This Saturday is Sherborne's Big Breakfast. Details below. In my opinion the cause that money is being raised for is the most worthy local charity I think there is. Kate's Nursing Care provides free hospice care at home, and is highly respected. It's a
Serena reports the first sight this year of Housemartins, inspecting a previous nest by her house. Serena carefully records their appearance every year and says that they almost always appear 12-15th April so that's bang on schedule. Although swallows have been seen also, no sign of the usual
You will recall that at the last Windrush Catchment Partnership I raised concerns about the continuing discharge of Sherborne's sewage into the Windrush river system at Bourton Sewage Treatment works without treatment - over 1000 hours so far this year. No Thames Water representative was able to attend.
Rosi has reported two swallows today. At the end of March, that is notably early, though not without precedent. Our records show the first swallow last year arrived around 7th April, itself a week ahead of the typical mid-April arrival. Whether these two are settling here or simply passing through
(Because sometimes these are the two most important elements of Sherborne's history, and natural history - they are a theme which runs across the millenia) Some good news this week, and one piece of decidedly bad news. Let us start with the good. Ancestor Oaks: A Milestone Reached
Since the theme of this group is both the history and the natural history of Sherborne, I have a couple of notices. The first concerns a local ecology campaigner, Debbie Campbell, aka "the River Girl". Debbie is passionate about the state of Cotswold Rivers and the wildlife and
Just two brief things: 1. After our planting of oak saplings a couple of weeks ago I ended up with more tools than I started, namely a small garden fork and a large socket spanner thing. Let me know if either belong to you and I'll deliver to
This is an update on the situation regarding the sewage discharges. I passed our concerns to the Windrush Catchment Partnership, and the Chair decided to forward them on to Thames Water in advance of the Windrush Catchment Partnership meeting in a couple of weeks' time. The hope was that
You will know by know I have a little obsession looking for prehistoric burial mounds in the local area. One of the characteristics off these burial sites that I'm trying to nail down is their relationship to water, and this took me a little further away from home
I continue to look into the very concerning issue of the sewage that leaves Sherborne, goes to Bourton, and gets dumped in the River Windrush. As you know, the Sherborne Brook Support Group is a member of the Windrush Catchment Partnership (WCP). Indeed, we sit on the steering committee. In
A great effort from the team who turned out to plant our oak saplings on Saturday. These saplings are ones we have grown from acorns gathered from the oldest oaks in the village. In a sense, I like to think they inherit the village history and heritage. Thank you to
My concern over Bourton-on-the-Water's sewage treatment works continues — and it has just become more troubling. You may recall my earlier post reporting that the storm overflow at the Bourton STW had been running continuously for 42 days. Two days ago it stopped briefly, then started again. It has
A proper introduction. If you are reading this post you are getting the Brook Group emails through the new "Ghost" system rather than the old "substack" system. We have moved to the new system for a number of reasons, and I am just going to probably
Bourton-on-the-Water: 42 Days of Sewage Discharge into the Windrush Some of you will have seen the recent Channel 4 dramatisation "Dirty Business" of the campaign against sewage pollution in the River Windrush. If you haven't, I'll put a link below. Ashley Smith and Peter
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This is Sherborne Brook Support Group, a brand new site by Roger Davies that's just getting started. Things will be up and running here shortly, but you can subscribe in the meantime if you'd like to stay up to date and receive emails when new content
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I’m sorry that my last post was unclear. The date for planting oak saplings is NOT this coming Saturday 28th Feb, but the following Saturday 7 March. I’m confident we will get sufficient planted on the saturday and not need to repeat on the Sunday if we meet
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Firstly a couple of diary dates: 1. On Tuesday 3 March, between 5 pm and 6.30pm, Andrew Danson of the National Trust is holding a drop ins session in the NT offices. He is available then to anyone from Sherborne to answer any queries etc that you may have
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Bye bye Substack, hello Ghost
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More understanding of Lodge Park
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It must be love.
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Or is that wishful thinking?
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I’m pleased to say that we now have identified spots for all 17 of the Ancestor oaks, to be planted out around the parish in memory of the names on the village war memorial. Image: Oaks in Sherborne planted 300 years ago, the parents of our saplings. These saplings
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Just testing...
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The Gardens Trust are an exemplary national charity with regional branches - our local branch is the Avon and Gloucestershire Gardens Trust. Currently they are classified as a “statutory consultee” for planning applications affecting Registered Parks and Gardens. The Gardens Trust can also be engaged with before planning applications are