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As spring turned has turned into summer, TMAEG has continued with its mix of environmental projects and visits.  As in previous years, that change of seasons has marked a switch in emphasis for our work, from the winter’s landscape management of our wildlife areas to gardening projects, particularly in the village centre;  this year we have been concentrating on flower tubs, as can be seen in our images of  Ashbrook School and of the Park Gateway area.  At the same time, we have sought to keep our other areas tidy and, to that end, we have done a litter pick along the Clay Hill to Downland section of the Ashbrook Corridor and we have cut back concentrations of cow parsley once this has finished flowering.

We have also organised well received visits to the new Parks Trust education centre at Howe Park Wood (which included a guided walk within the wood) and to The National Museum of Computing at Bletchley Park.  And in June a large group of members were treated to an evening tour of Stony in Bloom’s planting projects, amidst magnificent midsummer weather!    

Our final commitment for the summer season took the form of a TMAEG stall at ‘Party in the Park’ on July 11.  We attracted a great deal of interest and a record number of new members.  Among the things that drew people in were an aerial photograph of Two Mile Ash which challenged visitors to pinpoint their own homes and our new Environmental Projects Plan which displays the locations of all the projects that we have worked upon over four years.  Our intention is to update this year by year so that we maintain a complete record.  

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The TMAEG flower tub – these 30cm tubs were planted up by TMAEG volunteers in May 2015 and sold to businesses and residents within the target village centre areas.

 

Our visit to The National Museum of Computing in March 2015.

 

TMAEG’s visit to Stony Stratford to see the achievements of Stony in Bloom.

 

It has long been TMAEG’s intention to produce a plan showing the locations of our many schemes. We were delighted to be able to launch such a map at Party in the Park.  The Environmental Projects Plan shows the extent of our work over four years, how this is grouped within two green corridors and six other areas, and the main concentrations of our various activities – most recently the provision of flower tubs.  TMAEG acknowledges the help given by The Parks Trust in preparing the Projects Plan.

Please click the plan for a larger version of the map in PDF format.

 

TMAEG’s events programme for 2015 has been as full as ever, with a combination of brand new and familiar projects where the emphasis is on keeping good what we have started.  Typical of the latter brand is the Milesmere Woodland Path which runs from the northern end of Milesmere to the ‘green ride’ beyond which is Watling Street.  This simple wood chip path with its log margins has become a popular walking route and part of a circuit for local people.

So on the last Saturday of February a team of eleven people gave the path a coat of new chippings supplied by one of the Council’s contractors.  We also cut back the encroaching brambles and other vegetation and, as can be seen from the photographs, the effect is striking.  Looking ahead to Year  Five we hope to establish more spring bulbs and other wildflowers in an opening alongside the path.

 

 

21 February 2015

A review from one of our group, Daphne Tibbles

A group of twelve from TMAEG and MK Green Gym visited The Hanson Centre with our guide Chris Ward of the RSPB on a beautiful sunny morning in mid-February. We saw a variety of birds including plovers, shovelers, golden eye, tufted ducks, pochard and two very rare smew. A bittern was spotted in this area in January. We also saw heron which nest here and only one other area in MK at Willen Lake. Lots of garden birds visited the feeders, including a marsh tit.

Although we weren’t able to capture pictures of birds on this occasion, we came across some Scarlet Elf (Sarcoscypha) edible fungi which looked very vibrant.

A very worthwhile and enjoyable day was had by all and we would definitely recommend you visit the Centre soon.

 

A reflection on the morning from Kevin Reed

So off we went to Linford Lakes
Binoculars in hand
Where waterfowl and waders fly
And then decide to land

Chris from the RSPB
Was on hand to give us hope
Did you see that oystercatcher
In Chris’s telescope!!

He has the knowledge and advice
To really set the mood
The smaller birds were also fun
As they tucked into their food

The setting and tranquility
So quiet and serene
Spring migrants start to set up home
You wonder where they’ve been

From crested grebes to herons
From the egret to the fox
This haven of our wildlife
Must tick the viewing box

And thanks to all the Hanson staff
For their hospitality
Now how about some Lottery funding
I’m sure you all agree!!

