Its time for the Buxton Spring Fair again. We will be having a stand and like last year we are at the top of the Slopes. Come along and say hello. The weather forecast is good so like last year it should be an amazing day.
Buxton Spring Fair
News and Events
We love to hear about your experience and see your photographs through the seasons. Don't forget to follow us on Facebook and share our pages. We know we've done a great job when you've had a fantastic day out!
Civic Voice celebrates its Fourth Anniversary
Civic Voice celebrate their Fourth Anniversary in some style.
On April 17th the Civic Voice, of which the BCA is proud to be a member, celebrated their fourth anniversary in style! As well as launching the first ever publication telling the history of the civic society movement they also introduced the Sandys Lecture and launched a video to help let the world know what a modern civic group looks like. The video below gives a snapshot of the day, if you are interested in viewing the video highlighting the work of the civic movement go to the civic voice website and view it under the link to resources or click on the link below.
http://www.civicvoice.org.uk/resources/the-civic-movement-promoting-civic-pride-and-celebrating-the-places-where-we-live-2014/
Guided Walk in the Woods 11th May 2014
is it an Oak? Or a Beech tree? Come along on the guided walk to Grin low on Sunday 11th May 2014 and learn how to identify the different trees in our woods.
Now that spring is well and truly here, why not come along and learn about the different trees that grow in Grin low woods. Buxton Civic Association are organising a guided walk through the woods on Sunday 11th May starting at 2.00 pm. The walk will start at the visitors centre at Poole’s Cavern and will include an introductory talk about the history of the woods and the different species of trees that can be found there, followed by a walk in the woods to get some practical experience in identifying the trees. The talk and walk is free to members and non members and families are especially welcome. Printed guides to the trees in the woods will be provided and we ask that participants make a small contribution for these on the day. Bring your water proofs just in case and some stout footwear.
Protecting Badgers through a vaccination programme
A badger vaccination programme can help protect the wildlife population from Bovine TB
Buxton Civic Association are pleased to announce that we are working closely with Derbyshire, Wildlife Trust, Derbyshire Country Council, Badger Trust, and a number of local land owners to support the work that Derbyshire Wildlife Trust are doing to help protect wildlife from the risks of being infected by Bovine TB, by carrying out a badger vaccination programme in the High Peak and Derbyshire.
The plan is to carry out the badger vaccination programme over a period of five years, which will help to support the build up of immunity in the Derbyshire badger population and contribute to reducing the risk to the badgers and other wildlife of contracting bovine TB.
Keep an eye and an ear out for further updates on our website www.buxtoncivicassociation.org.uk, on local radio, and for more information on the work the Derbyshire Wildlife Trust are doing on Badger Vaccination go to their website at www.derbyshirewildlifetrust.org.uk.
Spring Cleaning Buxton Style
Volunteers gathering to help with the Spring Clean organised by the Town Team
Many thanks to the Buxton Civic Association members for turning out on Saturday morning to support the Big Spring Clean organised so well by the Buxton Town Team. The Spring clean made a big impression on the town and for the town, with visitors and residents stopping to say how impressed they were at the community spirit so evident in Buxton.
Volunteers wanted for Woodland Working Group
Fancy some good healthy exercise and also helping maintain the Association’s woodlands, then why not volunteer for the Woodland Working Group? The Group meets on the last Monday of the month, or on an alternative Monday if the last Monday is a Bank Holiday, at 9.30 am at Poole’s Cavern.
Most of the Group’s work is carried out in Grin Wood, but on occasions work is also undertaken in one of the other woods maintained by the Association. The work is not over strenuous and does not involve the use of power tools. For example, a typical morning’s work might involve assisting with the clearing of grass cuttings from the glades or the cutting back of saplings on the glade edges. Other work has included clearing paths and drainage channels and making bird boxes. We usually finish by midday.
Tools are provided, but you do need to come suitably dressed and be prepared to get dirty. If you are interested give us a call on 01298 26978 and ask to speak to Alan Walker.
