ENVIRONMENTAL AGENCY: CHALLENGES & CHOICES CONSULTATION

The following has dropped into my email box and appears to be addressed to anyone with an opinion to put forward, so I am publishing it here.  It will perhaps be a bit of a challenge in itself to many people, but I feel sure it contains information of interest to many, so please feel free to participate in any way you think fit. A message from the Environment Agency "Corona virus is causing concern across the country for everyone. We wanted to update you about how the Environment Agency and our Environment Programme team has changed its working practices in response to the Covid19 advice from Government. We are following guidance, and therefore all our staff will work from home, unless there is a critical need for alternative working. As you might have experienced, we have been having connectivity issues, some linked to our own systems, and some due to national demand on the network. This week we have put in place arrangements for different ways of working to accommodate so many staff working from home, this has resulted in restricted, but more predictable and reliable network access for staff. We are all making a quick transition in these difficult circumstances. As a result of the important restrictions, our Environment Programme team capacity will be reduced for the following key reasons;  We are working with colleagues to support critical parts of the business, such as pollution response, asset or high risk inspections and national communications; our update EA Strategic Objectives are listed below.  As individuals we continue to work, but many at reduced hours as we support our families and provide home schooling/ child care.  This does mean that elements of the Environment Programme work may have to be slowed or postponed, but we will also be pooling our resources to make sure that we support our partners and your priority work. We appreciate you will also be adjusting your ways of working, and so do update us how we can best support and work with you, and to highlight your priorities. If we haven’t already, we will be in touch shortly with regards specific projects. Thank you in advance for your understanding and support at this challenging time, we look forward to continuing working with you to deliver more great work for the environment across Yorkshire."

Challenges and Choices consultation The deadline for the Challenges and Choices consultation remains unchanged at 24th April 2020. The Don Network will be sending in a response, based on existing data and information - in particular the information gathered through the catchment plan review workshops. If your organisation will no longer be able to submit a response or meet the deadline, please do let us know so that we can feed this back to the Environment Agency.

NEWSLETTER DATED 11 FEBRUARY 2020

I’m afraid there isn’t a great deal to report this time as the November flood is still taking its toll.  My husband and I were evacuated from our house and spent 4 weeks in a Premier Inn before going on a long arranged holiday and returning to temporary accommodation.  The whole event has been quite traumatic and picking up the pieces has been very difficult.

Don Gorge Volunteers

However, our volunteers have continued to turn out on their regular sessions and have been hedge laying on the Trans Pennine Trail or working in the woodlands.  The Weirside project, ie wall building near the fish pass, has had to be halted because of flooding, but we have been given an extension  by Groundwork for Tesco Bags of Help and hope to finish it by the end of the Summer, fine weather prevailing.

Free Trees

The Woodland Trust have donated 105 trees to plant near the fish pass and they will be arriving by the middle of March and we expect to have a planting day early in April.  So check it out with me nearer the time.

Co op Community Fund

We have been very lucky to be chosen as one of the three main recipients of the Co op’s Community Fund this year and so far over £700 has been raised for us.  This is 1% of members shopping bills who have chosen to support us, so if you would like to join them by becoming members and choosing us, it only costs £1 to join and you would be doing us a great favour.  The nearest shops to us can be found at Mexborough on Adwick Road, Wheatley, Woodlands and Askern.  There is also a Co op Undertakers at Edlington which might be something to remember as that would count as well.

“Sprotbrough Oral History: From Rural Estate to Real Estate”

Our monthly meetings have been going really well, with the Christmas Party on the last Friday in November before the Christmas break.  Food was provided by Meryl White, writer of Grandma Abson’s Cookbook, and fruit cordials by Cllr Cynthia Ransome.  Quite a number of personal interviews have been held and we are hoping the book will be ready by early Summer.

Don Gorge Community Group AGM

This will be held prior to our next meeting on Monday 9 March 2020 at 10 am at Martinwells Centre.  We do not have any members as such, but anyone is able to attend as an observer.  Nominations for officers and committee should reach me by 2 March.

Liz Reeve

Secretary

Email

NEWSLETTER - 4 NOVEMBER 2019

NEWSLETTER – 4 November 2019

Hi everyone

DON GORGE CALENDAR 2020

There is just one Calendar left if anyone is interested.

STEPS & FOOTPATH TO VILLAGE FROM NURSERY LANE

If you have ever used this footpath, we are still looking for witnesses; all you need to do is write a statement saying how long you have known it was there and that you have used it. This statement should include your name, address and signature.  It should then be sent to me. Thanks.

CO-OP COMMUNITY FUND

Don’t forget to support us if you are a member of the Co-op by choosing us as your charity for the coming year.

