Breaking News Newsletter for Breaking New Ground Landscape Partnership Scheme
Half-term ‘Family Fun’
The February
half term was a
great week for
the BNG team,
ending on a high
with the Family
Fun Day at
Brandon
Country Park
The BNG event, delivered by Forest Heath DC with
the help of West Suffolk Rangers and Wild4,
introduced families to outdoor adventure and
skills. The park was soon filled with the satisfying
hubbub of children (and adults) trying fire lighting,
den building, nest box making and woodland crafts.
The beaming smiles, and toasted marshmallow
filled tummies, were testament to a great day.
Office Update
This month we had a very productive board
meeting at Santon Downham. Sarah Partridge from
Orchard Barn (OBee CIC), gave a fantastic
presentation about the heritage building skills
workshops they are delivering at West Stow Anglo
Saxon Village. The board were impressed with the
progress and success of this project and enjoyed the
chance to handle (and sniff) some sweet chestnut
roof shingles! A brief project update was followed
by a brainstorming session to discuss how to
achieve a lasting legacy for the scheme, and
continue the successful partnership working into
the future. These ideas will be developed over the
coming months, to be built into the next couple of
years of delivery.
Becks and our volunteer Martina also got out and
about this month to distribute the Scheme's new
poster around Thetford, Brandon and the
surrounding villages. Earlier in the month Nick
gave a talk to the Thetford Society. All in all some
great contacts were made which we are sure will
help raise local awareness.
In addition to Family
Fun Day the team also
supported the Wings
Over The Brecks half-
term event. Badge
making and Brecks
inspired colouring sheet were added to the more
‘wild’ activities (see project focus).
Next month we will be focusing on project update
meetings, and promoting a range of upcoming
events.
Projects Round-Up
It’s been a busy month for our projects.—the IBA
watercolour workshops became sold out in just one
week! Tickets for The Big Brecks Fest are now
available—the first 250 are free thanks to HLF.
Booking is now open for two art inspired walks -
Artist’ on Legs and
Sketchbook strolls—
part of the
Landscape Patterns
of The Brecks
project . The walks
are included in the
Suffolk Walking
Festival (9th—31st
May).
More conservation
has been carried out at pingos site by the volunteer
work party from Aviva (pictured). And finally,
prizes were awarded to the winners of the Engine
House competition from West Suffolk College (see
project focus).
A newsflash for project partners and participants with news items , project updates,
special features and forthcoming events.
March 2015
A le
sso
n i
n f
ire-
ligh
tin
g
© Martin Parker
Next claim deadline for all partners: 31st March
Project Focus
Wings Over The Brecks (C4)
It looks set to be an exciting year for the Wings
Over The Brecks project. Last summer we were
introduced to some cute Hobby Chicks; this year
we hope to get a glimpse into the secret lives of
other Brecks species. Nest cameras, put in place
by specially trained volunteers, will reveal the
nests and behaviour of specialist species such as
nightjar, goshawk and stone-curlew.
Live video footage will be shown at the Forestry
Commission’s High Lodge, Norfolk Wildlife Trust’s
Weeting Heath and at roaming displays run by the
RSPB in Thetford and Brandon.
This is where you can help! The project needs enthusiastic people to bring this footage to life.
You can help for a day or a couple of hours, it’s up to you!
What’s in it for you?
Unique and exciting project
Full training and expenses are covered
Be part of the High Lodge team
Gain new skills
Make a difference in your local community
Do I have the skills?
You don’t need to be an expert or have done any of these things before. We’re looking for
enthusiastic and passionate local people to get stuck in!
This project is being delivered in partnership by The Forestry Commission,
RSPB and Norfolk Wildlife Trust.
Followers: 309
Likes: 33
t: @TheBrecksBNG
f: www.facebook.com/TheBrecksBNG
Forthcoming Events:
Botanical Brecks 2014 Exhibition - 25th Feb - 27th March,
West Stow Anglo Saxon Village
Brecks Building Skills: Wattle the Future Be? - 14th March
(Fully Booked)
Stargazing in The Brecks—20th March
Revealing Records - 28th March
The Big Brecks Fest - 5th—6th April (first 250 tickets FREE)
See www.breakingnewground.org.uk for more details.
Save the Date: 25th April - Geology Day School: Ice Age
Brecks - more details coming soon.
2014 footage of Hobby Chicks - now showing in High Lodge café.
