Civic Pride

Spelthorne Civic Pride Volunteers

Newsletter August 2006

What a year! – a national award, two 10th Birthday celebrations and two films about our work

Newsletter Contents

Special Edition

Queens Award for Voluntary Service
Our Partners
Community Projects
Other Initiatives
Awards

August Newsletter - Other News

Community Projects
Funky Footprints Nature Reserve
Splash Pond
Millenium Wood
Laleham Pond
Litter News
Make A Difference Month
Spring Clean Litter Picks
Anti-Litter Poster Competition
Environmental Awards
Free Daffodils & Crocuses
BAA Grants for Environmental Projects
Steering Group
More Information

The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service 2006

As some of you may already be aware from the press coverage, Spelthorne Civic Pride has been given The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service. It was presented on behalf of Her Majesty the Queen by the Lord Lieutenant of Surrey Mrs Sarah Goad J.P. in July.

We were delighted that so many of our supporters and partners were able to join us despite the appalling thunder storms that evening. We are very grateful to our Mayor, Councillor Malcolm Royer for hosting the ceremony and to the Council for allowing us to use the magnificent Council Chamber for the ceremony. We even had a Guard of Honour for the Lord Lieutenant provided by 1st Shepperton Guides!

The Award is a beautiful crystal tablet with the wording engraved within it. We were also presented with a certificate that had been signed by Her Majesty the Queen herself which is truly a great honour to receive.

No group could have achieved what we have by working alone, and it’s thanks to you and all your support that Civic Pride’s work has been recognised. This award was for everyone who has worked with us over the last 17 years, from the youngest 6 year old tree planter, to the multi national corporations who supported us financially.

We must single out three individuals for special thanks, as it was they who brought Civic Pride to the attention of the Award committee – Spelthorne Councillor Robin Sider, Jill Barton Head of Conservation at Surrey Wildlife Trust and Karen Satterford the former Chief Executive of Spelthorne Council.

The records show that since 1989, more than four thousand volunteers have contributed in excess of 14 thousand hours to improve Spelthorne’s environment for both people and wildlife. We cannot name every individual who has turned up, come rain, come shine or even snow, to work on our Community Projects but we would like to take this opportunity to offer you our sincere thanks. We hope that you too have found the work as rewarding and as much fun as we have.

We have scoured our records for all the groups we have worked with over the years and have discovered that a staggering one hundred and eighty nine schools, companies, churches, residents associations and youth groups have taken part in one way or another. If you group or school has been missed out please accept our humble apologies. No ones records can be 100% accurate over 17 years despite our very best efforts.