 

TMAEG has just reached a key milestone – we now have one hundred Two Mile Ash households as members. That is quite an achievement after just three years – and in the face of there being so many other competing priorities in people’s lives.

Our ‘century’ was achieved in the run up to our Third Year Celebration and AGM held at Holy Cross Church on Saturday 20th September. It was secured through the membership of Fairways’ resident Mary Parker. In presenting her with a special award at the Celebration, our guest, the Deputy Mayor for Milton Keynes, Keith McLean acknowledged that this was an important milestone for TMAEG. And he commended us generally for our activities. ‘You ooze enthusiasm’, he said.

We should note that the 100 households equate to over 180 people, so our next milestone to aim for will be that double century in terms of individual members!  We have Pavla largely to thank for this success;  going forward she would very much appreciate ideas from our existing membership on new people who might like to join us – just give her a ring on 561365 if you know of anyone.

The Photographic Competition

The Celebration also enabled us to show the results of our first Photographic Competition and thanks are due to Dave Barratt who organised it and to Ann and Tom Gaunt and Rita Barratt who judged the entries. There were 27 in all. The Deputy Mayor announced the three senior and one junior prize winners who were awarded a coffee mug bearing their own entry. Here are the winning entries:

Thanks are due to all our entrants for their great photos and their enthusiasm.

Open Gardens 2014

The Deputy Mayor also met a number of our members who had opened their gardens in the second Two Mile Ash Open Gardens event. A display was on show at the meeting and we hope to place a version of this on the website shortly.

This year our event was spread over two days, involving 12 gardens in total. Despite the torrential downpour at the start of each session, we attracted 148 visitors and there were 1,179 individual visits. A further benefit was that a total of £400.75 was collected for charities supported by the individual gardeners.

Smita, who with Harshad has now displayed her garden on two occasions, spoke passionately about the therapeutic benefits of gardening at a time when many of us are overstressed by the pressures of modern life. So our work with TMAEG is not just about improving the environment, it is about us, our happiness and our well-being.

Thanks are due to our gardeners and to Mercure Milton Keynes Abbey Hill Hotel and TMA Gas & Heating Ltd for their valuable sponsorship. Also to Pavla, Bill Forster, Dave Barratt and others for their work in organising the scheme and in publicising and displaying it, and to everyone who visited the 12 homes and thus supported Open Gardens 2014.

Other Achievements

The TMAEG team gave a brief presentation of the many other things accomplished by TMAEG – notably, the work that we (and individual residents) did in response to the school expansion planning application, on the Big Tree Plant, the golf course (in conjunction with MK Green Gym), Milesmere Woodland Path, the Park Gateway, and at Kepwick, as well as the bulb planting by Ashbrook school children.

We were also involved in Britain in Bloom, the judges viewing three of our environmental schemes as part of their tour of Milton Keynes. It was gratifying to learn that the city received a Silver Gilt Award.

We also mounted three social events – an evening at the Calcutta Brasserie in December 2013, a visit with Green Gym members to the recycling plant (MRF) and a social evening at the Golf Centre.

Catering for the Third Year Celebration

Special thanks are due to Corinne and Andrew who, with Lin, organised the afternoon tea. And we are grateful to all those who provided the splendid cakes.

The Annual General Meeting

In the more formal part of our gathering, Liz Ruthven as Treasurer presented our accounts which were approved by the meeting. Thanks are due to Liz for her diligent work in managing the finances of our expanding organisation.

Members also resolved to support the concept of a business membership for TMAEG and they approved changes to our Constitution which enable this and some other small changes to be made. The revised Constitution appears on our website here.

In his final remarks as TMAEG Chair, Chris Gossop thanked all the members of the TMAEG Committee for their hard work over the year. Two committee members were standing down, Tom Gaunt who had served from the start and also Ferial Hyde who had to stand down for personal reasons – both had done invaluable work for TMAEG. Thanks are also due to our webmaster Chris Monk, to our environmental volunteers and to all our members for the support they have provided.

