‘FRIENDS OF ’

SUMMARY OF OUR FIRST YEAR

This brief report outlines the activities carried out by the Friends of the Towans – a local volunteer group – during the period March 2015 to January 2016.

The sun doesn’t always shine, but we do nearly always have a bonfire, sometimes with baked potatoes too. The 12 people helping clear scrub at Lethlean on 7th Jan 2016 – our largest attendance so far - were treated to a lovely rainbow during the tea break.

Our focus is on carrying out practical conservation work, mainly clearing scrub vegetation such as old man’s beard, privet and brambles, to restore the dune grassland.

Some facts & figures

 We worked in 5 locations from Mexico Towans to Gwithian Green

 We also carried out a Towans-wide litter pick, which included part of the beach. We teamed up with Save our Sand, another local group, for this task

 We worked on 14 separate dates, roughly 2 per month

 24 different people took part

 We have 41 people on our database, with a regular ‘hard-core’ of about 8

 Total volunteer hours spent so far is about 400

 We had 3 items publicised in the Cornishman newspaper

Alex made this Guy, which went down well on our bonfire on Nov 11th at Upton!

 We also attended two walks with local butterfly experts and another run by 3 of ’s top botanists. This walks programme aims to improve people’s knowledge of and enjoyment of the special wildlife on the Towans – more are planned

 Up to the end of April 2016, we are planning 8 other outings – see our newsletter and the website www.towanspartnership.org.uk

 We are planning 2 tasks with & Scouts in the next 2 months

 Funding was contributed by Hayle Town Council, Gwinear/Gwithian Parish Council, St Ives Bay Holiday Park, Cornwall Wildlife Trust, The National Trust, Natural England and CORMAC Solutions

 We are very grateful to these funders, but are always keen to look for new partners to keep this group going

Martin Rule, Towans Ranger 07854 123 877 [email protected]