WORK PARTY
2024
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Sat 2nd November
Cleared the gutters and sides of the main path on the bottom section towards Kendal Street. Sat 5th October Clear he footpath from Dale View Grove requires, tidying some of the trees that fell during the winds. Sat 7th September Cleared path of broken branches and leaves. Sat 3rd August Litter picking & preparing the picnic area, grass trimming. Sat 6th July Cut the grass in the picnic area & litter picking, added another drain down by the gate on Kendal Street. Sat 1st June Litter picking, trimmed back branches along the footpaths, (over the rifle range & up the far steps) cleared the gully from Dale View to the gate, continued clearing the path by Kendal Street. Sat 4th May We built more dead hedge, swept the gully (from the entrance at Dale View to the 1st gate), moved stones for rebuilding the wall & done some work by the gate at Kendal street. We also had a photo call with the new tools which Pickards very kindly let us purchase at cost. Sat 6th April Removed the tent & did a general litter pick. Sat 2nd March Cleared the top part of the foot path gully, removed the tent, litter picking, cleared the path at Kendal Street & trimmed a tree back which has fallen down. Sat 3rd February Remove litter that has been left around the abandoned tent, litter picking around the woods & vacuum cleaner parts. Sat 6th January Cleared a long section of the footpath, litter picked and removed some large objects from the woods. |
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2023
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Sat 2nd December
Cleared the leaves from the footpath through the woods. Sat 4th November Litter picking, built more hedge by the side of the foot path & a small section of dry stone walling. Sat 7th October Litter picking and experimented with dead hedges along the main sett path to try and prevent so much run off onto path and to stop erosion of staircase from rifle range path onto main sett path. Sat 2nd September Cancelled so that people can go to the Keighley Show. Sat 5th August Cleared and prepared the picnic area ready for our Summer Social. Sat 1st July Litter picked, cut the grass in the picnic area and cleared the area around the school wall which is going to be used for the dry stone wall course. Sat 3rd June Litter picked, trimmed branches back and replaced the stone setts down the footpath. Sat 6th May Litter picked, cut dangerous tree/ branches, opened up view at top of grass slope to Kendal St, and worked on the bottom of the main path. Sat 1st April Collected 5 bags of rubbish and carried on with controlling vegetation at the bottom of the path. Sat 4th March Litter picking ,clearing the path from the fallen tree & survey heather hill. Sat 4th February We walked around the woods litter picking as we went, we looked at any trees that require action and investigated any areas that also require work this year. Sat 3rd December Cut beech branches and made a habitat pile in the glade, removed overgrown vegetation at the bottom of the cobbled path. Sat 5th November Cut down the tree above the picnic area, litter picking & clearing of the footpath. Sat 1st October Cleared the footpath from the top down to the fallen tree, litter picking & we assessed the tree which needs cutting down. Sat 6th August We prepared for the summer social - Cut the grass in the picnic area & cut back the brambles, also litter picking. Sat 2nd July Cleared gulley, cleared the little quarry area, cut grass and litter picking. Sat 4th June Path clearing, litter picking and surveying sites in park wood for biodiversity management. Sat 7th May Continued to clear the footpath, did litter picking and surveyed the glade site in the wood. Sat 2nd April Cleared footpath from Kendal Street, did some litter picking and surveyed Heather Hill. Sat 5th March Cleared footpath from the top of the cobbles to the kissing gate and a bit at the Kendal STreet entrance. Dug some drainage channels to improve muddiness on the path. Sat 5th February Fitted 2 bird boxes, did some litter picking, cleared footpath from Kendal Street. Sat 1st January A lovely walk around Park Wood to enjoy all the hard work of 2021 and beautiful scenery of the woods to start the New Year! |
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2021
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Sat 6th November
Cleared the foot path of leaves, litter picking & continuing with work on Heather Hill. Sat 2nd October Cleared brambles and scrub from Heather Hill, to give the heather chance to survive and hopefully multiply. Other jobs we did were: cutting back nettles and vegetation on the diagonal path to Kendal Street, leaf sweeping main cobbled path and as always litter picking. Sat 4th September Cut back bramble from Heather Hill also swept the footpath & did some litter picking. Sat 7th August Strimmed and cut grass and cut back brambles in picnic area to get ready for our Summer Social. General clearing and litter picking in the wood too. Sat 3rd July Path clearing at the bottom of the wood and litter picking. Sat 1st May Litter picking and path clearing. Surveyed areas in need of attention - the Copperwaite area, behind Pineokio, Brambles and Birch on Heather Hill, areas where Beech saplings need reduced. Sat 3rd April Litter picking - collected 14 bags of rubbish. Cobbled path clearing.
