Cawston Greenway

We Are Back (sort of)

Posted on June 26, 2020 by Paul - Cawston Greenway

Sustrans have given us the green light to work on the disused railway, but not as a group (unless from the same household) and only to do very light work. A great step forwards.

I started at Potford Dam and have been slowly making my way up the path snipping back brambles. I have got to Berrybanks so far.

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There is plenty of evidence where others have been lightly cutting back, or picking up litter, so well done everyone.

The greenway is getting a huge amount of use over this last few months and this is keeping it pretty open and wide. Plenty of people thanking us as a team for creating it, too.

I have tried to capture the amazingness of the path with a couple of video-clips.

It is just another level of interest that might engage people. I will get a handlebar camera for my bike and see what fun I can have with that.

THE DUNCHURCH BIT

Those who know me, will know that I am near-obsessive that a path must lead somewhere, and not just peter out in the middle of nowhere.

With this in mind, I have hooked up to the Dunchurch Bridleway that connects with National Cycle Network 41 and takes the route onwards towards Leamington Spa, or cuts back into Dunchurch with plenty of Rights of Way paths to get back to Cawston.

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I snipped back bramble runners on the Dunchurch Bridleway bit so it is all good to go.

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Great to be back out there and really looking forward to when we are allowed to become a working group again.

Paul

Posted in Newsreel | Tagged cawston, cycling, Dunchurch, jogging, national cycle network 41, nature trail, path, Railway path, rambling, running, walking | Leave a comment

Video Clips of Bench Workshop (Early March)

Posted on April 17, 2020 by Paul - Cawston Greenway

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Last workday until further notice…

Posted on March 19, 2020 by Paul - Cawston Greenway

Just managed to catch up with my emails and Sustrans are asking for no volunteering that involves social interaction.

We can do stuff on an individual basis, but not together.

Dave, Marcus and Paul made it this week and we got a load of wildflower seeds down. It was hedge bedstraw and lady’s bedstraw that David from Sustrans gave us last year. This is a good food source for our bloody nosed beetles. I also had a load of locally collected wildflower seeds. however, I cannot remember what they are apart from ox-eye daisy.

It will be a nice surprise in the summer!!

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Other than that, we just had a general tidy up and coffee break.

And kept the bird feeders topped up.

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Well, that’s it. I feel quite deflated but our health is the most important thing to consider.

I will keep everyone posted.

Paul

Posted in Newsreel | Tagged Cawston Greenway Nature Reserve, cycling, nature, rambling, running, wild birds, wildflowers | Leave a comment

Spring has Sprung

Posted on March 15, 2020 by Paul - Cawston Greenway

Spring has sprung, right out of a railway carriage. It must have been a bumpy ride for the rest of the journey…

Our great friend Andrew has made us five more bird-boxes. We have placed these between Berrybanks and where the path that runs behind Henry Hinde Junior School, from Apple Grove park, and joins the greenway.

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As an aside, I went to Henry Hinde Junior School and us children would wave at the passing trains pulling a cargo of whatever to Rugby Portland Cement (now Cemex). We always got a friendly wave back.

Anyway, Jana, Danielle, Aaron, Marcus and Paul got the bird-boxes up. They need to be facing between North and East so as not to catch the sun and cook any eggs, be high enough to deter human tampering and have a clear flight path in and out so predators cannot sit outside the box waiting for chicks to fledge.

Marcus and Aaron tried to move a fallen tree, or cut a path around it.

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Trying to move it was impossible. The whole tree is being held up by a much smaller tree. People have started to go under the tree as they walk the path. Please go up and over. If it suddenly gives way you might be trapped under it for a long time!!! We made a path over at the root end.

We have done loads of work on the northern end of the path. We have benches and clearings, bird-boxes and bridges. We are committed to making the whole length of the greenway a really good experience.

Next one is Wednesday starting at the clearing where the Cawston Bridleway crosses and putting down an annual cornfield mix in the bench clearings. This will add a blast of colour and attract insects and birds.

I would like late spring and summer workdays to have an element of identifying and recording flora and fauna. I appreciate that this is not for everyone, so we will work out a way to accommodate everybody.

