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Fundraising for restoration work on Hilbre
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Hilbre Island
© Val Burnett
Hilbre is owned by Wirral Borough
Council. Paragraphs in the deeds state that Hilbre must be preserved
as a wildlife area, but also be open to the public. As the Council own
the island, the Friends have a role as voluntary partners in helping
with tasks, including fund raising.
Obviously, restoration of the Victorian buildings will be expensive.
We have been in touch with English Heritage and the Heritage Lottery
and although their officers are interested in Hilbre, we have our work
cut out to provide suitable written applications. For this, we rely on
the funding and project officers of Wirral Borough Council.
At present, the favoured source of significant funding is the Mersey
Waterfront project and the Friends of Hilbre are working with Wirral
officers to set suitable targets. How do we involve members of the
local community, as most funders now require? Should we run special
information days? Or a photographic competition? Or get school parties
involved? It is not easy, and takes a lot of detailed organisation by
some lucky person to run any project like this.
Let us have your ideas! We make no promises, but will be grateful for
your suggestions. And think about it; your contacts are a way of
involving YOU as community, for a start! We can feed back what you
have said in a later Newsletter.
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Painting the Walls of the
Hilbre Island's
Centre formerly the Telegraph Station
© Val Burnett
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Wildlife Walk with Sue
© Val Burnett |
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Would you like to help with Seal Watching on Hilbre?
For insurance purposes, all participants must be member of Friends of
Hilbre.
Seals hauled out on the West Hoyle Bank in the Dee Estuary
© Richard Smith
Dave Cavanagh, the Hilbre Ranger, will be
running an informal, fun training session for volunteers at the end of
June. You will learn about the seals in the Dee Estuary and how to use our
wonderful new telescope. Volunteers who help with Seal Watching Duty can
then share this information with visitors to the islands, helping to
enhance their appreciation and respect for the Atlantic Grey Seal colony.
We hope that each trainee will commit to one or more Seal Watching duties
this year. Wear sensible clothing/footwear and bring a snack to eat. If
you have any binoculars, please bring these along.
To reserve your place on the training session, please e-mail at Val:
thefriendsofhilbre@hotmail.com.
If trainees wish to volunteer for Seal Watching Duty between June and
October, please e-mail Sue and Allen at:
thefriendsofhilbre@hotmail.com.
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Jo seal watching (with telescope)
© Val Burnett
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Atlantic Grey Seal in the Dee Estuary
© John Rodgers |
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issue'.
Thank You
Our many thanks go to the Matthews family
for their generous bequest of £500 to the Friends of Hilbre. The donation
was made in memory of their father, Professor Matthews, who was very
interested in our work on the island during the last few years of his
life.
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Task day with lunch for The Friends of Hilbre -
members only
In July, we will be combining our task
day out on Hilbre with a free lunch for members only.
Please e-mail Barbara at:
thefriendsofhilbre@hotmail.com if you
would like to come, so we can confirm numbers for catering.
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Excavation on
Hilbre Island
Dawn Greeting ©
Christine Longworth
On 10th February a group of archaeologist
from National Museums Liverpool squeezed into a 4-wheel drive driven by
Pete from Hilbre Bird Observatory, they arrived on Hilbre Island just as
dawn was breaking. Their purpose was to conduct a small excavation to
check for any archaeology in advance of the construction of a new pond to
attract wildlife.
 At the end of a day
of brilliant sunshine they were pleasantly surprised by the results of
their labours. A small number of objects were found, including a fragment
of medieval floor tile dating between the 1300s and 1500s, some pieces of
post-medieval pottery which date between 1700 and 1900 and a tiny flint
flake which may be 8000 years old!
Left: A fragment of medieval floor
tile was discovered at the site
© Colin Jones
Enough interest in the site had been generated to warrant a return trip.
Two of the archaeologists returned to the excavation on a cold, wet day in
March when more post-medieval finds and possibly a small sherd of
prehistoric pot were found. The archaeologists hope to spend
another day on the site in the near future and will keep the Friends of
Hilbre posted regarding any further developments.
Information provided by Christine Longworth, archaeologist and
committee member of the Friends of Hilbre, 2006.
Right: Current excavation and site of
the future wildlife pond. © Colin Jones.
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Hilbre Memories
Abroad for the Day!
Whilst
giving a slideshow about Hilbre at the Unitarian Church in Brookfield
Gardens, West Kirby, Val met Joan Wilkinson. Joan later wrote to Val about
trips made with children from the Convalescent Home in West Kirby to
Hilbre Island during the 1960s and 1970.
