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Woodnook Local Nature Reserve Entrances, Accrington

Woodnook Local Nature Reserve Entrances, Accrington

30.10.2019

What a lovely morning we had at the official opening of the improvements to the Woodnook Vale Local Nature Reserve. It was a huge pleasure to welcome the Mayor and Mayoress of Hyndburn along, as well as some of the brilliant volunteers and partners who’ve worked with us to make this possible.
We really hope that the new features that have been created at 3 entrances raise the profile and encourage more people to enjoy the beauty of this natural place. Special thanks go to the year 5 pupils from Woodnook Primary School who worked with woodcarving artist Rick Goodwin to create a totem pole sculpture and a fabulous bench inspired by the natural world, like the deer which come right into this woodland. Lovely swathes of wildflowers have been planted to add to the meadow frontage. A huge thank you also goes to Master Waller, Alan Rhodes who worked with volunteers to create a striking curved walling feature and cairn. Lots of local involvement has made this project extra special with fabulous support from community groups, Fern Gore Residents Association and Baxenden Forum in particular, with many others also lending support along the way.
It was great to see so many funders today too – your help really means a lot to this area. Many thanks to Lancashire Environmental Fund and Lancashire County Council, together with Hyndburn Borough Council, in particular Anne Hourican and Mark pickup, and Springhill and Barnfield Area Councils – so it’s been a great shared achievement.
We hope that everyone enjoys the nature reserve as much as we’ve enjoyed being involved in the project!
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25.10.2019

Nice mention for the school children from Woodnook Primary School in the Lancashire Telegraph today:

https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/news/17992651.accrington-pupils-helped-create-carvings-celebrate-work

04.09.2019

A very big Thank You to everyone who got involved in the planting activity last week at Woodnook Nature Reserve. The project is moving along brilliantly and we look forward to the newly planted flowers making the entrance areas look fantastically colourful. Thanks again, everyone!

Planting at woodnook 1IMG 7391 e1567591922168 planting at Woodnook 3IMG 7388 2 e1567591901342 planting at woodnook 4IMG 7343 e1567591883830

26.08.2019

Just a reminder that a wildflower planting day has been arranged at 3 of the entrances to the Woodnook Nature Reserve. We have a range of colourful native flowers to be planted at each of the entrances, with extra plants available for volunteers to take home too. Please do come along and join us!

Date: Thursday 29th August
Miller Fold Ave: 9.30-11am
Perth Street: 11.30-1pm
Royds Street: 2-3.30pm

Tools, gloves and plants will be provided on the day. Please wear suitable clothing and shoes and expect the ground to be muddy and the activity to be quite messy. All are welcome!

woodnookPlanting leaflet 2

11.07.2019

Following on from the stone painting event last week, we’ve had a few surprise painted stones turn up along the wall over the past few days. Big thanks to all of the children who’ve been leaving their rocks for us to find – it makes our day!

surprise woodnook pic 1 surprise woodnook pic 2

04.07.2019

We had a great time at the rock painting event yesterday and it was really nice to talk to the people who live locally and see their support for the work that was taking place. A lot of the parents told us they use the Woodnook Nature Reserve and they’re confident that the improvements to the entrances will encourage more people to explore.

woodnook rocks 1 IMG 7032 e1562261437964

30.06.2019

Really excited to see the fantastic artwork by Rick Goodwin at Stump art being installed at Woodnook vale nature reserve this week. The bench was designed with the children from year 5 at Woodnook Primary School – great job everyone!

Stumpart

27.06.2019

This project gives local residents the opportunity to get involved in planting trees, shrubs and bulbs and producing environment themed artwork which will define the entrances and make them more welcoming. If you’d like to help with this, then pop along to our next event on Wednesday 3rd July. We’d like children and young people to join us at the Millerfold Avenue entrance way between 3.15 and 5.00pm to paint the rocks that will be used as the ‘heart’ stones of the newly restored dry stone wall. The volunteers have been working hard rebuilding the wall for the last 6 weeks and this would be a great way to celebrate the completion of the wall and add these extra special rocks that can be viewed for generations to come.

Paint, brushes, aprons and gloves will be provided so just pop along and get creative!

rocks

23.05.19

What a fantastic day – yesterday, year 5 children from Woodnook Primary School worked alongside local artist Rick Goodwin from Stump Art to design a new, carved seat for one of the entrances close to their school. The children were given a fantastic carving demonstration and have designed a seat that has a fox and a deer at either end, with other creatures being included such as hedgehogs, squirrels, butterflies and bees. It was a brilliant workshop that gave the children the opportunity to enjoy the great outdoors and get back to nature. The children are excited to see their ideas come to life, and they’ll get the opportunity to see the finished seat in place, in the nature reserve, later in the year. We can wait to see it!

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8.05.19

The fantastic Alan Rhodes and a team of volunteers have started work on a new dry stone wall entrance feature for Woodnook Vale Nature Reserve. Watch this to see the project progress over the next few weeks!