Great work today,

Paul

Posted in Newsreel | Tagged cawston greenway, jogging, Mountain-biking, national cycle network 41, nature trail, path, running, walking, wildflowers | 1 Comment

Workshop Day

Posted on March 4, 2020 by Paul - Cawston Greenway

This was our much-awaited workshop day for young autistic adults. It was also creating our group seating area.

Firstly, many thanks to the people who supported us with these two projects. We could not have done it without you.

Chris, Reece, Kerrie, Marcus and myself turned out for the morning and what a great morning it was.

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Chris learnt loads of new skills that he can reuse on the next workshop.

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We got the four benches made and in the ground. I like the look of it. Groups can use the space to meet and chill.

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The coffee was a welcome relief, with coconut macaroons this week.

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Chris getting his first-ever pay-packet!!

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The end result.

Here are the video links for the morning.

Loads to take in and lots to take forwards. We all really enjoyed the workshop and look forward to the next one.

Paul

Posted in Newsreel | Tagged benches, community space, giving people the chance to shine, helping others, more than just a path, seating, supporting people, thank you local community, volunteering, workshop day | Leave a comment

Weekend Workday

Posted on March 1, 2020 by Paul - Cawston Greenway

We have our young adults with autism workshop, on Wednesday 4th March – more about this later.

We had Matt, Tom, Mick, Marcus and myself on our weekender and we carried on chopping back the ground-ivy. It’s a tough job because the stuff just does not want to give up!!

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However, we have cleared a good stretch and if we mow it once or twice, we should be able to keep it pushed back. Hopefully, grass and violets will grow on the bare earth but if there is no sign of life by the end of March, we can seed with a cornfield mix. We will try and extend the cleared ground by a few more meters every year.

The little stretch needs a bench, and by chance, we have a spare one. The view is to die for.

The bird-feeders are topped up and keeping the birds happy and the squirrels out.

We have a busy March with fallen trees to clear, more bird-boxes to put up around the new benches on the northern end of the path, thanks to Andrew for kindly making them, and we need to seed the bare earth around the benches with all the local wildflower seeds collected last year. We also need to map where all the nesting boxes are before the leaves are back on the trees and the bird-nesting season starts.

Myself, Kerrie and Marcus have put together a project to help young adults with autism to build benches. After a bit of trial and error, we are ready to go with our first workshop on 4th March. It has been a crazy learning experience and put me out of my comfort zone quite a few times. The aim is to teach new skills, build confidence, help people to feel like they are contributing towards their local community and, earn a bit of cash. We are massively new to this so any pointers, advice or support would be very much appreciated.

Weather for Wednesday is looking OK and the location is on the photo.

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Massively looking forward to this and creating a little bit of workshop space where we can sell the benches locally.

Paul

Posted in Newsreel | Tagged autism, benches, birds, butterflies, community space, corn chamomile, cornflower, picnic benches, Violets, volunteering, wildflowers | Leave a comment

All About the Violet

Posted on February 20, 2020 by Paul - Cawston Greenway

We used to have loads of Common Dog Violets in this area.

Unfortunately, we have let the ivy get out of control and it has stopped just about everything else growing.

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It’s a lot harder to get the stuff up than it initially looks. But Aaron, Tom, Victoria, Reece, Mick and myself did what we could.

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Not bad, but I think for next time a strimmer would be a useful addition in the tool-kit. I will make sure I bring it next time.

And lastly, our coffee and cookie break is always welcome.

Same place next week, which is our weekender.

All welcome!

Paul

Posted in Newsreel | Tagged coffee and cookies, Common Dog Violet, community, cycling, friendship, fun, mental health, Mountain-biking, nature, NCN 41, rambling, running, volunteering | Leave a comment

New and Improved Bench

Posted on February 13, 2020 by Paul - Cawston Greenway

If I have to lug another 20kg bag of post-fix down the path, I will not be responsible for my actions… lol

But we got there, and the new and improved benches have longer legs so are a little bit more comfortable. Not that the other benches are not, due to them being on a slope so the leg shortness is offset, somewhat. All part of the multiple learning curves that we are on at present.

Great turn-out today with Aaron, Dave, Reece, Marcus, Mick and myself. A big thanks to Reece, who has taken charge of getting the benches actually in the ground.

