December 2023
What a year! Tregovenek has been transformed during the last year and its progress is only accelerating! So much groundwork has been done on the land itself and within the organisation. The foundations of the vision have been laid and 2024 will be the time to really start building what we have envisioned.
But right now, in the heart of Winter, we take a much-needed pause to reflect and to rest in-line with our natural rhythm, so that we can emerge again in the new year with energy and clear focus.
Before we put our feet up here’s a quick update:
News updates:
Hedgelaying and biochar course.
Planting with Muddy Hands.
Funding applications progress.
New circles.
December work party.
Dates for 2024 work parties
Hedgelaying and biochar course.
Despite the funding we had hoped for not coming to fruition, the course went ahead as planned at the end of November thanks to various donations. We had a fantastic weekend course learning the incredibly important crafts of hedge-laying & biochar creation. The 13 attendees loved it! News skills were learnt, tried and tested, food shared, connections made & cold toes and fingers eventually warmed by the fire.
Thank you to everyone who gave up their time to join in and a special thank you to the tutors, Jeremy of Proper Edges and Anthony of Pentiddy Woods – we feel very honoured to have so much wisdom in our midst.
Planting Hope With Muddy Hands.
We loved hosting children from Pensilva Primary School at Tregovenek recently. what a fun day we all had! Thanks to the Get Involved programme, staff from the University of Plymouth showed the children how to measure trees in Pentiddy Community Woodland to calculate how much carbon the trees are storing, they collected and analysed soil samples, hunted for natural treasure and worked with our volunteers to sow and plant trees to start a tree nursery in the community garden.
They learnt how important it is to care for future generations of humans and wildlife and how they can contribute to that. It’s great to be building long-term relationships between the school, the university, Tregovenek and Pentiddy Community Woodland – working together we can do so much more!
Funding application progress.
After an enormous amount of hard work, the applications for the Community Capacity Fund and Awards for All are both in. At the end of November we received unanimous support from Liskeard Town Council following a short presentation and just this week full support from St Cleer Parish Council. Unfortunately we have since heard that our application is on hold while the council waits to find out if more funds are to be allocated to this area. In the meantime we continue to talk to parish councils to gain as much support as possible and remain positive.
Completed circles and new circles.
We’re forever evolving in line with the current needs and this has recently involved some changes in our working circles.
Now that Stu and Vicki are happily settled in their new home, the Bungalow Circle has completed its mandate and has celebrated all the hard work and determination they’ve put in the last year or so. But as that circle closes, another opens. There is now a newly-formed Maintenance Circle whose purpose is to maintain, and possibly enhance, all the ‘property’ of Tregovenek to include buildings and tools.
There has also been a transformation of the Land/Design Circle who are now morphing to become the Garden Circle with the purpose of designing and overseeing the implementation of the community garden over the next year or so.
It’s also a delight to be welcoming some new members to our working circles. Sara McFazdean (community engagement), Terry Clay (finance), Lara Stoney (finance), Vicki Rowan (garden circle and community engagement), Stu Henderson (maintenance) and Helen Parker (garden circle and ways of working). Welcome and thank you!
A massive thank you to all those in circles who have been working so hard behind the scenes.
And also to those volunteers on the ground at work parties. Everyone has a crucial part to play! A nice segway into the next section….
December WorkPARTY!
Thank you to everyone who braved the weather for the last work party of 2023!
We sorted compost bins, sharpened donated tools, packed biochar, dug out nettle roots, collected fire wood & finished off the outdoor kitchen! We also started the design process for the community garden which is super exciting! Our youngest volunteer made sure all the worms had a warm home!
We celebrated the achievements of the year, launched our two new working circles: and shared festive food and yummy chai!
2024 work parties.
The main focus for the next few months is likely to be on the creation of the community garden. As always it will be prompt 10am start and 3pm finish with food to share for lunch.
We are continuing to alternate Fridays and Saturdays to make it as inclusive as possible.
Friday Jan 26th
Sat Feb 24th
Friday March 22nd
Saturday April 20th
Friday May 24th
Sat June 22nd
Everyone welcome! The work party team is continuously growing as word spreads that the days are productive and great fun. You can be sure of a very warm welcome.
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Best wishes for a warming, peaceful and reflective Mid-Winter.