The Midhurst Green Volunteers have been taking their first cautious steps back into the Community with a few sessions over the last week. They have selected specific locations where footpaths are wider or the area they are working in is open enough to allow them to distance themselves from each other.

The sessions have gone really well and there has been some really positive feedback from people who are grateful to see them back again!

We’re extra pleased to say that the team will be returning to Easebourne this coming Saturday 30th May! We will be meeting, at a distance of course, at the bottom of Hollist Lane near the bus shelter at 8.30am. The aim is to work northwards along the footpath to clear vegetation and widen the path. Volunteers will be spaced out along a section of the path and social distancing will be of paramount importance.

All tools are provide but you MUST bring your own garden gloves for obvious reasons. The session will be no longer than 2 hours and as an incentive to make it to the end they’ll be some cakes and cold drinks as a thank you and a reward!

If you can spare jut those 2 hours to help your community and get some safe, outdoor exercise at the same time, please get in touch to confirm your attendance. You can email grahampooley.gp@gmail.com and copy parishclerk@easebourne.org.

Many thanks and hope to see some village volunteers on the 30th!

The Midhurst Green Volunteers and our own mini team of village volunteers dodged the rain and hail on Saturday 29th Feb to clear just over 2 tonnes of green waste from the eastern side of Wheelbarrow Castle! We also collected a black bin bag full of empty drinks cans that were sadly uncovered after clearing the banks of leaves.

It was our busiest session yet and we were thrilled to have 5 village volunteers this time. The extra hands meant we could tackle even more than had been planned. We hope you can see by the photos, the path is now wider, the layers of decaying leaves have gone and we’ve said goodbye to the overhanging, overgrown brambles!

A massive thank you again to the Midhurst team who gave up their time to help us. YOUR next opportunity to help is next Saturday, 7th March. Same time, same place, meeting from 8.30am on the corner of Cowdray Road to tackle the opposite side of the road!

Please don’t forget though, for this amazing partnership between Midhurst and Easebourne to continue, we need volunteers not just at our own village sessions, but also at sessions all around Midhurst. 

We now have an updated calendar for the Midhurst Green Volunteers, including all sessions due to take place in Easebourne. Please check your diaries and join a session when you can.

We really need you, as Easebourne residents to come forward to join this initiative. If as a village we cannot contribute our own volunteers then unfortunately it’s unlikely that further sessions in Easebourne will be planned. We can’t really expect these dedicated volunteers from Midhurst to give up their time to help us unless we are prepared to get involved!

If you have appreciated the work that’s been done along High Path and Wheelbarrow Castle so far and would like to see other areas of the village maintained to the same high standard, please come and help.

Midhurst Green Volunteers Diary to May 2020

Many of you will have noticed by now that Wheelbarrow Castle received an initial cut back by the Midhurst Green Volunteers last Saturday! We started by clearing the corner close to the bus shelter and worked up towards to school, reaching the crossing point before time ran out.

The next sections will be tackled on Saturday 29th February and Saturday 7th March, from 8.30 until 10.30 each day.

The volunteers did an amazing job in a short time, although disappointingly we had only 1 villager step up to help, versus 6 volunteers who came from Midhurst. Luckily our 1 helper was ideally suited to the job, being a professional tree surgeon! Thank you Connor!

Working with the Midhurst Green Volunteers is essential if we are to improve areas such as this within our village, but we can’t expect this to continue if we can’t contribute pairs of hands on the day! There simply isn’t money within Chichester District Council to maintain these areas so without volunteers it will sadly grow wild.

There’s a great team spirit at these sessions, you don’t need any experience or equipment and you don’t need to be a tree surgeon to help! Just a willingness to get stuck in to help your community and a sense of humour! We’ll also provide some refreshments at the end! Please check your diaries and consider sharing an hour of your time for the next sessions.

If you want to know more please email parishclerk@easebourne.org – thank you.

Our volunteers were out again yesterday, Saturday 1st Feb under the expert guidance of the Midhurst Green Volunteers to finish off the High Path Project. We were a little light handed and it was hard work, but more brambles and branches were cut back and path edges rediscovered! We even extended the clean up around the entrance to the Riverbank Medical Centre and down towards the bridge into Midhurst. We hope you like the result!

This was over 8 hours of work for volunteers across 3 Saturdays, not including the time it takes to plan the sessions, prepare equipment and then dispose of the waste.

Next Saturday, 8th February the team will be starting to tackle Wheelbarrow Castle, again, cutting back overgrown vegetation and widening these well used paths. Please come along for an hour if you can, especially if you regularly use this route. All equipment will be provided and we’ll be meeting at the top in the school car park from 8.30am!