Trent Vale Review 2011

Trent Vale Landscape Partnership is a

£2.6 million three year programme

supported by the Heritage Lottery

Fund.

A diverse range of projects is being

delivered by local organisations to

conserve, enhance and celebrate the

natural and cultural heritage of the

Trent Vale.

After two years of delivery, the Part-

nership has made a significant im-

pact and laid the foundations for a

lasting legacy.

This review gives a flavour of our key

achievements so far and what we

have planned for 2012. For more

details please take the time to visit

our new project website at:

www.trentvale.co.uk

Review 2011

Heritage

Willow Works, Beckingham

Internal refurbishment to this important heritage building

was completed in the Summer of 2011, providing a per-

manent base for Beckingham History group and their ar-

chives. A celebration event for the local community was

held in September attended by over 300 people. The His-

tory Group held an Open Day in October attended by over

400 people, and over 60 people attended the formal

launch of the building in October to thank all funders. Af-

ter a somewhat rocky road, everyone agreed that a fabu-

lous new facility and a lasting legacy has been created,

and the Trent Vale project team are delighted with their

new office in the building.

Community archaeology

Graveyard surveys took place during the summer to un-

cover and record burial details before these are lost forev-

er to weathered erosion of gravestones. Around 200 peo-

ple attended the open day in July at Mons Pool Besthorpe

where the excavation in August attracted 77 volunteers.

Revealing the Riverbank continued to train volunteers (43)

to locate and record heritage features, uncovering a possi-

ble medieval weir at Averham.

13 local history groups visited Nottinghamshire Archives

to learn archiving skills and know-how.

Time Travel Trent Vale

This year over 3,500 people joined us again at Newark

castle to celebrate Trent Vale, as part of the British Festival

of Archaeology. Even Queen Victoria graced us with her

presence. The event will be repeated again in July 2012

at Newark with a further Time Travel arranged at Gains-

borough Old Hall in August.

Habitats

New / Improved Habitats

A major habitat creation project was completed at

Besthorpe Nature Reserve resulting in the restora-

tion of 4ha. of reedbed and the creation of a fur-

ther 4ha. of new reedbed. An osprey platform

and otter holt were also installed on the site.

12 Barn Owl boxes have been installed across

Trent Vale, and 3 new ponds created.

Visits were made to 25 landowners in Trent Vale to

promote wildlife-friendly land management.

The first 3 members of the Trent Vale grazing herd

were purchased in December. The Lincoln Red

cattle will graze wildflower meadows across the

area to restore this valuable habitat through tradi-

tional livestock farming methods.

Training in traditional skills

Workshops were delivered in hedge laying in Mis-

terton and Lea Park; traditional orchard pruning;

wildflower plug planting along with a community

reedbed planting event at Besthorpe.

Short courses were held delivering a variety of

identification skills, such as winter trees, birds,

wildflowers, water voles, newts, dragonfly and

damselfly.

11 new students began formal training on Diploma

in Conservation Management level 2 in November.

This practical training course has already delivered

improvements and learning across 7 different sites

in Trent Vale in Trent Vale.

Key achievements to the

end of 2011

Community Grants— over 1,000 people have

been involved in 21 community grant pro-

jects. Funding awarded over £30,000.

Farmer Grants—19 grants awarded to local

farmers worth over £29,000.

Over 450 volunteers actively involved across

all projects, contributing over 1,800 volunteer

days of work.

Value of volunteer work— over £90,000.

Environmental education sessions including

visits to wildlife sites / woodland workshops

to over 1,300 Trent Vale pupils.

Riverside / cultural audits in 11 Parishes.

60+ attendees at 2 Church Art workshops.

8 community art projects contributing to the

Vales Tales

74 attendees at a community event to consid-

er the long term future of Trent Vale

Trent Vale website live from December 2011,

attracting 300 + views in its first month

(home page to the right).

Twitter started November 2011 with 78 fol-

lowers and 90 tweets and growing.

TVLP meetings held in community venues

across Trent Vale.

Communities

Improving access 20 safe cycle routes of differing lengths have been developed by

Newark Sustrans Rangers and will be available to download from the Trent

Vale website.

We continue to support the work of Healthy Walking groups across

Trent Vale through promotion of their activities and to promote the Trent

Valley Way long distance path.

20 walking routes across Trent Vale have been developed into down-

loadable leaflets with information about heritage features and wildlife in-

terest along the routes. These will soon be

available from the Trent Vale website.

17 new Angling pegs installed at Dunham-on-Trent; 18 new An-

gling Pegs and a further 7 new all ability angling pegs installed

on the Devon supported by Try Fishing taster sessions.

Planned for 2012 Visitor car park , cycle path and footpaths at RSPB Langford

Lowfield reserve

Restoration of rare horse gin at Lea

New visitor moorings at Cromwell Lock.

Exhibitions of community arts projects

and Trent Vale photography competition entries.

Restoration of wall paintings and creation of new wall hanging at Gains-

borough Old Hall.

Further archaeological digs at Mons Pool Besthorpe and Marton

Production of a Handbook of Community Archaeology through training

in survey techniques for community members and their contributions.

What’s On guide : training, events and activities including walking and cycling festivals.

Visit www.trentvale.co.uk for all details

Trent Vale Landscape Partnership

The Trent Vale Landscape Partnership is led by British Waterways and includes:

Bassetlaw District Council

BTCV

Environment Agency

Groundwork Creswell, Ashfield and Mansfield

Groundwork Lincolnshire

Lincolnshire County Council

Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust

Natural England

Newark and Sherwood District Council

Nottinghamshire County Council

Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust

OnTrent Initiative

Sustrans

The RSPB

West Lindsey District Council

Trent Vale follows the course of the River Trent through Nottinghamshire and Lincoln-

shire for 26 miles, and is made up of 76 villages from Farndon in the South through to

East and West Stockwith in the North.