E Newsletter December 2014

We are taking part in the RSPB Great Garden Bird Survey again this year. Its very simple to do. If you come up to the visitors centre or are going for a walk through the woods either down load the form and print it out or collect one from the visitor centre and record the birds you see. If you hand the form in to our reception desk we will collate the results and send them off to the RSPB. There are some bird identification charts in the Cafe. And of course you can always enjoy a hot drink and some cake in the cafe afterwards.

Recording Form for the RSPB Great Garden Bird Watch 2015

Whenever there is snow on the ground and I am walking in the woods, usually Grinlow or Corbar, this poem always comes to mind. Perhaps Robert Frost's best known work, the poem is based on Frost's own experience in returning home from a market during a long and cold New England winter. Frost had had a less than successful day and had come home empty handed. There is a wistful feel to the poem, a desire to linger and delay the trip home perhaps? However his horse shakes him from his thoughts and aware of his responsibilities he sets of to finish his journey.

Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound’s the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

Robert Frost, “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” from The Poetry of Robert Frost, edited by Edward Connery Lathem. Copyright 1923, © 1969 by Henry Holt and Company, Inc., renewed 1951, by Robert Frost.

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.

The press release from the Heritage Lottery team regarding the award of additional grant funding for the Buxton Crescent.

Buxton Crescent future secured

Members of Buxton Civic Association were treated to a fascinating talk on “Old Fairfield” by Chris Simpson, at Poole’s Cavern visitor centre. It is largely forgotten that Fairfield was originally a town in its own right, with a town council and a town hall that can still be seen on Waterswallows Road. The 1831 Census returns recorded a population of 482 which was equal in size to Buxton.

The talk was illustrated with some wonderful original photographs and postcards. Particularly poignant were the pictures of the territorials on exercise on Hindlow in 1910. During the 1914-18 Great War, as well as being a centre for training which included trench building, Canadian troops were stationed at Buxton and underwent training and military exercises in the area. The 1914 -18 war was in part responsible for the decline in the hotel trade, and the major employer for the town became the quarries.
Chris went onto talk about two iconic houses, Pictor Hall which still stands, and the seat of Samuel Swan Brittain, Orient Lodge. Orient lodge has now been demolished but in its day was probably the largest house in the immediate locality. Samuel Brittain whose fortune was made in quarries, lost it all when his investment in a large consignment of tea was sunk in a shipping accident in the 1850’s. The house fell into decline and eventually was taken over by the Binghams before being demolished.

Fairfield was also famous for the quality of its horse breeding, being particularly well known for the quality of its hunters. There was a race course on the common with a Grandstand and an annual programme of horse racing which it was hoped would rival Cheltenham. The races were attended by people from as far afield as Ireland. A painting by Harry Kingsley entitled Fairfield Race course Derbyshire 1825 showing the course and the Grandstand can be seen in the Buxton Museum. It was decided to put an end to the racing after a mass riot and fight broke out in 1830. The race course was abandoned and the grandstand pulled down, and the wooden beams reused to form part of the Methodist Church on the market.

Civic Voice have published their Civic Manifesto 2015-2020. (You can download an executive summary below) The manifesto aims to set out a framework for achieving real localism.

Civic Manifesto 2015-2020

We understand that Buxton Crescent is to receive an additional grant of £11m grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) making a total of £23m in total awarded to the project. This still leaves a shortfall of around £2m to secure the future of the project. D2N2 the Local Economic Partnership for the region has been approached to provide this.