Springing into Action!

First, an apology. It's been far too long since we've posted an update, but again, it's not because we've been sat on our hands. Not making excuses but, we are all volunteers, we have lives, we have jobs, and it's (very) hard at times to stay motivated. We are entering our 5th year of trying to save something so special, that we shouldn't be having to fight to save it at all. 
But, enough of the doom and gloom, we have too much good stuff going on!

Our volunteer sessions are continuing with slow but steady progress being made to maintain and improve the garden and grounds. Ranger Tom and colleagues have tackled more of the overgrown Cherry Laurel and cleared a couple of the self seeded trees to improve the view of the Bath House.

Sheffield Countryside Conservation Trust have commenced the National Lottery Heritage Funded restoration work on the pond and surrounding area. The 'island' has been removed and the silt build up from around the edge of the pond has been considerably reduced. Some of the steps have been replaced and we have a new bridge. The Kingfisher was untroubled by the work going on around him and continued fishing till the beginning of March when he left as normal for the breeding season. The Toads celebrated the improvements in their own way!
The path at the side of the pond has been widened and the bench temporarily removed until a low retaining wall can be been built. This work should be starting soon, but we have not got a date as yet.

We held our Easter Event on Thursday 6th April. it was a great day and we were very lucky with the weather. Lots of children, sunshine and butterflies. We ran it as an Egg Hunt this time and very much fun was had.
Thank you to the volunteers who helped out, particularly the Easter Bunny, who was pretty well cooked by the end of the day!
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Our next Event is one of a few we will be holding that are part of the Funding through NLHF. A Dawn Chorus Bird Walk led by Jim Clarke. We're really quite excited about this, sharing the sunrise with our beautiful birds and hearing their song, is going to be something quite special. Hope you can make it!

We do, of course have other events planned throughout the year, a full list will be available soon.

The future of the Bath House is still, sadly, uncertain, but we have been working with Students from Hallam University to produce a Business Plan, that illustrates that there is a viable future in such a unique Heritage Site. We are very grateful for all the hard work they have put in.

​Hopefully following the local elections we will be able to have constructive talks with the council about the next steps towards bring our wonderful Birley Spa back into use.

​Fingers crossed for good weather and even better news soon!

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