Volunteers needed for Caldershaw Green

Green Volunteer day out with Leader Dustie Hickey and Rangers Adam Clayton and Steve Veevers to Trentham Gardens, Stoke-on-Trent in July last year

Dustie Hickey, the lady behind the transformation of Caldershaw Green, is appealing for both Green Volunteers and volunteers to form a Friends group for the area.

Caldershaw Green was a project started by Dustie, a Green Volunteer Leader, after she and her daughter won a grant from Rochdale Boroughwide Housing in March 2014. Once impassable, the site is now used by everyone from schoolchildren and residents to dog walkers and cyclists.

Dustie said: “Over the years, various groups like Ground Work, Princes Trust and The Green Volunteers have worked on the site and continue to do various tasks on the land.

“I am particularly keen to recruit Green Volunteers for Caldershaw Green due to the size of the project. Until a few years ago, no-one could gain access to this beautiful site without experiencing a jungle of overgrowth and non-existent paths.

“If people feel they don't fit the physical capability for hands on conservation like path building or laying hedges, then skills such as being a treasurer, resourcing and making applications for grants, secretarial work or making posters for the new notice boards are just as worthwhile as we desperately need local people to form a Friends Group. “

“I like the idea of everyone doing a bit and getting involved. This is the idea of sharing responsibility makes people become ‘responsible owners’ and resources sourced by local people are going to be cherished and looked after.”

Dustie, Ranger Bob Bevan and other Green Volunteers have also been clearing path site lines on Thursday mornings in addition to planting fruit trees, foxgloves, bee-friendly teasels and wild primrose, plus the installation of notice boards. Sadly, they are using up valuable time to clear fly-tipping, littering and dog fouling to make the area as safe and clean as possible for everyone.

Grants would also open up huge potential for the future of the site, including construction of new paths, a butterfly garden, pond, carved sculptures as part of an educational nature trail and a bluebell wood, to name but a few.

Adam Clayton, Green Volunteer Co-ordinator, said: “The Green Volunteer scheme is open to all, and we provide a warm welcome to new volunteers. Full training and uniform is provided and we have a packed calendar of activities throughout the year and across all areas of the Borough.”

Dustie added: “If anyone is interested in being a Green volunteer or becoming a Friend of Caldershaw Green, please contact Adam as we hope to have our first meeting in the not-too-near future. We will of course be utilising our notice boards of the date/time of this and publish on Rochdale Online.”

The Green Volunteer scheme started in December 2007. Since then, volunteers have helped the environment in a number of ways, including re-opening local countryside paths that were blocked with overgrown vegetation, restoring derelict herbaceous flower borders and parks, and delivering environmental education activities at Hollingworth Lake.

For more information on volunteering at Caldershaw Green, contact Adam Clayton:

adam.clayton@rochdale.gov.uk

01706 373421