“…We
all remembered Dr. McAfee taking some children who were unable to walk in
his Landrover and some children going in a trap. The rest of us walked.
Everyone had a good time paddling and exploring the caves. We took some
sandwiches and drinks for lunchtime. It was a tired group which set off
back to West Kirby and I remember carrying a little girl on my back for
the last hundred yards. One boy wrote in his letter home that he had been
“abroad” for the day!”
Joan
also remembered the Bailey family:
“Pete was a teacher at Caldy Grammar School but gave it up to be custodian
of Hilbre, where he lived with his wife Barbara and their two children,
Christine and Bill. To get to school the children rode horses, leaving
them in a field by the White Lion. When the tide was in they came by
boat.”
If you would like to
contribute your own recollections to future newsletters, please e-mail us:
thefriendsofhilbre@hotmail.com
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Groundwork Merseyside 21 Environmental
Awards 2006
Friends of Hilbre receiving their
certificate
From left: Steve Cumberlidge, Sue Craggs, Richard Smith, Val Burnett and
Jane Kearley
© Colin Jones
The Friends of Hilbre were invited to enter a project in the
Communications Award category of the 7th Groundwork Merseyside 21
Environmental Awards 2006. Five Local Authorities and other Sponsors
support these Environmental and Health Awards for Businesses, Schools and
Communities in Merseyside and the concept of sustainability in action.
Tony Hawkhead CBE, the Chief Executive of Groundwork UK wrote:
“…Groundwork has been helping communities and businesses contribute to
sustainable development for 25 years. Our work began on Merseyside in 1981
and now stretches across the UK and Europe with a growing Groundwork
network also established in the USA.
No-one can deliver sustainable development for us – it’s a shared
responsibility. We’re delighted to play our part and would urge community
groups, businesses and schools to demonstrate their achievements and set
an example by entering the Groundwork Merseyside 21 Environmental Awards.
We need to celebrate our achievements. I believe deeply that the work we
are doing can and will make a lasting difference.”
The Friends of Hilbre submitted ‘The Friends of Hilbre Website` in the
Environmental Communication Award section and were delighted to be
short-listed! On 2nd February a group of us attended the presentation and
a buffet lunch at the Crown Plaza Hotel in Liverpool - this also gave us
the opportunity to network with other groups. I felt so much admiration
for the work so many volunteers do within their community and their
achievements.
The Friends of Hilbre have worked since 2001 to promote and protect Hilbre
Island, its flora and fauna, history and architectural heritage. The
Friends realised from all their information outreach tasks that a website
could keep people with an interest in Hilbre connected, it could act as a
“virtual tour” for those unable to visit, and could be a two way
communication tool for all involved with the Island and the wider public.
The website has been up and running since January 2005 and has had 14,000
hits. The Friends have received messages from all over the world and have
acquired some new members via the website. A great example of new
technology being used to enhance our natural heritage!
Incidentally, the Dee Estuary Wardens were short-listed in their section
for their submission ‘Wild Birds on West Kirby Beach’. The Metropolitan
Borough of Wirral’s submission ‘Hilbre Island Wind Turbine’ was also
short-listed in their section of the Business Awards. Is it not an
achievement that our little area of Wirral was so well represented?
Valerie Burnett
Update: Annual General Meeting 2006
The Friends of Hilbre AGM was held at West Kirby Concourse, Wednesday 24th
May 2006.
Members and the public had the opportunity to hear a summary of all the
activities that have been carried out by The Friends of Hilbre over the
last year. All present had the chance to ask the committee questions and
to raise issues about Hilbre Island and the activities of the Friends.
Members had the opportunity to nominate candidates for the committee.
Our speaker this year was Ron Thomas, a local wildlife photographer, who
showed us some of his pictures and talked about his work.
Annual membership subscriptions are due in May but
can be renewed throughout the year.
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Member’s articles are welcome. They may be edited to fit the
available space. Please send your contributions by e-mail to:
thefriendsofhilbre@hotmail.com
SAFETY NOTICE
Always check the tides before going
out to Hilbre. Tides change each day. Use the safe route, it is dangerous
to use any other route. For full details of when to cross safely and the
safest route to Hilbre see our
Planning your visit to Hilbre Island page.
PLEASE NOTE: All articles and photographs in this web site are
© COPYRIGHT of Friends of Hilbre unless
specifically otherwise stated.
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