Wood Chip Delivered

26th May 2013
WOODCHIP DELIVERED
On Sunday 26th May The Trust had a very large delivery of woodchip delivered to the Victoria Avenue entrance of the wood. We spent the afternoon spreading it from the bottom of the steps in Victoria Avenue and through the pathway and steps in the entrance of the wood. 
 

This has hopefully made it much easier and drier to access Speckled Wood via this entrance.  It now looks lovely, especially since Mr Dave Hemsley kindly strimmed the pathway edges for us. This widening has made the paths more accessible and is routine yearly maintanance

New Bench Installed in Memory of Tim.

10th May 2013

NEW BENCH INSTALLED IN MEMORY OF TIM.

On the 10th May The Trust collected a lovely wooden bench from The Country Park, which was kindly donated to go in the lower valley as a memorial bench for Tim who helped out working in the wood.

This was bolted to a large piece of concrete which was uncovered when the Trust members cleared a pile of metal and compost. It took a whole day to put this in place.

The trust were very happy to see so many people using it, making it worth all the hard work put in to make the lower valley look beautiful so people could sit on the bench and admire the beautiful view with not a scrap of metal in sight.

The Reverend Lee Duckett said he would bless the bench when a plaque had been placed on it in memory of Tim.

Wet Pathway Bridge repaired

27th April 2013
WET PATHWAY BRIDGE REPAIRED
This morning FOSWMT, two residents from Greville Road and Stamco all helped FOSWMT to repair the footpath bridge on the frederick Road to Victoria Avenue registered footpath. The replacement bridge was made from three railway sleepers and some 1/4" mild steel bar. The Trust hope that the replacement bridge will stand up better to the vandalism.

Clearance of Rubbish in Speckled Wood

24th April 2013 

CLEARANCE OF RUBBISH IN THE SPECKLED WOOD
The trust received delivery of a skip in the Frederick Road entrance of Speckled Wood and have been busy for 3 weeks filing it with tons of metal and other fly tipped rubbish that has accumulated over the years. 5 skip loads were taken from the lower part of the woodland by Friends of Speckled Wood management Trust, from old water tanks and tyres to parts of beds and bicycles. Many of these had to be dug out from the stream and other places in the lower part.

Sadly the skip had to be removed after 3 weeks because of 3 complaints from the public about it.

Ordnance Survey was invited by the Trust to survey wet pathways

25th March 2013
ORDNANCE SURVEY WERE INVITED BY THE TRUST TO SURVEY WET PATHWAYS

The wet path survey by Ordnance Survey of the pathways in Speckled was finished on Monday. We hope to have the
results shortly. Initial results look good and the mapping was successful without the tree canopy. It will be six weeks before maps are updated.

Speckled Wood website now will go live 2013

23rd December 2012

SPECKLED WOOD WEBSITE NOW WILL GO LIVE 2013
The Trust formalise plans for a new domain and website and show of  strength  that people want Speckled Wood free from Development.

New website which has been designed will go live in January 2013 for Speckled Wood in an attempt to save the woodland should the Local Council not move to remove this woodland from the DMP.

Speckled Wood registered on Wikipedia

14th December 2012
SPECKLED WOOD REGISTERED ON WIKIPEDIA

The trust successfully uploaded the first version of Speckled Wood data to Wiki this has now been authenticated by Wiki and now is part of their online database:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speckled_Wood,_Hastings

Friends of Speckled Wood approach to BIG LOCAL

16th November 2012

FRIENDS OF SPECKLED WOOD APPROACH THE BIG LOCAL
Friends of Speckled Wood contacted Capacity.org in relation to the BIG LOCAL lottery funding which was available asking them to fund the purchase of Speckled Wood. This funding was not offered, however capacity.org.uk promised technical assistance package to the Trust to help them with the purchase should funding be come available.

Speckled Wood campaigners lose reserve bid

14th Nov 2012
SPECKLED WOOD CAMPAIGNERS LOOSE RESERVE BID.
The Trust are told that only a section of the woodland in Speckled Wood can be declared a green space and that talks with land owners will be happening to see if they agree to the remaining space being designated as green space.

The Trust are told they will have to collect 5000 signatures in under two weeks with three bank holidays dates . If they want to take the mater to the full council under petition.

Friends hand over thier petition to the Cabinet.

5th November 2012 
FRIENDS HAND OVER THEIR PETITION TO CABINET
Friends of Speckled Wood are set today to hand over their petition to Hastings Borough Council Cabinet. Chairman Mr Martin Newbold has been given the opportunity to present the petition to the Cabinet and speak directly to them .

The Management Plan that accompanies the petition is a concise document putting forward Friends wishes to manage the woodland as it was currently being neglected by its owners. This working document was emailed to all members of the Cabinet and Hastings Council upfront of this meeting.

Friends of Speckled Wood becomes a Trust

30 Oct 2012
FRIENDS OF SPECKLED WOOD BECOME A TRUST

Friends of Speckled Wood today became Friends of Speckled Wood Management Trust retaining FOSW and Friends of Speckled Wood as working names. FOSWT now has bank accounts and is recognised as a Trust.

See Constitution
http://www.friendsofspeckledwood.org.uk/documents/Constitution/2012-10-30%20-%20FOSWMT%20Constitution.pdf

The group recieve invitation by letter to the next Hastings Cabinet

15th October 2012

THE GROUP RECEIVE INVITATION BY LETTER TO THE NEXT HASTINGS CABINET .

Today after delivering their petition to have their recommendations heard at the next Cabinet . A letter was received with a formal invitation. Friends of Speckled Wood are excited and are happy to attend.

The Trust adopts a consitution formalising thier group

6th Sep 2012.
THE TRUST ADOPTS A CONSTITUTION FORMALISING THEIR GROUP

The Trust today in a meeting agreed to accept the Constitution for the group that was put before them. The document was signed by the Chairman of the group and is available online.

The signed version is available here: https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B9zrp_DzM2i-WnJaQXRsRGhBUE0

The Trust collect 1032 votes in favour of keeping Speckled Wood as it is

24th August 2012

THE TRUST COLLECT 1032 VOTES IN FAVOUR OF KEEPING SPECKLED WOOD AS IT IS.

The Trust successfully handed over their consultation which ran alongside the HBBS consultative and obtaining an unprecedented landslide in favour of keeping the entire woodland as it is a natural woodland. The Trust plans to Present this alongside a Management Plan to the Councils Cabinet

This was hand over was covered by The Hastings Observer newspaper and the story which they printed is available online at their website Campaigners hand over petition in a bid to protect Speckled Wood in Ore