SPROTBROUGH ORAL HISTORY GROUP (SOH)

We had another great meeting on 25 October, even if it did get a little out of control towards the end!  Notes will be going on the SOH Blog shortly.

FREE TREES FROM THE WILDLIFE TRUST

We have now heard that we will receive 105 free trees and shrubs next March and will be looking for help to plant them.  They will enhance the landscaping of the fish pass area and the field alongside.

FACEBOOK

As mentioned above, we now have a new Facebook page for all those who are into social media so updates will be given on there as they arrive.  We hope this will enable information about what we do to be spread more widely and will encourage more local people to become interested in what we try to do.  Just search for Don Gorge Community Group.

For those who don’t do social media, newsletters will still appear as usual, when they will also be sent to Twitter and Facebook.

ENGLISH BLUEBELLS

I recently had an enquiry from a gentleman who wished to donate 2000 English Bluebells to be planted in the woods around the hairpin bend.  However, on asking Natural England if they would approve of this, as it is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), they said it should not be done.   Wild garlic grows in profusion in the woodlands on that side of the river, whereas bluebells are more prolific on the north side.  It is Natural England’s policy that only flora which germinate naturally from seed should be encouraged.  As it would not be known where plants would be sourced from, there was also the possibility that they might bring diseases in the soil. 

DON GORGE COMMUNITY GROUP NEWSLETTER 19.10.19

Registered Charity No:  1121646

NEWSLETTER – 19 OCTOBER 2019

Hi everyone

Autumn is now upon us and summer has passed us by; the year has passed so quickly and who knows what the winter will bring us.  The canal has already been over the top and everywhere seems very wet at present so we can only hope it won’t get any worse.

I hope everyone has had a good summer and enjoyable holidays.  We haven’t been anywhere since March so are ready for a Christmas and New Year break, which we are sharing with our daughter and her family.

DON GORGE CALENDAR 2020

Just to confirm that the calendar is now available for collection from me and that there are only a very few copies left if anyone want one.  I would be grateful if collection could be made asap or, alternatively, let me know if you can’t collect so that I can arrange delivery.  Many thanks.

COMMITTEE

More committee members would be very welcome as we are still operating without the necessary officers, ie chair and treasurer, so please give it some thought

The committee has met three times since July and a review shows that we have been involved in the following activities.

CO-OP STAFF DAY

We hosted a good number of managers from the Co-op in July who did a great job bashing Balsam in the fish pass field, but we need to keep up our efforts if we are to win this battle. 

  

NOTICEBOARD

You may have noticed that this was missing for a while, but I can now report that it is back in place near the landing stage, having been restored magnificently by Ken Green with a little help from one or two other of our volunteer team.

SCARECROW FESTIVAL

We created a scarecrow for the village festival at the beginning of September, which received lots of favourable comments, and provided a bit of fun.

STEPS & FOOTPATH TO VILLAGE FROM NURSERY LANE

We are still pursuing the registration of this with Doncaster Ramblers and are looking for witness statements from anyone who has used it in the past or still does.  The further back we can go the better of course.  I have certainly been aware of the steps for most of my life and walked it years ago, though I must admit it hasn’t been a regular occurrence.  Apparently an application was started by someone on 19 November 2009, but not followed through. 

If you have ever used this footpath, all you need to do is write a statement saying how long you have known it was there and that you have used it. This statement should include your name, address and signature.  It should then be sent to me.

CONSERVATION VOLUNTEERS

This group continues to meet on alternate Tuesdays and Thursdays throughout the year.  Numbers have varied throughout the summer due to holidays and family commitments, but we hope they will return to normal now that autumn is upon us.

Doncaster in Bloom: The presentation evening for this competition was held on 16 October and we were thrilled to hear that we had received Silver Gilt Standard for the historic wall which is being renovated by our volunteers near the fish pass.  You will remember we received a grant from Tesco Bags of Help towards this.  It is now almost complete and we are thinking about landscaping and how to finish it off with a picnic table, etc.  Free trees are being offered by the Woodland Trust and we are hoping we might be successful in obtaining some to use as part of this project.

Another brushcutter has been donated to our group by a Friend, for which we are very grateful.

Litter-pick

Following the recent heavy rains, lots of rubbish has again come down the river.  Anyone able to take part in clearing some of this would be welcome to join the volunteers on the following scheduled workdays:

Tuesday 22 and Thursday 31 October.  Meet at either the lock house or the fish pass from 10 am onwards.

PROPOSED CAR PARK, NURSERY LANE

Further to my last report about this, we have found a possible way to reduce legal fees and are continuing to investigate. 

