SPECIAL GUESTS
We felt properly honoured this month to invite some special guests from Newport Sanctuary, a charity who support refugees from across the world. Refugees are victims of national crisis and look to other nations to give sanctuary and support. We had 12 people from different nations – Iran, Iraq, The Congo, Malaysia and Syria and all age ranges. Some had only been in the UK for as little as a month and others much longer. The Newport Sanctuary provides support liaising with the Home Office and local authorities for housing, education and general needs. Whilst seeking asylum these people cannot work so are unable to provide for themselves and need a lot of support. Sanctuary have a wealth of expertise now. Additionally Sanctuary offer days out and other activities to ensure that people are able to engage, learn the language and even learn new skills and finally become UK citizens if that is the future they want. We hope to foster this partnership with both Newport Sanctuary and the Hay and Talgarth branch too.
CHRISTMAS FAIR – CRICKHOWELL
What an evening! Crickhowell having just won the UK High Street of the Year proved they were worthy winners organising and delivering the Christmas Fair which involved the whole of the town. We did really well selling most of our Christmas decs made from wood and holly from our woodland, selling all our honey and other bee products. It has helped us to raise some funds which will be put towards new projects in 2019 including the Llangattock Community Woodlanders group activities, more help for Sanctuary and other groups and extending our bee development too.
THE BENCH!!
It’s finally in place, the bench which was bought with funds from the Woodland Trust Competition for the Tree of the Year awards in 2018. The Giant Redwood recognized by locals and visitors alike and seen in the photo above will be viewed and cherished for years to come. Volunteers dug the holes and fitted the bench over two weeks and it is now ready to sit on!!
BBC WILDLIFE MAGAZINE
We often get asked to contribute to a bit of PR and recently Llangattock Community Woodlands was invited to provide BBC Wildlife Magazine with some information for an article. It was good fun and a specialist photographer came out to visit us all for the morning taking lots of pictures and we submitted some words about our group. Sue Wingrove did us proud with this article in the magazine due to go out for the January edition. Hope you enjoy reading it!
LLANGATTOCK COMMUNITY WOODLANDERS
The Woodlanders will be properly launched in the New Year and the group is growing. This month they focused on – yes you’ve guessed it – Christmas!! After spending a very wet morning they all came together to make decorations with wood from our woodland and eat hot dogs, chocolates and biscuits. James Godding, one of the parents, is keen to lead this group and make the second Saturday of the month a fun morning for local children and their parents. We want this to be a family session giving children and parents space to have fun and explore.
ALDER CARR LOTTERY
The Alder Carr Lottery is something we now want to promote to support small projects in Llangattock Community Woodlands. We raised nearly £300 last year and three people won prizes at the end of the year 1st prize £50 and two prizes of £25 each. We are looking to raise more money this year. So if you would like to support us and perhaps be a happy winner please get in touch.
