Local Heritage Initiative
In March 2001 the Society obtained a grant from the Local Heritage Initiative ("LHI"). The grant covered a two year period to Summer 2003 and was in respect of expenditure proposed by the Society of up to £16,400. Obviously the Society does not have resources to consider such a level of spend without help, so the grant allowed us to implement projects that would otherwise not have been possible.
The LHI grant was for 85% of the amounts the Society spent on the proposed projects. The cost to the Society was therefore the balance of 15%, but in addition we committed to "in-kind contributions", which was primarily time spent by volunteers on the projects and the use of the Society's tractor. We committed to about 180 man-days of volunteers time over the two year period, which was a lot for a small community such as ours. However, committee members and others ensured that we comfortably met this commitment.
The projects fell into four main categories:
- A commons heritage survey, with research into the history of the commons. In May 2003 a book, see below, was published about their heritage and amenity importance.
- Additional management of the commons which we would otherwise not have been able to undertake. This built on the plans developed over the previous few years, with the help of various local amenity bodies, to ensure structural and bio-diversity. The main projects were to extend grassland areas, speed up heather regeneration, manage better the undergrowth, scrub, grass and bracken areas, reopen views, improve and re-sign the horse-rides and prevent unwanted vehicle access. Some of this work was done by contractors, other by volunteers.
- An educational programme with emphasis on activities for local children. A "Commons Club" for older children was formed in Summer 2001.
- Training for local volunteers in the safe use of chainsaws. A formal training course was attended by several Society members.
The entry on the LHI web site relating to this project may be seen by clicking here.
Local Heritage Study on
Hawridge and Cholesbury Commons
(Editor - Lindsay Griffin)
This book was published in May 2003 - the result of much hard work by Lindsay and her team. By clicking on the relevant link you can view the Contents or Foreword of the Study. Alternatively, you can click download Study to read the entire book (2.4 MB pdf file).
The files are pdf (Portable Document Format) files and you will need Adobe Reader® to download them. If you do not have this installed on your computer, please click the Adobe Reader® icon for a free download.
As part of the research for the book many local people were interviewed and you can listen to one of these interviews, with Ron How, here on-line. Ron was a local resident for many years and was involved in the Commons Preservation Society in its early days. Download the audio file from here: ronhow.wma - the file, which runs for just over 16 minutes, will play as it is downloading.
The file is encoded in "Windows Media Format" which can be played by "Windows Media Player" software. This comes as standard with the Internet Explorer web browser, but if you don't have it you can download it for free from Microsoft.