Mike Monaghan Director of Buxton Civic Association, presented a cheque for £250 to the Transition Buxton committee for The Serpentine Project, to help them continue their work in transforming the Serpentine Gardens site from a derelict space, to a community-based project to grow food and help people learn about growing and making food themselves.

Mike Monaghan commented “This is a wonderful opportunity for the Civic Association to give tangible support to a community project which will bring real benefits to Buxton and is attracting so many volunteers.”

The site has been derelict for some years but when the council announced plans to sell it for housing, Transition Buxton came up with an alternative use and persuaded High Peak Borough Council to let them transform the site into a food producing space, and eventually to have a café selling the produce grown on site, a restored greenhouse, raised beds and a food growing demonstration area to enable people to learn how to grow food for themselves.

They have made a lot of progress since July, when the council granted them a licence to clear the land. Janine Morris of Transition Buxton commented “thanks to the efforts of our amazing volunteers we have managed to clear much of the scrub and remove hundreds of old pots, so that the land is ready for the next stage. “

At the moment the licence with High Peak Borough Council only allows them to work on the land. The next stage is to get permission to renovate the greenhouse.
“The greenhouse is important as it will enable us to grow a wider variety of food. We have had it surveyed and it really only needs the glazing removed and replaced. We believe the cost will be £1,000, so the Buxton Civic Association donation and their continuing support for this project is a great start to raising this amount.”

The work is done entirely by volunteers by holding regular volunteer days. Next year is going to be very busy, as the plans include raised beds and poly tunnels. Volunteers are always welcome so if you are interested in being involved contact Janine Morris on 07752 368 358 or through the Transition Buxton website at www.transitionbuxton.co.uk.

If like me you find buying Christmas presents for people difficult, then why not take a trip up to Poole’s Cavern visitor centre and have a browse around the shop. Parking is easy and while you are there you can grab a hot drink and a slice of cake to give you that little bit of extra energy to get some shopping done.

Some gifts that are on sale, that are worth mentioning are the model airplane kits. There are four different models available, with the Spitfire and the Hurricane being the most popular. A great way of spending a couple of hours assembling the model, or perhaps helping someone put one together and they have the added bonus that they actually fly.

Buxton Town Team have commissioned an illustrated map of the town. Combining the work of a number of local artists, the map is printed in full colour at A1 size (about 33 x 22 inches) and shows the town and its surroundings with illustrations of key points in its history, buildings and people. A handy timeline makes the point that people have been settled here for thousands of years. The map is available at the shop along with some Buxton tea towels.

There is also a wide range of Onyx candle holders, hand crafted stone bowls and goblets, book ends and paperweights, beautiful handmade silver jewellery. The shop also stocks lovely soaps and balms from the Bakewell Soap Company and a wide range of books and guides to the Peak District.
A final thought if you are looking for something to give someone local. Why not combine a year’s Membership of Buxton Civic Association with a one of the Panoramic Prints of the View from Solomon’s Temple.

The shop is open 7 days a week, from 10-4 pm

If you go down to the woods today you might be in for a big surprise, as Buxton Civic Association have continued the work to improve the access to their woods by funding a footpath restoration project to Buxton Country Park. The pathways, which are popular routes through Grin Low woods, have become heavily eroded over the years causing many new minor paths to form which threatened to damage the delicate woodland flora and disturb wildlife.

Helped by a very generous donation of Limestone aggregate from Lafarge Tarmac and transportation by Lomas Distribution, Buxton Civic Association took the decision to plan and fund the resurfacing of the paths this autumn rather than wait until the spring. Mike Monaghan Director at BCA commented “The support from Lafarge Tarmac and Lomas is invaluable. Their support enables us to do more work on the paths, benefiting everyone who uses the woods and Country Park.”

Buxton Country Park woodland manager Alan Walker said ‘this will greatly improve access for visitors and local dog walkers, as well as enabling us to create and manage quiet sanctuary areas of woodland for wildlife to thrive’.

The hard work on the ground have been done by local landscaping expert Martin Wragg and his team from Oaktree landscapes who have previously completed path projects in Corbar and Sherbrook wood also funded by Buxton Civic Association. The new pathways take an alternative route from Poole’s Cavern through the lower part of the country park before rising towards Solomon’s Temple and Grin Low summit.