Our Partners have included

1st Ashford Guides 1st Laleham Scout Group 1st Shepperton Guides 1st Shepperton St Nicholas Beavers 1st Stanwell Cubs 1st Stanwell Scouts 2nd Shepperton Brownies 2nd Sunbury Guides 398 Squadron Air Training Corps 3rd Ashford Guides 6th Staines Guides 6th Staines Scouts 7th Ashford Beavers, Cubs & Scouts Alan Freeman Trust All Saints Church A2 Sheltered Housing - Church Villa Dennis Court Elizabeth Court Grove Barns Kennedy Court St Martin's Court St Mary's Crescent Ashford Hospital Voluntary Service Dept Ashford Library Ashford Park Primary School Ashford Sports Club Ashford Youth Club Ashurst Drive Improvement Assoc B A A Heathrow BBC Springwatch Programme Beauclerc Infants School Bishop Wand C of E School BP Sunbury Brett Aggregates British Airways British Gas British Telecom British Trust for Conservation Volunteers British Trust for Ornithology Buckland Infants School Buglife Charlton Village Neighbourhood Watch Charlton Village Residents Association Chennestone Primary School Christ Church Parochial Church Council Chubb Fire Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- day Saints Civic Service Yacht Club Clarendon Primary School Community Service Volunteers Computer Solutions Ltd Courage Ltd Desborough Sailing Club Duke of Edinburgh Awards Echelford Primary School Egham & Staines Conservation Volunteers ENCAM Engineering Appliances Ltd English Nature Enigma Environment Agency Fairways Day Centre Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group Fordway School Friends of Kenyngton Park Friends of Littleton Rec Ground Friends of Shortwood Common Friends of Sunbury Park Girls Venture Corps Air Training Glebe Nursing Home Greeno Centre	Groundwork Thames Valley Guardian Newspapers Halliford School Halliford Women's Institute Hawkdale First School Heathrow News Heathrow Villager Hidden Garden Centre Hythe Primary School Informer Newspapers Kenyngton Manor Primary School Kingscroft Junior School Knowle Park Infants School Laleham Residents Assoc Laleham Society Laleham Village Hall Committee Littleton C of E Primary School Littleton Sailing Club London Amphibian Group London Wetland Trust Lower Sunbury Residents Association Manor Mead School Manygate Lane Residents Association Marks & Spencer Plc Matthew Arnold School McDonald’s Restaurants Metropolitan Police Nauticalia Neighbourhood Watch Groups in Spelthorne North West Surrey Landscape Conservation Programme Nottcuts Garden Centre Onyx UK Ltd Ordinance Survey Our Lady of the Rosary Primary School Owl House Perrin Court Retirement Flats Plantlife Proctor and Gamble Ramblers Association RARA River Thames Society Rivermount Residents RMC Ltd Rotaract Royal Holloway College R.S.P.B. Runneymede Volunteer Bureau Salvation Army Science & Technology Regional Organisation Saxon Primary School Shepperton Allotment Assoc Shepperton Green W.I. Shepperton Ladies Circle Shepperton Library Shepperton Play School Shepperton Residents Assoc Shepperton Rotary Shepperton Tree Wardens Shepperton Village W I Shepperton Youth Club Shortwood Infants School Spelthorne Borough Council Spelthorne Junior School Spelthorne Crime Prevention Panel Spelthorne In Bloom Spelthorne Infant & Nursery School Spelthorne Natural History Society Spelthorne Tree Wardens Spelthorne Volunteer Bureau Springfield Primary School Springtime Nursery School Squires Garden Centre
St David’s School St Ignatius Primary School St Mary’s Junior School St Mary's Church Fellowship St Mary's The Virgin Church St Matthews Church St Michael’s Primary School St Nicholas Primary School St Paul's R C School St Peter's Church Sunday School Staines Cine & Video Society Staines Library Staines Preparatory School Staines Tree Wardens Stanwell Library	Stanwell Village Hall Committee Stanwell Women’s Institute Stanwell Woodcraft Folk Stanwell Youth Club Sunbury Cross Residents Association Sunbury Library Sunbury Manor School Sunbury Women’s Institute Sunbury Youth Club Surrey Amphibian and Reptile Group Surrey Bat Group Surrey County Council Surrey Herald Newspapers
Surrey Probation Services Community Service Unit Surrey Tree Wardens Surrey Wildlife Trust Swan Sanctuary Tarmac Ltd TASIS American School Thames Meadow Residents Assoc Thames Water Ltd Thamesmead School	Tidy Britain Timberland Tools for Self Reliance Toshiba Plc Town Farm Primary School University of the Third Age Upper Halliford Residents Association UPS Vision Aid Overseas Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust

Community Projects

Some of our volunteers prefer to work on projects close to home, so you may not be aware of all the areas we have worked in. Over the years local residents from every corner of the Borough have given up their Sunday mornings to clear litter, plant tree and bulbs, clear nettles and brambles and restore ponds. And, we even have a new project this autumn to tempt new volunteers to help.