A new Committee was elected, with Dave Barratt as Chair, Chris Gossop as Secretary, and Liz Ruthven as Treasurer. The other members are Ann Gaunt, Corinne Hay, Pavla Gossop (as now) and Peter Blyth who also joins us. In his statement to members as the new Chair, Dave said that the group was looking forward to another great year of environmental achievements.

TMAEG’s volunteers continue to be very busy in our practical action to improve or maintain the local environment and here are three recent stories. In all three cases we think that the differences between the before and after situations are striking and we hope you like the results.

1. Park Gateway Project – We started this scheme last year in partnership with Abbey Hill Parish Council – which provided the two planters – with the businesses and residential occupiers which front this pedestrian link to our Local Park, and with Milton Keynes Council which has provided much practical support. Working together, we have greatly improved the appearance of this important space in the village centre. Our pictures show the combined effect.

 

 

 

Two comments from our volunteers:

On Tuesday 13 May, five members of the Tuesday afternoon group continued with the enhancement project. There was much digging, weeding, scraping, sweeping, removing of rubbish (and the obligatory puffing and grunting!).Then the result of several hours hard work was evident. The colourful Valerian was complemented by the newly uncovered yellow spurge and fragrant lemon balm. With equal effort from the residents and the businesses, the area looks well tended and is a pleasure to behold.      Margaret

TMAEG kinship : Working with TMAEG is an experience I would encourage others to have. The working tools and all other admin is nicely sorted out, there are tea and biscuits, plenty of fresh air, exercise and communal friendliness to have and, most importantly, one begins to feel a sense of community.    Smita

 

2. Ashbrook School   Through our Tuesday Team in particular we seek to keep up the maintenance of the schemes we have started upon. This area of school owned land is a good example; with two sessions a year we seek to keep it neat and tidy.

 

3. Kepwick     One by one, we are targeting local eyesores as part of a general enhancement of this characterful village centre street.  On Saturday 7 June, nine TMAEG volunteers, including two from the street itself,  worked through heavy rain to tidy up one of Kepwick’s ‘squares’ and the footpath links to the local shops.    This was our second project morning in Kepwick and, already, we are making inroads.

We are very grateful to Fraser Davidson and his young offenders from Oakhill Secure Training Centre for their associated work in restoring and painting the bollards – a valuable finishing touch to the TMAEG volunteers work just the day before.

Wet, wet, wet, however despite the deluge the  Dunkirk spirit kept us going and the results of great team work, able supervision and a hot cup of coffee are in evidence.  Lydia

 

Following our success in other parts of Two Mile Ash, your local environmental group has started a new project – an enhancement scheme for Kepwick. This long residential street that runs parallel to the High Street in the village centre forms part of a significant pedestrian route leading to and from Great Holm. Kepwick is an attractive, intimate place with many well kept properties, however there are examples of overgrown vegetation, uncared for ‘no-man’s land and other things which need tidying up.

 

 

Our work began on Saturday 26 April when a ten strong team which included local residents tackled the turning area at the eastern end of Kepwick, the associated woodland edge and the footpath connection to Capian Walk. In a little over two hours, our hard working volunteers transformed the environment in this area – some ‘before’, ‘during’ and ‘after’ pictures follow.

 

 

 

A Comment from Lydia –

‘It was a fun morning which combined working amongst greenery and friends and even a cup of coffee and a fig roll!. The feedback that we received from Two Mile Ashers, walking past was very encouraging and supportive and the morning was both enjoyable and was a very worthwhile voluntary project to become involved with. I am looking forward to a repeat performance, in the Kepwick area on Saturday 7th June”

The Future
TMAEG plans a further working session in Kepwick on Saturday morning June 7th – starting at 0930 and . We plan to enhance some further areas of ‘public realm. We are also willing to work with individual residents where improvements on land associated with their property would benefit the street and area as a whole. Here is one example of earlier action by a local resident showing the sort of thing that might be done. But there will be many other possibilities.

For further details of the Kepwick scheme, contact Ann on 265201 or Chris on 561365