Timeline, 2021 to the present

2021

  • In January the Maintenance Team were forced to stop work because of Covid restrictions, but work on site began again in March
  • Following the resumption of maintenance, a programme commenced to replace broken and lost tree plaques with new gold coloured thicker material
  • In April Martin Herrema, maintenance volunteer with a background in media relations, succeeded long-serving BWT Management Committee member Judy Buckley as Website Editor 
  • At the end of April, after 16 years volunteering - as Environmental Advisor, Consultant, Trustee and Co-Chair - Sharon Bayne stood down from BWT's Management Committee 
  • Following Sharon Bayne's stepping down, Co-Chair John Wale assumed sole responsibility as BWT Chair. A new position of Deputy chair was also created, with maintenance volunteer Adrian Bouwens announced as the first incumbent. And in another change, BWT Treasurer Martin Gray was appointed to the charity’s Trustees, in addition to continuing in his role as a member of the Management Committee
  • In July, skilful sourcing by Maintenance Team Leader Jeff Winn and equally skilful engineering by volunteer Jim Cooper saw a successful in-house repair to the flail on one of BWT's two mowers at a cost of less than £17, thus saving the charity costly repairs 
  • October saw BWT hold its Annual General Meeting
  • In November, several ash trees in Church Meadow which were suffering from ash die-back had to be removed by tree surgeons

2022

  • In February, preparatory work for BWT's new Jubilee Wood and car parking area off the Ashford Road began. Volunteers laid CellPave matting on top of the grass and it was pressed in using a heavy roller 
  • In March, maintenance volunteers planted mixed hedging whips around the boundary of the new car park development. The landscape will also incoporate other features to encourage wild life such as log piles and dry hedging
  • BWT's tree sponsorship scheme reopened, with a number of trees in Moore Meadow being released for sponsorship. The Trust also announced that there will will also be opportunities to sponsor some of the 70 trees being planted in Jubilee Wood
  • BWT was forced to increase its Membership Rates for the first time in its 18 year history. During that period the price of wood products has increased by 170% and the cost of other materials has doubled. Fuel costs shot up by 66% in six months during the year
  • The winter period saw maintenance volunteers resurfacing the Manning Maze. They re-cut the edges and scraped the surface and then the whole maze was re-surfaced using a self-binding grave
  • Ninety Year 2 children from Thurnham Infants School visited BWT as part of their Science and Nature studies. Our volunteers explained the history of BWT, its landscape and wild life
  • BWT unveiled its latest fundraising venture: its first calendars and Christmas cards as well as producing a new set of notecards. The items were on sale at BWT's AGM in October and on its stall at the Bearsted Market on the Green in November, as well as being sold through Taylor's newsagents
  • BWT stablished its first bee hotel on the bank in church Meadow. it provides long-term nestng where a solitary bee lives from the time it is laid as an egg until it is ready to emerge as a fully grown adult