Ashford Hospital - bulb planting
Beggars Lane footpath - rubbish clearing, tree planting, pond restoration
Black Ditch Walk footpath - nettle and litter clearing
Briar Road footpath – litter and tree planting
Burgess Way - tree planting
Charlton Village - litter removal and clearing vegetation
Dumsey Meadow - Ragwort and litter clearing
Funky Footprints Nature Reserve – enhancing site for education and wildlife Halliford Wood - tree planting and litter collecting
Hawthorne Way - tree and bulb planting
Hithermoor Road - litter removal
Kenyngton Park – tree and bulb planting
Laleham Nursery – creating tree nursery for Spelthorne tree Wardens
Laleham Park - tree planting and litter collections
Laleham Pond - restoration
Littleton Recreation ground - tree planting
Lords Bridge Pond - restoration
Millennium Wood - creation of new wood
Pocket Park - tree and bulb planting
Ramblers - litter pick along footpaths
River Thames - litter picks beside the river
Russell Road - tree planting
Shepperton Allotments - bulb planting and creating raised plot for disabled users
Shepperton in Bloom
Shepperton Green - tree planting
Shepperton - tree planting
School Walk footpath - litter clearance and stile building
St Nicholas Cemetery Footpath - litter clearance
St Saviours Church - site clearing
Shortwood Common - litter clean-up
Swan Sanctuary - tree planting
Thornhill Way - tree planting
Woodlands Parade - Tree planting

Other Initiatives

We don’t all want to spend our Sunday’s getting muddy and so we have tried over the years to offer alternatives. It is clear from the support we have received that many, many residents care about Spelthorne’s environment and are willing to join us in improving it.

Anti-Litter poster competition
Bulb planting
Christmas tree shred
Collection of unwanted spectacles for Vision Aid Overseas
Collection of used tools for Tools For Self Reliance
Community Litter Picks
Environment Village
Environment Week
Environmental Awards
Environmental Pledge
Fairs and displays
Graffiti removal
Litter Free Schools initiative
Liveability Project tree planting
Make a Difference Day Litter Picks
Recycling Competition
Park Watch
Scrap workshop
Tidy Schools Competition
Tidy Scout & Guide Headquarters Competition
Veteran Tree recording
Wild flower growing for Community Projects by schools and residents
Win-A-Bin school’s initiative

Awards

Looking back over our records, The Queen’s Award is not the only occasion when our work has been recognised, although undoubtedly it is the most prestigious. We thought you might like to be reminded of the other awards.

1997 - Surrey County Council and Toshiba’s Pride of Place Award for Laleham Pond.
1999 - Spelthorne Borough Council’s Design Award for Laleham Pond
1999 - Queen Mother’s Birthday Award – National Commendation
2001 - Surrey County Council and Toshiba’s Pride of Place Award for our Community Projects.
2004 - British Trust for Ornithology’s Business Bird Challenge for Funky Footprints Nature Reserve,
jointly with Tarmac Ltd
2004 - Spelthorne Borough Council’s Design Award for Millennium Wood jointly with Spelthorne Tree
Wardens
2005 - Surrey County Council’s Minerals & Waste Development Departments Award for Good
Practice for Funky Footprints Nature Reserve

In summary, perhaps the most appropriate way to end this special newsletter is to quote our slogan

LOCAL PEOPLE - LOCAL ACTION

Thank you all!

August Newsletter - Other News

Community Projects
Funky Footprints Nature Reserve
Splash Pond
Millenium Wood
Laleham Pond
Litter News
Make A Difference Month

Spring Clean Litter Picks
Anti-Litter Poster Competition
Environmental Awards
Free Daffodils & Crocuses
BAA Grants for Environmental Projects
Steering Group
More Information

August 2006 Newsletter - Community Projects News

Despite the excitement we have managed to continue our normal programme during the spring and summer, so there follows our usual round up of events.

Funky Footprints Nature Reserve
Sadly, Neal Adolphus, the Head teacher of St Nicholas School retired at the end of July. We will miss his enthusiastic support and expertise but we hope that he will come back often to the reserve to see how we are doing.

