News

A local support group has been set up for those interested or who have already registered to host Ukrainian families through the Homes for Ukraine scheme. Martin Bjerregaard (Mox) works with UN colleagues in Ukraine and has been asked if he knows anyone that can host. He has already registered, hopefully a mum with two kids will be joining his family soon, and there is another mother with a one year old child who is wanting to come as well.

Mox has set up a WhatsApp group to co-ordinate hosting, share ideas and provide other support. If you’re interested, please contact him on 07969 725418 by WhatsApp and ask to be added to the group.

If you want to find out more here’s a link to the Homes for Ukraine scheme frequently asked questions.

After declaring a climate emergency Littlehempston Parish Council decided to set up a working group ‘Sustainable Littlehempston’ to help tackle sustainability in our community. We are now looking for volunteers to help run the group.

You will be looking at issues like food, travel, tree planting, nature restoration, saving energy and home improvements to help us reduce our emissions as well as tackle the cost of living crisis. It will also act as a great way to connect with others in the Parish.

You won’t be alone, as there is now a thriving network of similar groups across the South Hams, who are keen to collaborate and share resources and knowledge. More information about the network can be found at www.sustainablesouthhams.org.

To get our group up and running, we are looking for at least 6 volunteers…

To help you decide if you want to contribute, there will be an open meeting at the Church on Thursday 31st March at 6:15pm. Please do come along to chat…..

It feels like Spring is really and truly approaching fast, so it’s good to be able to tell you all that 20 new apple trees were planted on a lovely morning in January with about 25 people young and old. The names of the trees planted are: Paignton Marigold, Ashton Brown Jersey, Black Dabenett, Pigs Nose (pictured in the foreground), Stoke Red, Kingston Bitter, Golden Ball, Ellis Bitter, Whimple Wonder, Colloquette, Pippin, Blenheim Orange, Catshead, Bulls Bittersweet & Sweet Coppin. These trees will all be added to the map of existing new trees.

On 26th February the 2-4 year old trees were pruned and checked for signs of disease. Tim Walker providing the expertise whilst others watched, learned and helped.

We have had an expert come and do some brush cutting in the orchard – which means that some of the bramble clumps have been cut away. This will give us better access to the trees and also mean that we are better able to control certain areas of the ground. We have left some areas of brambles to grow, which will allow birds and small mammals protection and feeding. This will in turn encourage biodiversity of butterflies, moths and a wide range of insects. We will be inviting wildlife experts to come and advise us further on how to best protect and encourage wildlife onto our precious plot of land. We will advise when any of the experts come and visit, so that any of you will be able to come and meet them and join in with the discussions as well.

On Saturday 2nd April, we will be cutting away some more brambles which are surrounding some of the old apple trees, in preparation for the coming season. We need to be able to access these old trees so that we can prune them and pick the apples as well. If you would like to come and join in with your secateurs, loppers, and streamers you would be most welcome to come at 10am for the rest of the morning. Cake and thermoses of coffee and tea always go down a treat!

And looking back at the Wassail – we were all really happy with how it all went and anyone who was there will tell you that it was a great success. To be repeated next January without fail! What people did say to add to the congratulations was that we could spend more time processing in the orchard itself. And we are absolutely in agreement about that! Now that we have a path cut all around the orchard and assuming that it will be all grassed over by next January, we are planning to process around the orchard in the twilight so that we can sing to and bless all the trees – not forgetting to make much noise and hullaballoo to ward of any evil spirits that may be lurking!

Possible Future Events… just to whet your appetite, we may be holding some sort of apple pressing day in October and also a Celebration of the Summer Solstice. Plus a Hedge Laying workshop next winter. So if you would like to learn how to lay a hedge, watch this space!

Many thanks to the Lot 7 Trustees for this report. If you’d like to keep up to date with what’s happening at the Community Orchard, contact the Lot 7 trustees to get the newsletter.

The performance of The Tales of Robin Hood was a sell out and the audience who packed into the Space last month were not disappointed. The Angel Heart and Rattlebox Theatre worked their magic and dozens of excited children crowded round the actors afterwards to meet Robin and his Merry Men. A Giant Panda was raffled in aid of Ukrainian children and raised £181, which has been sent to the Save the Children Emergency Fund. Many thanks to all who supported this event.

South Hams District Council’s contracted garden waste service is restarting in the spring, just in time for residents to make the most of the growing season by recycling their garden waste.

FCC Environment Ltd, who operate the service on behalf of South Hams District Council, will begin collections once again from the week beginning Monday 28th March. That’s a black bin collection week in Littlehempston, so our brown garden waste bins will be collected on Monday 4th April.

The fortnightly service was reluctantly, and temporarily, suspended in August 2021 due to the severe national driver shortages, which caused issues for all business sectors across the country, to lessen the impacts to the waste, recycling and clinical collections. Since then, a recruitment campaign has managed to recruit more drivers and loaders allowing the garden waste collections to restart.

As usual your garden waste bin will be emptied the opposite week to your grey bin. From the 25th March you can double check when your next collection day will be through the Council’s website.

To make sure as many bins as possible can be emptied quickly and efficiently, please make sure bins are not too heavy for staff to collect safely. There are weight restrictions on the bin lifts and compacted garden waste can become heavy when it starts breaking down.

If a bin is too heavy, it is at risk of being rejected. Therefore, please remove some of the garden waste before collection is due and save this for the next collection date. Only one brown bin will be collected so crews can get around as many properties as possible, as quickly as they possibly can.

Here’s a link to Frequently Asked Questions about this garden waste collection restart.