Saturday 15 December 2012 - Peter Field, The Lord Lieutenant of East Sussex, planted a Copper Beech and unveiled a plaque to commemorate the Queen's Diamond Jubilee. We had a good turn out with about 25 members braving the weather to watch the symbolic planting of the tree and unveiling of the plaque and we all raised a glass to the Queen. The tree and plaque, which were kindly donated by members of the East Sussex Lieutenancy, are sited at the bottom of the green slope, so when standing by this new plaque you also have a clear view of the silver birches and plaque, put in by Hove Borough Council, to commemorate the Queen's Coronation in 1953, a really positive linking of two historical events and the Queen's 60 years on the throne. We have had two work sessions this autumn, the first on 20 October 2012 concentrated on clearing the debris from the path down from the lower twitten to Goldstone Crescent and cutting back some of the branches which were beginning to extend across the middle path. The exceptionally wet weather and the recent storms have resulted in quite a few small trees and ivy covered branches coming down on both the middle and upper paths, our Council Ranger, Will Furze, has made a start on cutting some of these down but it is a bit like the fourth bridge as no sooner is one tree removed than another falls!! We have asked the Council for some more help with keeping the top path clear as this is a designated Cycle Path and part of the Cycle Network of which Brighton and Hove are very proud, they have done a little bit of clearance work but we really do need more help as at present the top path is not fully passable for cyclists so of necessity they are having to cycle on the green slope. If any cyclists who use the copse have time to drop an email to the Council about the state of the cycle path it might just help our cause. At our work session on 1 December 2012 we planted 12 new Birch tree whips as well as a variety of different tree whips sent to us by the Woodland Trust, these included hazel and field maple, we also cleared a lot of scrub from an area near at the edge of the green, just above the silver birches, which will be where, on 15 December 2012, Peter Field, The Lord Lieutenant of East Sussex will plant a Copper Beech and Unveil a Plaque to Commemorate the Queen's Diamond Jubilee, an even which is open to all, so do come and join us. We had a glorious sunny day for our work session on Saturday 8 September 2012, almost too hot to work !! still we managed to cut down most of the weeds from around the Silver Birches and the Coronation Stone, many of these weeds, including thistles, had grown about 5 feet high and we actually talked to a couple of people who had never even seen the Coronation Stone. We also put up another Notice about Dog Fouling, it is very concerning because somebody has seen fit to break down some of the previous notices we put up, hopefully this was done by kids and not irresponsible dog owners who resent the suggestion they should clear up after their dog. We are trying to get the message across that people should not just pick the dog litter up in a poop scoop bag but they should then dispose of the bag in a proper litter bin rather than just tossing it into the hedge row where it will remain for years unless we pick it when Litter Picking in the copse on one of our Work sessions. We had a very busy Work session on Saturday 9 June 2012 starting with digging up all those pesky Spanish Bluebells we planted last year - luckily the company who supplied the bluebells took full responsibility and provided us with a further 1500 bulbs some of which were in the green so we could see they were English bluebells - we worked hard and got all 1500 bulbs in. We also spent quite a lot of time clearing the weeds from round the base of each of the Silver Birches as they were getting quite strangled by the density of the undergrowth, at least they now have room to breathe. Sadly there are a couple of the silver birches which are looking a little sick, one seems to have become quite loose in the ground but we are keeping our fingers crossed that all the rain will have helped it to re-establish itself, only time will tell. We even found time to do some cutting back of the overgrowth by the steps and the usual litter picking. We were extremely lucky to have the only dry day in amongst the incessant rain and the Work session was followed by a most enjoyable barbecue and picnic. 29 May 2012 - Well it is spring again and the copse is looking glorious in the sunshine with the fresh green of the new leaves and the white of the May blossom and Cow Parsley. Have been waiting to post a photo of the English Bluebells but tragically we have once again been sold Spanish Bluebells though we were given many, many assurances that the supplier only ever sourced English Bluebells. Anyway we have been promised our money back so will try again next year, third time lucky we hope. The Council have now put up a number of notices for dog owners, some are a general reference to responsible dog ownership and others relate more specifically to 'Dog Fouling' which continues to be an issue in the copse, hopefully these notices will have some effect in reducing the problem. If you are interested in the copse do please come along to our picnic/barbecue after the Work Session on Saturday 9 June 2012. 13 February 2012 - we have had two very good work sessions this winter - in December we planted about 1700 Bluebell bulbs in the wood at the top of the copse, hopefully this time they will prove to be the true English Bluebells, though we will have to wait for Spring to be sure. On a very cold day in February we did a lot of clearance work in the area around the twittens which link Woodland Avenue and Woodland Drive and in particular we finished off the path between the twittens which is now looking very neat and is a lot safer to walk on - that morning there was already evidence of spring flowers, though I am not sure how they coped when the snow fell that night. Older News