Enjoyment
Community
Partnership
Great news! Thanks to funding from Arts Council England, the full Bowland Revealed arts programme is about to get underway.
A partnership project between Lancashire County Council Arts Development, Ribble Valley Borough Council and the Forest of Bowland National Landscape, Bowland Revealed is designed to help celebrate the 50th anniversary of the designation of the Forest of Bowland as a National Landscape. The programme has been made possible thanks to £62,000 funding from Arts Council England through their Grants for the Arts programme, with further funding provided by the partner organisations.
The ACE funding means that, in addition to Green Close Studio's "50 Years in the Making" creative engagement project, Bowland Revealed will also be able to run both the "Landmarks" and wider "Explore and Engage" programmes over the next 18 months.
"Landmarks" will be a series of temporary, outdoor visual artworks inspired by the landscape of the National Landscape and will be on show between September and October this year.
Following an overwhelming response to the call for submissions in May we are very pleased to announce that Halima Cassell, Philippe Handford, Geraldine Pilgrim and Salina Somalya will be the artists responsible for producing these contemporary pieces. Geraldine is a London-based artist, whilst Halima, Salina and Philippe are all based locally. Experienced arts organisation, Mid Pennine Arts, will manage the projects on the ground and help to promote and evaluate the Landmarks programme.
Work has now started on finalising designs and locations and a busy few months lies ahead. Don't forget to keep an eye on the website at www.forestofbowland.com/bowlandrevealed to find out exactly where and when the pieces will be on view! For further information contact sandra.silk@lancashire.gov.uk
Once again the Festival Bowland archaeology walk above Whitewell, this year due on 19th July, has proved popular, with only a couple of places remaining. We'll be looking forward to finding out how staff and students of Uclan have progressed their understanding of these pre-historic sites.
For those who are less mobile than they used to be, or who perhaps need to use a wheelchair, the programme has two Tramper Treks coming up. The Tarnbrook Tramper Trek and Walk, organised by Wyre Council, takes place on July 24th whilst New Laund Farm above Whitewell, with the help of Lancashire County Council, will host a similar event on the 4th and 5th August.
Again in August, why not try out some family-friendly, bug related events? Head to Whalley Abbey with Lancashire Wildlife Trust on the 10th or over to Beacon Fell Country Park on Saturday 23rd with LCC rangers. Bank holiday Monday offers the combination of a guided walk around Sawley followed by high tea at the Spread Eagle Inn and don't forget that Pendle Walking Festival starts on Saturday 30th!
September's events feature bats, green woodcraft and a star gazing evening along with our annual heritage tour, this year leaving from Settle on board the classic Leyland Tiger coach. Make sure you don’t' miss out! All details are available on the website at www.forestofbowland.com/festivalevents. Alternatively, call 01200 448000 or email sandra.silk@lancashire.gov.uk
St. John's Church, Hurst Green is welcoming visitors to the area by opening its door seven days a week. On the 1st July the church unveiled it's new tourist information point, a project supported by both the Forest of Bowland National Landscape and Ribble Valley Borough Council. Visitors will be able to find information about the local area, including 3 short circular walks from the door. Visitors can also make use of the new Eco Loo, supported by the Lancashire Environment Fun and by church parishioners who raised an impressive £30,000 towards the welcome new developments. Visitors can also use kitchen and refreshment facilities and, of course, find peace and quiet within the building itself.
Don't forget, we have a couple of special features running during 2014 – an anniversary photo celebration and a children's writing competition. Great for the summer holidays!
The pick of the photographs will be included in an autumn exhibition at the Folly in Settle whilst the winners of each of the age categories in the children's writing competition (6-8 yrs and 9-11 years) will win a great prize donated by RSPB Leighton Moss.
So why not get out and about and get inspired!
For full details see the website at http://www.forestofbowland.com/50years or phone the National Landscape office on 01200 448000.
We've had some great nominations for our 50th anniversary awards so far, but there's still time to get your own projects in and we'd love you to take part!
There are six categories: farming for conservation, vibrant community, biodiversity, sustainable tourism, traditional boundaries and outstanding contribution. You can either put forward your own project – don't be shy! – or suggest a worthy project, or person, you think deserves some recognition.
This is a great chance to celebrate the work of the many voluntary groups, businesses and individuals whose dedication and skill contribute to the Forest of Bowland's unique sense of place, its landscape, wildlife and communities.
We are delighted to have secured the support of a group of experienced professionals to help judge the awards with us. Lucy Baron, manager of Arnside & Silverdale AONB, Sue Robinson, co-director of arts management company, Culturapedia and Manchester Metropolitan University's Professor of Responsible Tourism, Dr Harold Goodwin, will judge the outstanding contribution, vibrant community and sustainable tourism categories, whilst the farming for conservation, biodiversity and traditional boundaries sections will be overseen by Lancashire Wildlife Trust's Head of Conservation, Tim Mitcham and Lune valley-based chartered surveyor Thomas Bowring.
Projects can have taken place at any time during the last 50 years and it's easy to apply. Simply go to our website at http://www.forestofbowland.com/awards and fill in the on-line form. Alternatively, call the AONB office on 01200 448000 and we can send a form out to you.
The closing date is Friday 29th August so do get nominating!
Champion Bowland has been awarded a grant of £10,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund to produce an Anniversary Scrapbook to celebrate the 50 years of the AONB. This project aims to bring people together to look at rural life in the area since 1964: when the Forest of Bowland officially became an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. We are currently collecting stories, photographs and documents from groups of people across the AONB. The project is looking at four themes:
- Village life
- Key events
- Farming life
- Visitor patterns
The Scrapbook will be used to create an exhibition which we will take to the summer agricultural shows across the AONB (Chipping, Hodder Valley, Over Wyresdale, Garstang and Bentham), to engage with and encourage discussion with residents and visitors.