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2020
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Sat 5th September
We split into two groups to tackle the cobbled path and 'landslide path'. Andy (started at 8am!), Liz, Mike, Andy M. and Andrew (and Ben) cleared the cobbled path down to 'Dragon Tree'. This was a huge amount of work. John, Sue and Eric took all the staples out that were holding the wire fencing to the wooden fence posts at Landslide Path and rolled it up. A lot of work done today! Sat 1st August Litter pick, path clearing and clearing of former picnic area. Sat 11th July Huge litter pick! Clearing rubbish all around the wood with special focuis on the area near the quarry. Sat 7th March Branch clearing and removal / chopping the young Beech trees from the oaks at the edge of the picnic area. Litter picking. Sat 8th February Clearing cobbled path and litter pick. Sat 4th January Burned off several mince pies and finished clearing the cobbled path down to the bottom! Some solid hard work! We started this in Spring. Well done us! |
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2019
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Sat 7th December
More cobbled path and gutter clearing. Sat 5th October We cleared down the cobbled path (setts!) to between Dragon Log and mid-way bench. Hard work and it saw off one brush. Andy felt peckish but fortunately there were plenty of worms (see pic). Several people said 'well done' to us as they walked by. Sat 7th September We cleared the 'cobbled path' (actually they are setts!) from the kissing gate down to the other side of Elephant's Backside. Although we only worked half a day because it was Keighley Show today we worked extra hard and got a lot done! Wonderful! Sat 3rd August The August Work Party included, strimming, tidying up site, putting up ridge line , deconstructing / reconstructing fire place, erecting parachute tent, trial picnic Background tasks included removing the wire fencing by the landslide path and litter picking. Sat 6th July We strimmed and tidied the picnic area in preparation for our Summer Event on 4th Aug. We worked with residents on the air-raid shelter site. We opened up the the footpath on one side, constructed a bug hotel, removed a difficult tree root, picked up litter and more strimming. Well done all! Sat 1st June A busy and successful work party this month. We worked with local residents on Brow Street, marking and clearing out the new area for the new forest garden. We opened up a vent into the air raid shelter and went in - fascinating! Vera, a local resident who had used the shelter when she was a girl going to Parkwood Boarding School, visited the site and told us what it was like hearing the sirens and going down into the shelter. We also did some weeding around the newly planted wildflowers in the picnic area to give them a better chance. And cleared the cobbled path from the kissing gate down to the end of the railing. Thirsty and heavy work - and a great accomplishment by all! Sat 2nd May Cleared the cobbled path from the top down to the kissing gate. Widened the path by clearing mud and debris and the channel at the side. Sat 6th April We walked around the wood, enjoying the walk and thinking of projects for the spring and summer. We came up with the following: - Dry stone wall repair including training for us - Litter picking (particularly on the down side of the cobbled path about half way down) - Footpath repair near Delph Croft View - Adding retaining stakes by the footpath near Parkwood flats - Identifying with the Council an area of beech in which to create a clearing - Clearing up a set of steps by 31 Kendal St - Species Richness list Sat 2nd March We moved the dead tree that was blocking the path by the dry stone wall by the school using ropes. We found hawthorn, hazel, spindle and holly saplings that we'd planted growing okay in Friends' Glade and a few bluebells. At Landslide Footpath we took the vandalised posts off the wire fence, rolled up the fence and took them all away for safekeeping. Lunch at Copperwaite development in sun! Then we litter-picked behind Pineoakio where the flytipping was and collected 20+ bags! We did a huge amount of work today - well done to everyone who helped out! Sat 2nd February Made safe the dead tree that had fallen on top of the dry stone wall by Long Lee Primary. Removed overhead branch plus other large branches and cleared the way of the footpath by the Copperwaite development. Scoped out surrounding area. Sat 5th January We have re-opened the footpath adjacent to the Copperwaite development. Cleared space for the path, cut back dead wood, removed overhanging branches and logs that would be a safety issue. We created a habitat pile with the cut off branches. One very large branch still needs to be removed, some raking and another small habitat pile will complete the job. 2018 Sat 1st December We inspected the fallen/damaged trees at Elephant's Backside. Future project to saw up wood and make habitat piles (in partnership with other organisations - very labour intensive). We inspected the Copperwaite site. We need to re-open the footpath adjacent. Found flytipping behind 'Pineoakio' - Andrew Cutts informed. Attached new clinometer on fence by Slump-Path (measured as 3'). Picked up 5 bags of rubbish. Rained constantly. No sign of any cheddar. Sat 3rd November Inspected potentially dead tree at the top of the cobbled path near the kissing gate. Clearing of cobbled path. Litter picking. Sat 6th September We installed clinometers on the middle path to monitor land slippage and did some litter picking. Sat 4th August Litter picking, site preparation for the Summer Social event, grass and bramble strimming. Sat 7th July Reviewed new footpath area, preliminary inspection of Picnic area for Summer Social and litter picking. Sat 2nd June Litter picking Sat 5th May We planted Red Campion, Devil's Bit Scabious, Greater Bird foot Trefoil, Meadowsweet and Ragged Robin in the dam area. 10 of each. 50 plugs in all. We also upskilled our plant ID to include Creeping Buttercup, Raspberry and Soft rush. And we dined at an archaeological feature found by John W. Then picked up four bags of rubbish plus one carpet and skateboard! Sat 14th April Bluebell planting and litter-picking. We planted 200 bluebell plants in the glade (with no name). Very enjoyable! They didn't go far! 10 bags of rubbish including a toilet! Rubbish left by litter bin on Spring Avenue. Sat 6th January Removal of dead branches and litter picking.
