Calder Future | The corporate gardeners hit town!
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The corporate gardeners hit town!
As part of RSA Insurance's national volunteering week, and our own River Week in June, we hosted a large group of 50 employees on a team-building exercise. Some were local from Dean Clough in Halifax but many came from other parts of the country to take part. We took the chance to blitz the Himalayan balsam along the cycletrack that runs from Hebden Bridge station towards Walkley's Mill - this is a site where Calder Future volunteers have worked before hand-pulling the balsam, but never in such large numbers!
.jpg "Getting stuck in")
The volunteers came with their own baseball caps and T-shirts, specially printed for the week of activities, and spent a full day tackling the balsam. By clearing this invasive weed it will allow native flowers, such as red campion, to thrive in this shaded, riverside corridor which is a popular pedestrian and cycle route between Hebden Bridge and neighbouring Mytholmroyd.
Comments from the volunteers - including ‘We're not going till this is done!’ - showed that they really enjoyed and appreciated their day’s volunteering. It really was a fantastic effort so a big thanks from Calder Future and (we hope) from Hebden Bridge. Just look at how much we cleared from the embankment!
On a separate day we invited a small group of RSA employees from Halifax to do some gardening at the 'White Windows' residential home in Sowerby bridge (part of Cheshire Homes). They cleared a lot of the invasive balsam in the woodland area here too, but the main objective of the day was to open up a wheelchair accessible footpath that was created four years ago - the residents will now be able to enjoy the grounds more and get right into the centre of the woods. The whole path had become overgrown with weeds and bramble and the participants were blessed with good weather for their efforts (see pic below).