Poole’s Cavern: A natural laboratory to study past and present environments
John Gunn and Ian Fairchild, School of Geography Earth & Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK
In common with virtually all limestone caves Poole’s Cavern has an environmental history that spans millions, of years. The Carboniferous Limestone’s in which the cave is formed are about 345 million years old and water began to circulate slowly through them when they were still covered by many metres of sandstones and mudstones, the rocks commonly referred to as the Millstone Grit. The water dissolved away the limestone, following preferred flow routes (‘inception horizons’) and forming small channels. As the overlying rocks were removed by erosion more water was able to flow underground enlarging the conduits through which the water was flowing. Poole’s Cavern grew from a conduit that formed on inception horizons above an important volcanic layer, the Lower Millers Dale Limestone. During one or more of the cold periods that are commonly called ‘Ice Ages’ large amounts of melt-water flowed through Poole’s Cavern from sinks the location of which has now been lost to a resurgence that has also been removed by subsequent erosion. At the same time as this was happening new conduits fed by new stream-sinks on Stanley Moor were developing along inception horizons below the lava and discharging at the Wye Head and Otter Hole springs. These captured water from the older conduits and now the Poole’s Cavern stream only flows following wet weather. However, even when the stream is dry the cavern receives inputs of water that have infiltrated through soils and percolated through the rocks. It is these waters that form the flowstones, stalactites and stalagmites which are collectively referred to by scientists as speleothems and which provide information on past environments.
When studying archives of the past such as ice cores, marine sediments, or cave deposits, we seek to interpret the past using various characteristics that stand for, or act as proxies for the original environmental or climatic conditions. The past two decades have seen major developments in our understanding of a variety of proxies found in terrestrial archives. A particularly radical advance has happened in the study of speleothems. Researchers have used many different approaches including chemical analyses of the speleothems, working out how fast they grew, making theoretical models of processes in the cave and the overlying soils, carrying out laboratory experiments and monitoring processes in modern caves. One of the speakers, Ian Fairchild published the first textbook on this subject in 2012 with his former Birmingham colleague Andy Baker.
Poole’s Cavern is a special place for a number of reasons including its archaeology, but also because it is located under historic lime workings. The water passing through the ground becomes highly alkaline and this results in some very unusual speleothems. Usually when a stalactite or stalagmite forms, the chemical process is one of carbon dioxide emerging from the drip water but in very alkaline water the opposite happens, the stalagmite growth depending on carbon dioxide dissolving in the cave water. Under alkaline conditions growth is around ten times quicker than normal and the beautiful tall stalagmites of the Poached Egg Chamber, growing at several millimetres per year, have been created since this industrial pollution. For similar reasons calcareous precipitates have filled the bottom of the valley at Brook Bottom on the outskirts of Buxton.
We have used Poole's Cavern as a training ground for undergraduates doing their first research projects as well as for more sustained graduate research. We now know much more about matters such as the pattern of air circulation in the cave and its effects on radon and carbon dioxide levels and its control on the rates of stalagmite growth. Specific effects related to undiscovered cave passages beyond the end of the cave can be felt. Although some information on past rainfall has been deduced from study of the stalagmites, their main intrinsic scientific interest is to study chemical processes under alkaline (high pH) conditions including transport of trace metals and changes in abundance of natural isotopes. The cave maintains very consistent conditions of temperature, humidity and rate of dripping water which would be very difficult to achieve in the built environment. For such reasons, Poole’s Cavern has proved to be a marvellous natural laboratory.
Buxton in Sunday Times top 101 places to live.
Buxton made the Sunday Times top 101 places to live for the second year running in the list published in the national paper on Sunday. While last year saw Stamford emerge as the overall winner, this year it was Skipton for its "Big hearted, buzzy life in a small town". Only the top four were ranked with Newnham in Cambridgeshire coming second followed by Monmouth and Falmouth but Buxton was one of ten towns selected in the Midlands.
The aim of the survey was to celebrate real towns for real people. A lot of weight was given to hard facts, such as crime statistics, house prices, and educational performance. But consideration was also given to the expertise of Sunday Times reporters, local bloggers, as well as readers of the paper who tweeted their thoughts and views.
They liked Buxton, because; “It does its own thing, and it does it rather well.” They were particularly impressed by the exceptional community spirit and with the number of volunteers that support a whole range of arts and cultural activities. So what is special about Buxton? Let us know your favourite reason for living in Buxton and we will compile a top ten list of reasons by the end of April.
Nest Box Cam Ready for Action
We have installed our nest box cam with a feed through to a screen in the cafe. All we need now are some occupants. So fingers crossed that a pair of blue, coal or great tits decide that this is the perfect location for them and take up residence and start a family. We will keep you posted, or better still pop into the cafe and have a look for yourselves.
Dogs in the Cafe Photo Gallery
The cafe at Poole's Cavern is dog friendly, so there is no need to leave them tied up outside or lock them in the car after your walk in the woods. Bring them into the cafe while you can enjoy a hot drink and some cake. We will even give them a treat. Send in your pictures of your dog enjoying the cafe and we will add it to our gallery.