Our new bird watching hide was finally erected this spring and we are very grateful to Lynn Lewis of Nauticalia for his financial help for this. The main event of the summer was the Open Day in July, with pond dipping organised by Surrey Wildlife Trust. The children really enjoyed it and found lots of life in the pond. We were able to identify many new species for us including a water stick insect, which looks exactly like the land variety. One of our members, Shirley Proud, devised a Nature Trail that helped the children understand more about the area and what wildlife lives there.

During a scuba dive in March to measure the lake depth and silt levels, the divers described one area as being like swimming in a tadpole soup! And, our bird count has reached 86 species, with Barn Owls and an Osprey seen very close but not actually on the reserve YET! Funky Footprints and some children from St Nicholas School were filmed for a Parliamentary Committee presentation in June so its fame is spreading far and wide.

Work this autumn will depend on the weather, as we cannot plant trees unless we get more rain. But, the low water levels will make the reed clearance and other pond work easier.

Work days – Sunday 8th October and Sunday 19th November both 10am. Full details in the enclosed leaflet.

NEW PROJECT - Splash Pond
We have a new site to get our teeth into thanks to Spelthorne Natural History Society. We have often had their help in the past with wildflower surveys, but this is the first time we have embarked on a joint project. Splash Pond is a tiny pond at the far end of the Old Charlton Road and it needs clearing of reeds and pond weeds. If we don’t act soon the water will totally disappear. Our first work day will be on Sunday 22nd October and we will be joined by Spelthorne Natural History Society members, Egham & Staines Conservation Volunteers and local residents.

So, we still need your help with this lovely little project. There has even been talk of ending up at the pub for a quick drink afterwards! Tempting?
Work day – Sunday 22nd October 10am

Millennium Wood
As one of the major projects of the Spelthorne Tree Wardens it was an ideal site to host the 10th Birthday celebration of the Tree Wardens. There are volunteer wardens all over the Borough helping local residents to pant and care for trees. We often work along side them because our aims are so similar. If you would like to know more about their work, or how you could plant more trees please contact Carole Keys-Shaw 01932 566167.

Laleham Pond
Time passes fast when you are enjoying yourself, so it was quite a surprise to realise that the restoration was 10 years old. The pond has matured well and seems to be just what the wildlife need. And they are not alone – the BBC2 Springwatch came to film the project as an example of what can be achieved by volunteers.
This March we saw frog spawn, toad spawn – our first ever - and a pair of mating great Crested Newts! What could be better? – well a pair of Kingfishers seem to have nested in the bank and a family of three made an appearance at the 10th Birthday celebration in July! Our Mayor, Councillor Malcolm Royer cut the cake and we were delighted that so many of our supporters were able to join us on a lovely, hot summer day.
Surrey Wildlife Trust ran the pond dipping for the day and Karen Bartlett organised a Nature Trail and visitor survey as part of her Open University Degree course. It was very encouraging that 197 visitors came and many of them joined in the activities. A useful side effect of the pond dipping is that we have a survey of the pond’s inhabitants, so our thanks to all the children who helped.
One visitor to the pond had a special request that we were delighted to agree to. Brain Gallagher from Ashford wanted to paint the pond each season – so we can now boast an Artist In Residence. What a great year for the pond!

Work day – Sunday 5th November 10am

Heritage Open Day – If you weren’t able to get to the pond in July, then you have another opportunity on Saturday 9th September from 1.30 to 4pm when we will be opening the site again as part of Spelthorne’s Heritage Open Days initiative.

Litter News

Litter Free Schools Awards Results 2006
Over the last three years we have worked with McDonalds Restaurants in their initiative to encourage more litter awareness in schools. This year was even better supported and we are proud to include a list of the schools achievements.

Gold Award
St Michael’s RC Primary School
Buckland Infant School
Chennestone County Primary School

Silver Award
Spelthorne Infant and Nursery School
St Nicholas C of E Primary School
Saxon County Primary School
Springfield County Primary School
Town Farm County Primary School

Bronze Award
Ashford Park County Primary School
Clarendon County Primary School
Echelford Primary School
Buckland Junior School
Knowle Park County Infant School
Our Lady of the Rosary RC Primary School
Shortwood County Infant School
Hawkedale Infants School
St Ignatius RC Primary School
Matthew Arnold Secondary School

Make A Difference Month

If you are willing to help tidy up Spelthorne after the summer, we are again offering £2 for every bag of litter you collect on an organised Litter Pick during the whole of October. Please see enclosed leaflet for details.

