VOLUNTEERING @BLAISE
We meet every Wednesday 10.30am at the Café by the main carpark where one or both of the Park Rangers lead on a wide variety of tasks, suitable for all ages and levels of fitness.
Other activities run directly by trained Friends of Blaise volunteers and /or the Park Rangers take place roughly at monthly intervals and will be notified on our Facebook site.
Contact us (contact@friendsofblaise.co.uk) if you want to be kept up to date with all our activities as well as receiving our Newsletters.
Woodland conservation activities are often dependent on the seasons; over the Winter in the woodland we focus on the thinning out of saplings clearance of undergrowth and coppicing. During the bird-nesting season (between March and September), we limit the amount of woodland work we undertake to invasive, ecologically damaging plants and treand we turn to the removal of specific invasive plants and trees such as Himalayan balsam, laurel and rhododendron (where birds seldom nest).
Seeding and bedding in of native plants and protecting the riverbanks and pond edges from being worn away mainly by dogs, are also be on the agenda.
See also under the “Castle” section for volunteering opportunities when the building is opened to the public once or twice a month from end March to October.
BLAISE Community Garden
A sister organisation to us with its own chariatable status, this group offers complementary actvities you may want to consider; in addition to gardening it offers constuction work, helping out with events and welcoming visitors. Hidden away to the side of the museum, behind the original walls used to enclose the former kitchen garden to the great house, this 2 acre site contains multiple greenhouses for growing fruit, vegetables and flowers. In addition it has an all-purpose cabin, a pond, a beehive, an orchard, and a large meeting room. It is open throughout the year every Wednesday and Saturday from 10am to 2pm where tea, coffee and often home-made cakes are available to the volunteers. For more detail see their separate website.