Using the information collected we will produce a commemorative booklet for distribution to the contributors and partners. The exhibition will continue to be displayed into 2015, along with other Anniversary collections, at venues in and around the AONB area. The materials collected for the scrapbook will also be digitally archived on the History Pin website.
Sue Holden is working as the Scrapbook project officer, commissioned by Champion Bowland and working with AONB staff and partners. You can contact her and donate your anniversary memories, or your photos of Bowland from the sixties and seventies, eighties and nineties at bowlandscrapbook@gmail.com
The AONB's grant scheme is still open to applications, so if you have a project in mind, please contact Cathy Hopley cathy.hopley@lancashire.gov.uk on 01200 448000 to discuss it. Guidance and application forms are available here www.forestofbowland.com/cons_devfund where you can also view examples of past projects.
At the Anniversary Gala Night on 1st November 2014, the draw will be made for the Grand Raffle organised by Champion Bowland in celebration of the 50th Anniversary. Over 20 Bowland Experience members have kindly donated a wide range of prizes. Books of tickets (5 x £1) are available from the AONB office (01200 448000) and full details of the prizes to be won can be viewed at www.championbowland.org.uk/gala-raffle.html
Please get in touch if you would like to buy and/or sell raffle tickets.
The National Association for AONBs and the Forest of Bowland, Arnside and Silverdale, North Pennines and the Solway Coast AONB Partnerships along with the Lake District and Yorkshire Dales National Parks, welcomed over 120 delegates for the NAAONB’s 16th Annual Conference, held at Newton Rigg, Penrith on 8th to 10th July.
The theme for this year's conference was Sharing, Learning, Inspiring and as one of the hosts it was a great opportunity for Bowland to showcase some fantastic projects. The team ran two field trips -Bowland Moorland Safari – where delegates took an off-road journey across the moorland fells to view peatland restoration projects as well as trying out the Tramper and visiting a number of sustainable tourism projects. The second trip – Superfast Bowland – gave delegates the opportunity to take a cycle trip with a difference through the secret lanes and meadows lying between the Forest of Bowland AONB and the Yorkshire Dales National Park on an electric bike. They also met the community broadband group B4RN, and sustainable tourism businesses Dalesbridge and The Traddock, and finally visited biodiversity projects with YDMT, where partnership working is really making a difference.
For further information visit www.landscapesforlifeconference.org.uk/
There have been seven new members since the beginning of the year, bringing the total to 104, of which 43% have set up in business since the Bowland Sustainable Tourism project began in 2006. Twelve members have ceased trading, mostly through retirement.
The company has helped support the AONB's 50th Anniversary year by raising over £4,000 through the sales of the 2014 Calendar and advertising in the new 50th Anniversary Discovery Guide.
The recent rural funding newsletter reported that although no grant funds were available for 2014, that they hope to have funding available in early 2015. Therefore, if you have a project idea or you would like an informal discussion please get in touch by either completing an online project registration form or by calling Karen Kerrigan on 01772 538797.
Read the full version of the July newsletter which includes details of their recent community consultation.
Residents of the Hodder Valley may have noticed orange-topped posts appearing at the roadside this Spring. These posts mark out where the verges are of particular importance for wildflowers and young birds, and so should be left uncut early in the year. Previously, these special verges were marked on the tarmac, but due to bad weather and resurfacing many of these were lost and the verge cutters were mistakenly cutting the flowers down. At the end of the year most of these special verges should be cut back and the cuttings removed. In Newton-in-Bowland the Friends of Bowland have adopted a stretch of special verge, and they will continue to ensure it is correctly managed so that the primroses, black knapweed, greater burnet and melancholy thistle that grow there can continue to flower and delight us all into the future.
‘Networks for Nectar’ is helping to create a living network of nectar hubs for bees and other vital pollinating insects across the Forest of Bowland National Landscape.
Delivered by YDMT in partnership with the National Landscape, this 18-month project aims to restore and conserve a network of small patches of species-rich grasslands, such as field corners, road verges, churchyards, school grounds, orchards, village greens and farmland.
Networks for Nectar not only facilitates hands-on restoration of wildflower habitats, it also provides financial support and advice on how to manage and maintain the mini-meadows in the future. The project is also hoping to bring some very special species of wildflower ‘back from the brink’ through careful propagation, including Greater butterfly orchid, currently only found at one site in Bowland, and Globeflower, which has also become very rare in the National Landscape.
If you would like to find out more information about Networks for Nectar please contact Sarah Robinson on 01200 448000 or email sarah.robinson@lancashire.gov.uk
Throughout 2013, work has been ongoing to assess the current condition of the major moorland areas within the Forest of Bowland National Landscape area. This work has now concluded and the final report can be found here. Working with farmers, land owners, colleagues from the Environment Agency, Lancashire County Council, United Utilities and Natural England, the work has looked at each of the fells in and around the Bowland Fells Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). Site visits, aerial photographs and on-the-ground knowledge have been used to deduce what, if any, moorland restoration is needed on each fell, in order to ensure the ongoing nature conservation, carbon storage, water purification, recreation, upland farming and shooting value of the fells.
This information, together with outline costings and discussions with landowners, will enable Bowland and the rest of Lancashire to be included in a wider Pennine Peat Partnership bid for European funding under the LIFE programme which comes on stream this year. This funding would enable the National Landscape to manage a further programme of peatland restoration work. For further information contact sarah.robinson@lancashire.gov.uk