Well this newsletter is rather late to be the first one for the year. We have been considering our options and we feel it would be financially better if we are able to E- mail your newsletters out to you. In so saying this we need to collect all those e mail addresses, so please forward to above e-mail address.
We started the year with a big event. Two weeks before Christmas we were asked if we could offer some community work to 150 youths from a Christian camp. With a bit of thought and a deal of negotiating it was planned. But surprise, surprise, we were getting 240 people to work for us.
So hey presto, 4 bus loads came.
We sent one lot off in the care of the Poet’s Track advisory branch of our committee, to oversee the weeding of last years planting and the clearing up of the new site for this year (stage 4).
The next lot were set to clearing the rubbish from the top of Pope Terrace bank ready for the next group.
The next group were going to dig the trench to secure the weed mat at the top of the bank for the next lot, who were rolling out the weed mat and securing it top and bottom. The purpose of this weed mat is to keep the weeds out of the proposed planting of low growing plants all the way along the bank to prevent erosion and not block out the view of the town, bridge, and the river.
The last 50 stayed at the nursery and we had one group who weeded the plants that were outside and the other half inside, planting seeds and potting up small trees into bugger pots.
The amount of work achieved that afternoon was phenomenal.
So a big thank you goes to the reformed church youth from Camp Epworth.
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We have just held an afternoon Riverbank walk to celebrate the Success of the Walking Tracks that have been our major work over the past eighteen months.
This was for invited guests. Most were people, firms, clubs and council, who played major roles in the reconstruction of Cambridge’s Walkways. They supplied materials, labour, financial support and expertise.
We thank all those people who came for their continued support.
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There is now a picnic table in Lumb Park looking down the river to the High Level Bridge. There is also a rubbish bin situated at the top end of the Walking Track.
The planting programme for this year is quite varied and extensive. As soon as there is substantial rain we will be starting with regular Saturday morning plantings. If you have some free time please come to one of these mornings.
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We have the big trees for the Oakland’s Walkway that are in large planter bags as we have grown them of for a further year so they will be able to stand the exposure of being planted out in open paddocks. As yet we have not been given permission to do this but await an approved plan on paper before we can start.
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This year-nine students planting programme starts in the second term.
We want them to see how the trust works and not just plant a tree or two on a morning out of the class room. They will all attend the nursery to do some potting up and then load up the truck with trees, fertilizer and carpet and take to the site to plant their trees which we plan to have in named groups.
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The Polo Club has asked us to help with trees to add the ones that have survived the work carried out in the new Polo Grounds in Lamb Street. We do have some big trees in the ground at the nursery that are ready to be wrenched now. These are suitable to be planted in the Polo Ground.
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The Pope Terrace Riverbank plan to plant along the top where the pine trees were removed is at a stalemate at the moment.
We have permission to plant, and we have a plan of the types of plants suitable to plant but we don`t have the plants in the nursery as many are out of our range and the nursery is full at the moment.
With the beautiful view across the river and of the High Level Bridge we are planning only to plant low growing native shrubs and mountain flax and one or two cabbage trees.
We are looking at ways to get more funding for this job at the present moment.
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Last year we planted a total of 2470 trees over various sites. At an average cost the value was approximately $18,532.00 which included fertilizer and cartage and transport of high school students to the sites when they were helping. The true cost would probably be more than that.
The community and council get a bargain.
This year we have even more trees to plant. Some are much bigger and that doubles the value of them. They could be worth up to $50.00each.Most of the large trees we hope to plant in the Oakland’s Walkway area.
This must get underway this winter. There are 40 different species of native trees ready to be planted once the autumn rains have soaked the ground
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We have been very pleased to have some new volunteers come on board to help. Welcome.
We have had a senior church group volunteer to give us some of their time too.
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Housekeeping; If you are one of the few people who have yet to pay last Septembers sub- can you please clear up this matter now.
