usk on the life, work and childhood of the great naturalist, evolutionist, biogeographer and humanist. He thanked all those who had contributed to such a successful occasion commemorating Wallace’s birthplace.
Busy time for Monmouthshire Meadows
Monmouthshire Meadows Group held their annual open day on Sunday June 4th in glorious weather. Mark Bristow, the AONB Information Officer, publicised it effectively and all the sites had a steady stream of visitors. They were all delighted. Their main complaints were that we had charged £1.00 to see 8 meadows which was far too cheap in their opinion and that it was difficult to get round all of them in one day because there was so much to see and enjoy! Gloucestershire's Parish Grasslands Project and Monmouthshire Meadows Group, who organise the open day together, have agreed to hold next year’s event slightly later and to open on Saturday and Sunday. We shall need extra helpers!
The Meadows Group recently hosted a visit by Carwen Jones, Environment Minister at the Welsh Assembly. He visited 4 meadows to launch a new book "Local Successes - A Celebration of Local Biodiversity Action in Wales", compiled by Countryside Council for Wales and the Wales Biodiversity Partnership. The book celebrates 11 different biodiversity projects in Wales, and Carwen Jones was keen to see the results of the work of the Monmouthshire Meadows Group. He saw summer marsh orchids and the grazing Exmoor ponies that help maintain the flora of the meadow at Trellech. The launch took place at the property of 94 year old Ida Dunn (see left), who manages a meadow full of butterfly orchids. The launch event happened to coincide with a visit from BBC Wales TV who are making a new series called Nature in Britain featuring Iolo Williams and Alan Titchmarsh, which will be screened in autumn 2007. The TV crew will visit the group over time looking at how their meadows are managed, with the next visit timed to cover haymaking, bracken bashing and Himalayan Balsam control.
The Monmouthshire Meadows Group was inspired by Gloucestershire's Parish Grasslands Project, and the two groups continue to share equipment and expertise. The groups will next meet at a summer barbecue on Saturday 29th July to share home reared Berkshire Pork sausages and chicken at Cowshill Farm, Hewelsfield. If you wish to attend please contact John Josephi on 01594 530598.
New local wildlife books
Usk Conservation and Environmental Group member and local naturalist Colin Titcombe has published a new book "Wildlife in Gwent Post Millennium". It follows on from his 1998 book entitled "Gwent - its Landscape and Natural History". The book includes contributions from a number of well known local naturalists including Sam Bosanquet, Chris Hatch and Graham Harris. It provides an overview of the distribution of various flora and fauna, and makes observations on our changing natural world. There are fascinating chapters on the wildlife of our most dynamic habitat, the Severn Estuary and on the rarely visited Denny Island. Other chapters focus on trees, invertebrates, birds, amphibians and mammals. Many of the contributors have been observing places or species in Gwent over a considerable period of time, and the book encourages us all to gain a greater understanding of the world around us through simply taking the time to stand and look a little more closely. The book is available from some local bookshops, or by sending a cheque for £10 + post and packing. Contact Graham Harris for details.
Gwent Ornithological Society is due to publish its Birds of Gwent in early 2007. It is essential reading for serious and casual ornithologists locally, as it is a complete avifauna. Each bird's historic status in Gwent will be explored, together with up to date data, with reasons provided for changes in distribution patterns and populations. There will also be sections on the habitats found in the County, geology, bird watching sites, ringing and population estimates. Visit the GOS web site for up dates on this publication.
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