Looking after our Green
Over the summer you may have noticced someone working away on the Green. Alun – whose report follows below – has worked tirelessly to keep the Green looking lovely for which we are all very grateful. At the moment we have avery small team of trustees and helpers and would love more people to get involved. Our AGM is on 15th October in the Village hall – please come along if you can!
“Hi , I have been asked to say a few words about my role on the Millennium Green and what I have been up to recently. So by way of introduction I have lived in Carbrooke Village for nine years with my wife Louise. We now have two small children one of whom attends the local primary school. About 18 months ago I was involved in a car crash in Hingham which left me with a head injury which sadly brought about the end of my career as a police officer. In trying to come to terms with that loss ad while still trying to make a positive contribution to the community, my rehabilitation team at the Coleman hospital in Norwich agreed that it would help my recovery if I took on some voluntary maintenance work on the Green. With that in mind I secured agreement from the Green trustees to undertake that work and set about the task in hand.
Firstly I check the rubbish bins daily and change them as required. I can only do a maximum of two hours work at the Green at any one time because of the effects of my injury so have to choose what I do carefully. When I started my work the grass on the Green was quite high so I cut both fields and then cleared the paths around the perimeter of the Green. I was aware that the path to the “Kissing gate” had become overgrown, so I set about clearing that entrance and restoring the path, which is now complete. I then set about widening the existing paths especially around the pond which took a bit of time but is now nearly finished. The “Clifford Hall” bench by the pond is now tidy again and makes a very nice place to sit and admire the pond area. The pond is going to be cleared of weeds at the end of September.
You may have noticed the Maze is now being tackled which is a challenge. That said half of the Maze has now been cut and the clippings from that process are being used by The St Peter and Paul School Forest School classes, while the remainder will be used to redefine the Maze paths. The work on the Maze should be completed by the end of October. The orchard is also in my sights and will be strimmed back and pruned before Winter sets in. The orchard contains old varieties of Norfolk apples so its definitely something to preserve and look after.
Because we want to Green to be a special place to visit I am working hard to reduce the amount of “dog poo’s ” that are left on the paths each day. When I started working on the Green two dog bins were installed which are used by the vast majority of responsible dog walkers. However I still pick up between 4 and 10 dog poo’s a day from the paths on the Green which is a bit frustrating. I know that many other dog walkers are also helping me by collecting up dog mess found on the paths. I would be great if we could reach the point where everyone could tidy up after their dogs, its just one less thing to worry about. Anyway I hope you all continue to enjoy using and getting pleasure from the Green and that you will continue to support us.”
Alun Gibbs