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Hawthorn sapling one year old planted in Friends' Glade
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2017
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Sat 1st November
Planted our shrub saplings in The Glade with No Name a.k.a. Indian Queen Glade (TBC!) Sat 2nd September We put up the last two bird boxes! That's eight in all for Great Spotted Woodpecker, Great tit / Blue tit and Robin. They are in three clusters: picnic area (3), Heather Hill (3) and Hazel avenue (2). Around mid-day we saw a spitfire - terrific! Sat 3rd June We put up three bird boxes, two around Heather Hill and one between Heather Hill and the kissing gate. Two for great/blue tits and one for robin. Thanks to Parkwood Glass for the loan of the ladders. Mike did the dangerous and skilful bit of going up the ladders. We saw three robins around about the site of our new robin bird box! Sat 1st April Put up 3 bird boxes (robin, great/blue tit, woodpecker) in south of wood. Thanks to Mike for bringing the ladders and to Parkwood Glass for lending them. Cleared mud off and swept about 15 metres of cobbled path. Picked up 5 bags of rubbish, half a bath, a hoover, a car battery and a rusty chair frame. Sat 4th March Started clearing the cobbled path from the top all the way (almost) to the kissing gate. Picked up 14 bags of rubbish and some tangles of wire. Sat 4th February Great day! Lots of energy! Started laying aggregate on the new path ('yellow brick road' - working title, think of a better one?). Did about 25m (60m to go). We've asked the Council for some more aggregate. Also 8 bags of litter plus one tyre removed. Didn't intend to do litter picking but we finished off the Council's aggregate pile in under an hour! Sat 7th January Walked round the wood, marked up the trees for bird-boxes and removed 10 + bags of litter and large objects near Kendal Street. |
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2016
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Sat 5th November
Litter picked 9 bags of rubbish including a duvet. Re-routed footpath around landslide area recently fenced off by Council. Signs to put up. We now need a name for this path. Any suggestions ...? Sat 3rd September Strolled, thought, observed. What are the best locations for our bird boxes? Several possible sites. Many factors to consider: safe ladder access; predators; shelter; height; density; vandalism; habitat borders. Next we need long ladders. Our bird boxes are suitable for great spotted woodpecker, coal and blue tit, and robin. Sat 6th August Prepared the picnic area for the Family Day tomorrow. Thanks to Sheila for the strimmer! Put up the parachute tent. Sat 2nd April 14 bags of rubbish collected from around the footpaths and from Kendal Street area. It sounds a lot but the worst bit by a long way was by the entrance to the wood at the top which is now clear. Great stuff! Sat 6th February Assessed landslide area. Looked at new route of path and walked it over, removed saplings and discovered a lime tree. Sat 2nd January Surveyed wood and flooding problems. Litter picking. Group agreed that a new location for the pond is likely needed. Next work party – look for a potential new site for pond. 2015
Sat 3rd October
We went for a walk around the wood looking for and taking photographs of fungi. We found about 15 different species though well past their best. Also found one syringe (removed) and 4 pallets (also removed). Sat 5th September Focused on Kendal St, picking up the litter either side of the hedge. Toured the footpaths, clearing litter away including the picnic area. Cleared several large items from a couple of sites. Sat 1st August Cleared the litter from the big quarry (foot of Heather Hill). There was an abandoned tent, if any one wants it back let us know. The footpath extending from Kendal Street, past the area where the old Scout's Hut used to be (towards an avenue of hazels) was all overgrown so we cleared that using sickles and shears. Sat 6th June & Sat 4th July Work parties cancelled. Sat 1st May Cleared 30 (!) bags of litter from the right hand side of the wall at the entrance to the top of the wood. Removed beech seedlings from the glade area (observed bramble, sycamore, holly, ivy, hawthorn and oak natural regeneration). Cleared final stretch of gulleys either side of the cobbled path down to the bottom gate. Sat 4th April Built the new dam (or started it at least). Continued clearing the gulleys along the cobbled path. Ken and Evelyn started the photo-record of the dam and glade areas. Tea and cake were supplied at basecamp. Sat 7th March Litter picking - 14 bags. Sat 7th February Pond measurements, dry stone wall inspection, Rhododendron search, identified litter picking hotspot. Sat 3rd January Rain stopped play. Inspected the pond-to-be. Notes
- Park Wood is designated at least partly as Ancient Woodland as confirmed by indicator species - It is about 10 times bigger than Low Wood (approx 30 ha) on a steep hillside facing NW. - Geology is sandstone and clay. - Predominant trees are Beech and Silver Birch. - Under storey predominantly Beech saplings, leaf litter and 1 or 2 glades with grass, eg a Heather hill. - Several old quarries within the wood. - Couple of tiny streams along with boggy areas. - Park Wood is well used by the locals some of whom provide jobs for the Friends of Park Wood litter picking team. - Fauna – woodland birds (including a visit this year from a Pied Flycatcher), Roe Deer, etc. |
The new footpath above the landslip area.
The new footpath.
View out from Park Wood
Funghi spotted during Oct Work Party
September's work party litter clearing
April's work party dam building.
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