Spring Clean Litter Picks

The anti-litter message is certainly getting through to school children, but some adults aren’t so careful with their rubbish. We would like to thank all the following groups for helping to clear up other people’s mess!

2nd Shepperton Guides
4th Ashford Guides
6th Staines Scouts
6th Staines Guides
7th Ashford Scouts
398 Squadron Air Training Corps
Charlton Village Residents Association
Church of Jesus Christ of Later-day Saints
Fairways Day Centre
Matthew Arnold School
RARA
Spelthorne Tree Wardens
Staines Town Society
Swan Sanctuary

These groups collected 306 bags of litter from footpaths, riverbanks, streets and parks all over Spelthorne and earned themselves £612 for their funds.

Anti-Litter Poster Competition

We need to work together – no one section of the community can do it alone so we are delighted to be working with McDonald’s Restaurants again. Their secondary schools project was to design a poster to encourage everyone to recycle their rubbish.

This successful project was the result of a partnership between McDonald’s Restaurants,
Spelthorne Borough Council,
Runnymede Borough Council,
Spelthorne Schools,
Runnymede Schools,
Education Business Partnership,
And Civic Pride.

There were 1163 entries in total and we are delighted that Conan Thomas from Matthew Arnold School was the winner. You should see his poster whenever you visit a McDonalds in the area.

Environmental Awards

Once again, our task of choosing winners for these awards was very difficult. There are so many dedicated people in Spelthorne who care deeply about the Borough.

The Junior Award was given to Matthew Arnold Secondary School for their many environmental initiatives both within the school and in the surrounding area. They are truly an example to us all.

The Senior Award gave us even more pause for thought. Two residents Peter Routley and Hugh Evans stood out, but which of them should have to wait until next year to receive recognition? In the end we decide to give them both the award which they will share for the year.

Peter’s work at the new Swan Sanctuary organising volunteers to help turn a derelict site into a haven for both the swans and other wildlife was, and is, outstanding. As one of the founders of the Spelthorne Natural History Society his advice and guidance on this and other projects will ensure that wildlife flourishes in our Borough.

Hugh has spent hour upon hour recording bird life at Funky Footprints. Over the last 4 years he logged 87 species and his dedication helped us to win the British Trust for Ornithology’s Business Bird Challenge with Tarmac last year. His advice and continued support for the project has been invaluable and we will be looking to him for help for many years to come..

Free Daffodils & Crocuses

The funding we received from Surrey County Councils’ North West Surrey Conservation programme will allow us to buy more bulbs for voluntary groups again this year. The only conditions are that they should be planted where they can be seen by the general public and that you have the landowner’s permission. We would like to have 3 photographs of the volunteers planting the bulbs please. For full details and an application form please see the enclosed leaflet.

BAA Grants for Environmental Projects

Yet again this year, BAA Heathrow supported a number of local groups who wanted to carry out environmental improvements in Spelthorne. If you have a project that needs funding please check your local paper or contact us for an application form which should be available later this year.

Steering Group

If you have been impressed with the work detailed in this newsletter could you perhaps spare some time to help organise it? The Steering Group needs new members

and new ideas.

How much time are we asking for? Just 4 short meetings a year.
What experience do you need? NONE! We are just a group of ordinary residents who care about the environment and are prepared to help. If we need special experts we know where to find them. What we need are enthusiasts!

If you would like more information please give me a call. Contact details below.

For more information

Please contact
Jill Stephens, 87 Briar Road, Shepperton, TW17 0JB
Tel: 01932 829460 Mon-Thurs 9-4 or use email button below

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