CPRE Awards – Felbeck Trust Wins the Countryside Champions Award

On September 16th, a group of trustees and volunteers – John, David, Peter, Val and Nick – attended the CPRE Norfolk awards ceremony in Dereham.

Our West Beckham Old Allotments project won the Countryside Champions category, for projects "that enhance and protect the Norfolk countryside and all that is within it through the vision and perseverance of local community groups and individuals".

We are immensely proud of this recognition of our achievements at WBOA. This award is testimony to the spirit of our wonderful volunteers who have persisted through terrible weather and the frustrations of the pandemic to transform the site for the benefit of wildlife.

A quick reminder of the work we have done at WBOA:

This four-acre former daffodil field was overrun with dock plants when we took it over in the autumn of 2019. Having largely controlled the docks by hand digging, we are now in the process of restoring much of the area to wildflower meadow, by repeated scything and raking to reduce the nutrient levels in the soil, which will favour wild flowers over rank grasses. In addition, as part of the RSPB's Operation Turtle Dove, we have hand dug a pond, created a butterfly bank and planted about 800 hedging trees. This work has all been done by volunteers, with much of it carried out during the pandemic. This meant that we weren't able to hold our usual work parties, so our volunteers worked in pairs or sixes, depending on the restrictions in place at the time.