Interested? Contact the team at
RSPB on 01842 753732
or [email protected]
Project Focus
Engine House Restoration (A5)
Back in October 2014, Nick went out to West Suffolk
College (WSC) to invite level 3 ‘Construction and Built
Environment’ extended diploma students to take part in
a design competition focussed on the restoration of the
Engine House at Brandon Country Park.
The brief they were given was to come up with a design
for a link building that will bring the two existing
structures of the old Engine House together. They also
had to consider building materials and costs associated
with the construction. This would give the students a
real life application for their design research and a
chance to look at historic buildings and considerations
when renovating these old structures. The group came
out to survey the site for themselves and gain
inspiration for their designs.
The class split into four pairs to work on their projects
which were to be submitted by the February half term.
As an additional learning experience the groups were
invited to present their designs to a panel of judges at
High Lodge on 28th January. The judges were Kay
Boyden, (Consultant), Mike Taylor, (Forestry
Commission), Dan King (BCP Senior Ranger), Gary
Clarke (WSC) and Nick Dickson (BNG), who, in true
Dragon’s Den style, gave the students constructive
advice and asked lots of questions after each
presentation. The students were all very nervous to
present to a professional panel but all delivered
fabulous power-point presentations showing the hard
work and effort they had put into their designs.
Joe Twelftree (18) and Tom Cross (17) fought off the
competition to scoop the generous BNG prize of a
laptop each. Joe said “We are extremely grateful
and happy that our hard work has
paid off”.
The panel were all impressed with the level of effort
and research the students had put in and felt it was a
very valuable exercise in their development. Nick said;
“We were extremely impressed with the level of skill and
dedication shown by all the students involved in this
project but the winning scheme was chosen as it
demonstrated a professional approach to the project
brief, a choice of materials that reflected the industrial
heritage of the existing buildings and a well thought out
overall design that was well presented. We hope to
incorporate elements from Joe and Tom’s design in the
final scheme, so they should feel very proud of their work”
Donna Davies, Course Director for the Level 3 students
said, “Working on this brief has given the students a real
life experience of a genuine industry project. They have
had to research the brief, survey the site, understand the
challenges that a heritage project can present and then
pitch their schemes to a panel of senior professionals
from the project. This project has been an incredible
learning experience for them all. I’d like to thank the
Breaking New Ground team for this opportunity and the
very generous prizes”.
We hope the college will continue to be involved
as the project to restore the Engine House
develops.
The
Engi
ne
Ho
use
, BC
P
The runner-up designs
Joe and Tom’s winning design
What the Brecks Means to Me...
Breaking New Ground—Nick, Rebekah and Holly:
c/o Visitor Centre, Brandon Country Park, Bury Road, Brandon, Suffolk, IP27 0SU
01842 815465 e: [email protected] t: @TheBrecksBNG
f: TheBrecksBNG. w: www.breakingnewground.org.uk
The Brecks are my home, where I have lived since being brought here at three months old. The sights, sounds
and scents of it's heaths, forest and river have helped form me, make me who I am.
The Brecks are where I go for peace, when life is challenging. I can walk for miles, not seeing another soul.
Alone with nature, the solitude allows me to think and be, finding my equilibrium again.
I walk the land my ancestors, in deep history, walked. Picking up a neo-lithic flint tool I feel a sense of
connection with the person who last held it thousands of years ago. My hand neatly fits the hollows knapped so
long ago. I must have neo-lithic sized hands.
My more recent ancestors walked here too. A grandfather walked daily across what was then heath, from his
home in Weeting, to his gamekeeper job at Elveden. My father worked for the Forestry Commission in the
forties and fifties. He remembered planting many areas of the forest. A sense of continuity and belonging, my
feet planted on the same land.
Sitting on a fallen tree, listening to sky larks soaring above clear felled acres, silently watching deer graze or
encountering a fox trotting along the same track as me, I know I am part of this natural world, a piece of the
whole. Gaspingly cold winds sweeping across the heaths invigorate me, summer air filled with the coconut
scent of gorse, or hot pine take me straight back to childhood, my madeleine experience.
I am fortunate, the Brecks are where I live, my home. Their wildness and otherness has surrounded and shaped
me my whole life.
Martina North
Volunteer for BNG and Brandon Country Park
We’d like to hear your stories about the Brecks.
What does the Brecks mean to you? Contact us at the office, tweet, message us on facebook, or even write to us at the park.
Get your project noticed!
If there is something that
you would like included in
the next newsletter, please
send details to Holly by
27h March.
[email protected]
Making toast at the Family Fun event.
Picture of the Month