Woodnook May 8 2 Woodnook May 8 3 Woodnook May 8

 

7.12.18

Amendments made to Artist Brief docs below – please check for updates!

3.12.18

Proffitts are working on a project with Hyndburn Borough Council to improve 3 gateway sites into a newly created Nature Reserve in Hyndburn. Some of the work will be carried out by a Principal contractor (such as new kerbs, tarmac surfacing etc) and we would like to engage an artist/artists to work with the local communities and schools to create a ‘feature’ at each of the 3 entrances!

Through consultation already carried out; we have an idea of what form this might take and this information has been included in the artist briefs attached.

There is a separate brief for each of the 3 sites along with a location plan and the plans showing the work that the contractor will be carrying out to give some perspective to the project. The images and documents you need are all attached below. Do click on the images to enlarge. The deadline for responses is Thursday 3rd January by 1pm to [email protected]

Woodnook Gateways Artists Brief for Miller Fold Avenue rev a

(click link to open word doc)

197 L02 layout for entrance at Miller Fold Ave

Woodnook Gateways Artists Brief for Perth Street rev a

(click link to open word doc)

197 L03 layout for entrance at Perth St

Woodnook Gateways Artists Brief for Royds Street rev a

(click link to open word doc)

197 L04 layout for entrance at Royds St

197 L01 location plan of entrances e1543831588776

26.11.18

Hi everyone, here’s the link for the film that was made following the celebration event – it’s really lovely. Do watch and share!

https://youtu.be/OW3kIX1cZkI

23.07.18

If anyone has a spare 5 minutes today, then I urge you to view and share this beautiful video celebrating the local nature reserves of Peel Park and Woodnook Vale. It’s a great overview of the reserves and reminds us all how lucky we are to have such lovely green spaces so close. As the school holidays approach, this would be a wonderful day out with the family – get out, explore and discover new things together. And, when the children go back to school, enjoy the peace and quiet by taking a stroll through the woodlands and meadows. A lovely film, take a look…

https://www.hyndburnbc.gov.uk/as-the-crow-flies-video-2018/

16.07.18

Here’s a link to the some really lovely pictures taken at the celebration event at Haworth Art Gallery. Many people, including us, have said how much fun they had getting to know more about the work of the various organisations. Well done to everyone involved!

https://www.facebook.com/pg/hyndburn/photos/?tab=album&album_id=1769907693130113

12.07.18

Thanks to everyone for a fantastic day yesterday. It was great to meet so many people and share the new plans for the Woodnook entrances. There were lots of good ideas and suggestion shared. Comments included:

‘Nature trails for children will encourage them to go right through the reserve”

”A sculpture at the entrance”

”Have something at the entrance that will encourage people to explore”

” It would be good if a common theme could be developed to contribute towards developing an identity for the whole area”

Watch this space for more updates. Remember, there is still time to share your ideas too – just comment on this page.

11.07.18

A beautiful day for the Peel Park and Woodnook Vale ‘Celebration of Nature’ event. Martin and Rachael from Proffitts will be there to show people the plans for the improvements to the Woodnook entrance areas – we look forward to getting your thoughts!

Invitation LNR celebration event

19.06.18

Hi everyone, below are some sketch designs to help us visualise the improvements intended for 3 entrances  in to Woodnook Local Nature Reserve.

Please leave your feedback in the comments section below – we’d love to hear what you think!

Miller Fold colour sketch rev a Perth Street sketch rev a Royds Street colour final

Sketch design for Perth Street entrance  Sketch design for Miller Fold entrance 2Sketch design for Royds St entrance 2

 

30.04.2018

Great to see the activity on Thursday 26.04.18 to start off the Destination Nature entrance project. Primrose planting supported by Rebecca and Nicola from the Wildlife Trust. The event also enabled local people to tell us how else the entrances to the nature reserve could be improved such as more planting, signage, interpretation, artwork and more considerate parking.

Do you have any further ideas? If so leave your comments below.

Primroses at Perth Street Primroses with ideas table

17.04.2018

We are pleased to announce we are starting work with Fern Gore Residents Association and Hyndburn Borough Council in improving 3 of the main entrances at Woodnook Vale Local Nature Reserve. The project is being supported and funded by Lancashire Environmental Fund, Springhill Area Council, Lancashire County Council and Hyndburn Borough Council LNR initiative.

The project will give opportunity for local residents to get involved in planting trees, shrubs and bulbs and producing environment themed artwork which will define the entrances and make more welcoming.

Improvements will take place at Perth St, Miller Fold and Royds St and we hope to see lots of residents as well as pupils from the local primary school getting involved. Watch this space!

Please click on the following links for further / exisitng information on the Local Nature Reserve itself:

https://www.hyndburnbc.gov.uk/woodnook-vale/

Woodnook_Vale_Leaflet_PDF_Version