The Vale of Montgomery Rural Cluster, consisting of four local Community Councils (Abermule with Llandyssil, Berriew, Kerry Community Councils & Montgomery Town Council) have created a second round of joint events bringing together families and individuals, young and old, from all our local communities who are interested in the natural world around us and how we can look after it.
The events, scheduled to coincide with “Wales Nature Week”, showcased some of the little things we can all do to help nature thrive and promoted ideas on how to minimise the adverse impact some of our daily actions might have on the environment around us.
There were activities relating to bio-diversity that both children and adults enjoyed taking part in. There were ideas and information to takeaway and hopefully use at home or school, or even in the wider local area, which will all help contribute to earth’s natural biodiversity.
Biodiversity is the variety of life found on earth. Without a wide range of animals, plants and microorganisms we cannot have the healthy ecosystems that we rely on to provide us with the air we breathe and the food we eat.
Working and learning together, we can all help to rebuild and maintain biodiversity.
Kerry Nature Day
The second such event to be held in Kerry, the June 6th Nature Day was very successful and well attended with a lively atmosphere and a great collection of activities and information sharing. There was a last minute decision to hold the majority of the event indoors due to unpredictable weather but that worked well with a few outdoor events still being done such as the children filling the planters by the toilets with flowers, pond dipping and the Menshed crafts. Russell George opened the event with great aplomb and proceeded to attend all the stalls and engage enthusiastically with the activities and participants and took a little jar terrarium home at the end of it. There was learning about lichen, spinning yarn, beeswax products, bird model making and painting, hedgehog homes and lots of things to look at under microscopes to name but a few of the stalls to visit and lots of tea and cake to keep everyone going. There were also free cloth bags for all attendees covered with lovely drawings by the children from St Michael’s School. Participants and visitors were all positive about the possibility of a repeat event in the future but parking was a bit of a problem.
Thanks go to all the dedicated volunteers who worked so hard to make the day run smoothly and for such a good welcoming atmosphere.
Berriew
Nature Day
The 7th June saw over two hundred children and adults gather at the school field for a Nature Day, inspired and organised by the Berriew Community Council in partnership with the school and the Vale of Montgomery Rural Cluster. With no admission fee and lots of free activities, the event was designed to showcase nature and demonstrate how easy it is to make a small difference on a daily basis. 25 stalls were constantly busy over the course of the afternoon with professional and volunteer led activities allowing visitors to explore and have fun with subjects ranging from willow weaving, peg looming, water conservation, making bird feeders, recycling, generative farming, agro ecology, bee keeping, making bug hotels and much more.
Opened by Lord William Hague and also attended by MP Steve Witherden, MS Elwyn Vaughan and Cllr Adrian Jones, this second Berriew Nature Day attracted wide interest and attention as it sought to make the subject of biodiversity and sustainability interesting and enjoyable.
Visitors were encouraged to make a nature promise as they left, with contributions ranging from "I will make a wildlife pond in my garden" to "I promise to plant my wild flower bomb that I made here today" and "I will reduce, reuse, repair and recycle more".
The Council will look to hold another similar event in 2 years' time and express its thanks to all the visitors, volunteers and professionals who gave up their time for such a good cause.