Jubilee Wood

Despite the restrictions we lived with last year, volunteers continued to be busy at Jubilee Wood. As we headed towards autumn, we saw the installation of a new land drain at the Stonemans Lane gateway so to accommodate more of the water coming down the hill when there is heavy rain. This should now help prevent the path and steps being washed away and reduce the amount of mud at that point. In addition, gravel was put down to help stabilise the path. Monitoring of this situation will be continued.

There were struggles cutting the grass due to inclement weather conditions which may mean that the longer grass will hinder the growth of flowering plants. The team has tried to rake out the thatch and sow seed, but we are not sure how effective it will be. We are hoping to have success at the School Lane end as we managed to strim the long grass there.

Volunteers have sowed the wildflower seed into pans and will plant out the resulting individual seedlings during this year.

The Town Council Technicians cut the grass triangle in the middle of the site and as a result the team was able to plant out approx. 80 “Bluecoats” trees. We are hoping to invite the Bluecoat School down next year to “adopt” the area – and maybe plant a few additional trees. It was lovely to have more people offer to help plant out these trees, which widens community involvement.

Ground has also been levelled for a new pathway to the first bench we hope to install in the New Year.

Alan Williams managed to secure plants from the Woodland Trust so we will see more trees and shrubs being planted in 2021.  In addition, we are looking to improve footpaths, including addition of steps to improve accessibility and have an ongoing programme of sowing and planting wild flowers to improve biodiversity and make the meadow more attractive.

During last year we estimate approximately 200 hours of volunteering took place at Jubilee Wood and the Town Council would like to say big thank you to Alan and his team of volunteers for all they have done and continue to at Jubilee Wood.

Please note that all of this work has been done in accordance with Covid19 precautions.