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Whilst the rest of us cleared the area ready for wildflower seeds in March.

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And made habitat piles for all sorts of creatures.

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A very welcome cuppa at the mid-point.

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We have created four hubs, north of the bird-feeder clearing. We have one more to put in but more about that in a second. What we now need to do is make a decent clearing around each bench and put wildflower seeds down. In the summer these hubs will be amazing for people to sit and simply enjoy the wildlife that the wildflowers will bring.

Now that the bench building process has kinda got to where it needs to be, thanks to Marcus, we are now able to move forward with this aspect.

We have set up a group that encourages young adults on the autism spectrum to make the benches. We will pay them for doing this, and it is hoped that it gives people something that they can be proud of and teaches them new skills.

We have our first bench building workshop on Wednesday 4th March and it is on the greenway. I will get the tarp up so we have cover if the weather is not good. We are creating our fifth hub and “youth” area – a quadrant of four benches aimed at groups to hang-out and chill, away from adults.

For me, the greenway has always been about making the path as accessible to as many different groups as possible.

If anyone would like to support either of these strands, please let me know.

And to finish, our very own wildlife superhero, Mick, trying out the bench.

Next week we are clearing the ivy by the Rotherham Close entrance. Hopefully, the violets that used to come up will reappear.

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Great day today.

Paul

Posted in Newsreel | Tagged ASD, autism, Autism Spectrum, benches, butterflies, wildflowers, wildlife | Leave a comment

It feels like, another workday – another bench…

Posted on February 6, 2020 by Paul - Cawston Greenway

The aim is to get a bench in every 500 meters or so. It just gives people the chance to sit down and enjoy the surroundings.

The benches are designed to be quite short because we don’t want groups of people hanging around them. However, we are catering for this in another area.

The challenge for us guys, who were Reece, Dave, Kerrie, Marcus and myself today, is to create and maintain a clearing around each bench.

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This is the start of the clearing creation.

And this is Reece getting the bench level.

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Our coffee and coconut macaroon break felt very well deserved today.

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The aim is to open up the scrub, throw some wildflower seeds down and create the most amazing wildflower spaces for everyone to enjoy.

Thanks to everybody who contributed to our crowd-funder for the youth area. I just know that it is going to be fantastic.

https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/paul-hayden-hart-3?utm_term=rba9Jzyav

Next week we are putting in our last bench, in the section between The Bear and the start. Then a couple of clearance weeks, and then we start on the youth area.

Everybody is more than welcome to join us. We are just a group of easy-going people having a laugh and enjoying being outside. No previous experience is required. Or if you cannot join us but want to help, we always need fat-balls and peanuts for the bird-feeders.

Thanks for all the terrific encouragement, from the crowd-funder, or the people who stop and thank us on workdays, or the people who make bird-boxes and other stuff. It really is incredibly humbling.

Paul

Posted in Newsreel | Tagged benches, community, cycling, friendship, fun, hobbies, mental health, Mountain-biking, nature, photography, rambling, running | Leave a comment

More Benches

Posted on January 29, 2020 by Paul - Cawston Greenway

What a day!! Humping 20kg bags of postfix down a slippy and muddy path is no fun…

But Marcus, Reece and myself persevered to make a new bench area around a small pond.

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We are putting them in too deep, or the legs are a little bit too short. Luckily the slope was our “get out of jail” card. We will go for longer legs next time.

The small pond is surprisingly deep, so must be the lowest point. It will be interesting to see how we can develop it over the summer.

Coffee and mince-pies were very welcome at the half-way point.

Looking up and down shows how nice and litter-free the path is.

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A bit later on I topped up the bird feeders. On the way, I sat at our first bench and just enjoyed the tranquillity.

Listen to the wonderful sounds from the birds.

It really works as a place to just sit and enjoy the sounds and green-space.

I am really happy that we are opening up the north end with benches and areas that are interesting. The south end of the path has had so much attention, so it is good that we are able to create the same for both ends.

Next week we are putting a bench in-between Berrybanks and The Bear, and then we will put one in-between The Bear and the start of the path.

Great work today and really pushing the boundaries learning new skills.

Paul