Green Martinstown are very excited at the prospect of hopefully acquiring some land adjoining the village. It will be a long process to apply for this. At this stage, if you have experience in legal contracts or writing business plans please contact us. If it goes ahead the use of the field will be in keeping with Green Martinstown environmental and community principles.
There is a chance that the X51 bus service might be re-routed back through Winterbourne Steepleton and Martinstown, as a trial. This urgently needs our support. Please email Peter. McNaughton@firstbus.co.uk, & please copy your email to Les Scarth at clifden39@gmail.com
The composting area in the churchyard is a community resource & anyone in the village is welcome to both add to the bins & take away bags of compost. There is guidance at the site to let you know how it works.
The recycling collections for tetrapaks, foil & plastic tops are well used. The tetrapak & foil bins are emptied twice a week by two volunteers. Please follow the instructions. Those who can are encouraged to take their own recycling to the bins in the Fairfield car park or at the tip. Just one volunteer manages the bottle tops. Recently two bags of these went to Beaminster school for projects in the resistant materials class.
Spring is in the air:
The flowers at the bus stop opposite the playground are getting more established. The snowdrops were lovely, followed by the narcissi, and now the wild garlic & bluebells are coming through.
Hedgehogs are likely to start emerging from hibernation now. Whilst they are still tucked up in their winter nests take care not to disturb them as you start to tackle your gardens. If you do disturb them, don’t handle or move them, just cover them over again & leave them alone.
Those families that made bird boxes last year are hopefully seeing blue tits & great tits showing interest & building nests. If you have any questions please contact Andy Daw (889433).
With spring our frogs & toads need to find a pond to lay their eggs in. If you could find space for a small pond in your garden, Green Martinstown members can help you plan, dig and plant your pond if you need a hand, along with a financial contribution to help you with the cost of materials.
The stream survey along the Winterbourne continues. We are maintaining the 70 Platinum Jubilee trees at Grove Hill. Some are even showing their heads above the tree guards.