I have had no response following my last Newsletter, but it would be interesting to know if Friends are for or against it, so I’d be grateful if you could let me know.

CO-OP COMMUNITY FUND

Following information reported to you in my last Newsletter, I have just heard this week that we have been chosen as one of the beneficiaries of this fund, which is excellent news.  1% of purchases by members are returned to the community and so far £72,835 has been received by causes in our area.  Purchases can cover food, insurance, funeral costs and legal services.  If you would like to consider becoming a member, it costs just £1 and is very easy to do online.

Stores within a 5 mile radius of Doncaster can be found at Mexborough, Becket Road, Doncaster, Woodlands, Bessacarr and Goodison Boulevard.  I realise the shops are not on our doorsteps, but online facilities are available.  I will report further when I have received more information

I hope you will support this project in any way you can, eg by becoming a member of the Co-op and telling friends and neighbours about it, as it could provide much-needed funds for us.

SPROTBROUGH ORAL HISTORY GROUP (SOH)

We continue to have enjoyable and fruitful meetings of this group on the last Friday of each month at either Sprotbrough St Mary’s Church Hall or The Stables on Main Street. 

Please do come and join us if you have any information from the period 1925-1965 that you think might be useful

HEALTHWATCH

You may remember that one of the grants we received for the SOH group was from Healthwatch and I was invited to go to a meeting this week regarding the utilisation and implementation of technology in patient care.  The gist of the information received was that a patient’s record was accessible by all medical staff involved in their care so that the best treatment could be provided. Mobile phones are being used by all staff to do this and therefore will be apparent on the wards by patients and family members visiting them.  So, if you visit and think staff are wasting time checking their emails or playing games, they are probably just checking a patient’s programme of care!!  They were keen to get this message out to the community, hence my including it here.

Liz Reeve, Secretary

Tel: 01302 313030

Email: lizreeve@dongorgecommunitygroup.com

Website:  http://www.dongorgecommunitygroup.com/

Blog:  http://dongorgecommunitygroup.blogspot.com

Blog:  https://sprotbroughoralhistory.blogspot.com/

Sprotbrough Oral History

Project Manager

Email: soh.lizreeve@gmail.com

Blog: https://sprotbroughoralhistory.blogspot.com/

THE DON GORGE CALENDAR 2020

Our Calendar is now under production and should be available soon.  If ordered by 31 October, the price will be £5; those purchased later will cost £5.50.  As I will be away from mid-December, I am hopeful they will all be distributed by early December.

We have decided to try a different format this year.  Several people have said they would like a bigger space to write diary appointments in and so this year, the calendar will be long and narrow, rather than A4.  I hope everyone will like it and find it useful.

A big thank you goes to Simon Roe who has provided photographs from his Wild Life in the Don Gorge collection.  We are always looking for contributions from others and hope you will remember to send in any good Jpegs for consideration for 2021.

This is an example - our January picture.

Orders can be taken by me by
Telephone on 01302 313030 or
Email: lizreeve@dongorgecommunitygroup,com

As we have had good support from you in the past and been complimented on our photographs, I look forward to hearing from you again.

Many thanks.

Liz

NEXT MEETING - FRIDAY 26 JULY 20

SPROTBROUGH ORAL HISTORY:

from Rural Estate to Real Estate

Were you or your family born in Sprotbrough Old Village

either before or in the 1920s?

or

Did you live, work or play there between

1925 and 1965?

If you are interested in participating or helping in any way, we would love to see you

at Sprotbrough Church Hall on

FRIDAY 26 JULY 2019

AT 2.30 PM

Please check on arrival whether this is in the Church Hall

or The Stables, Main Street, Sprotbrough

This month we will be thinking about 

MARRIAGE and BIRTH STORIES

There is scope for interviewees and interviewers, as well as research, photography, computer support or other artistic input.

If you are unable to come, but are still interested, please let me know so that we can keep in contact.

If you are house-bound or need help getting to the meeting, please contact:

Liz Reeve, Tel: 01302 313030 or

Cynthia Ransome, Tel: 01302 728310

for further information.

Emails:

soh.lizreeve@gmail.com

or

cynthiaransome@gmail.com

CO-OP BEAT THE BALSAM

The Don Gorge Community Group has had the pleasure of hosting a team of helpers from the Co-op today.  Organised by Dorothy Miller, the Doncaster Member Pioneer,  about 20 members of staff from around the area have been Balsam Bashing.  Over the past few years, we have been working to eradicate this invasive species from the Gorge and have seen signs of improvement.  However, it is important to break their cycle of growth by pulling up the plants before they seed and any offers of help are much appreciated.