Joined-up Thinking And Good Liaison Gets Path Relaid With Wood Chips

Published on: 5 Feb, 2018
Updated on: 5 Feb, 2018

Some joined-up thinking and liaison between services, organisations and a school has resulted in the relaying with wood chips of a footpath for the benefit of a local community.

Over the past couple of weeks pupils from Kings College in Park Barn and young adults from the halow charity (based in Guildford) have helped to spread two mounds of wood chips along a zig-zag path and other areas of the Westborough Fitness Trail that weaves through green spaces between the houses.

Some of the Year 7 Kings College students who helped relay the path. Picture: Kings College.

The co-ordinator of Voluntary Action South West Surrey’s Joining In! project, that supports community involvement in Westborough and Park Barn, is David Rose, who also writes for The Dragon. He takes up the story…

The idea of relaying the path came about when I was talking to the project manager of GLADE (Guildford Learning and Development Enterprise) Dave Pasacoe, and Steve Payne and Aaron Fiddy from the GLADE team in December. This was when Louisa Magnussen interview them for a story on their work.

GLADE has the street cleaning contract from Guildford Borough Council for the Westborough ward and wants to further its links with the community in a positive way. I mentioned how the footpath that runs parallel to Foxburrows Avenue needed some attention and expected that Guildford Borough Council would respond to some volunteer help, if the mulch and chippings could be supplied.

Dave Pascoe contacted the council’s parks and leisure team and the wheels were set in motion.

Meanwhile, Kings College in Park Barn had contacted Guildford Borough Council’s community wardens asking if they knew of any community outreach projects its Year 7 pupils could be involved with. The wardens put the school in touch with GLADE, and following meetings, many exchanges of emails, a site visit and a risk assessment by the council’s parks ands leisure team, a date was set for the work – Wednesday, January 24.

The pupils hard at work despite some awful weather on the day. Picture: Kings College.

The weather was awful, but two groups of pupils (60 in total) who came to help with the work didn’t seem put off at all. Steve and Arron from GLADE were on hand to help along with staff from the council’s parks and leisure team who had delivered the wood chips and provided wheelbarrows and tools to spread the mulch.

Many hands make light work! Picture: Kings College.

Maria Vogler, head of drama at Kings College, said: ‘The project was a great success. Students had an opportunity to develop their local community and rose to the challenge.

“They now have a greater sense of pride for the space they dedicated time to improve. Many students recognise that this area is now a more pleasant area to spend time in, which will ultimately lead to people from the local community enjoying the space.”

Although the pupils didn’t quite complete the work in hand, a second group of volunteers helped on Wednesday, January 31. About 10 young adults who are members of the Building Futures Group (BFG) run by the charity halow, which provides support for young people with learning difficulties.

The BFG supports young people to gain confidence and increase their ability to make informed choices about their future. It provides life-skills training to prepare them for independence by helping to develop confidence and teach leadership and team work.

Some of the halow team with their team leader Siona Booth (second from right) and wearing hi-viz jackets Steve Payne and Aaron Fiddy from GLADE.

The young people and their support workers rose to the challenge on a day that started wet, but cleared up in the afternoon.

The Joining In! project has been arranging volunteering opportunities for halow’s young people for several years. They enjoy being out in the green spaces of the Westborough ward helping with later picking, keeping the area tidy, helping to deliver promotional material for the benefit of the community and so on.

Unfortunately, with funding for the Joining In! project coming to an end at the end of March, there will have to be some clever thinking as to how a partnership with halow can continue. One way may be that halow becomes a member of the Guildford Time Bank (a project being assisted by Voluntary Action South West Surrey) and links up with Joining In! that is a group member of the time bank.

Speaking the wood chips with equipment supplied by the council’s parks and leisure team.

The relaying of the path would not have been possible without the help of Adie Byatt, operational supervisor of the council’s parks and leisure department; plus his staff members Casey Collyer and John Day.

A job well done by a number of people coming together!

And its is hoped more outdoor projects can be arranged with all parties working together. Nesting boxes for birds and bats are being considered.

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