Get involved and Join the Friends of Brandy Hole Copse

If you would like to help to fund the voluntary work of the Friends of Brandy Hole Copse to maintain Chichester’s first Local Nature Reserve then please print off a copy of the following membership form. Download a form by clicking here.

This lovely local amenity is maintained and improved by a small group of volunteers who work for the benefit of the whole community of Chichester.

If you have not visited the Copse, why not come and see what a special area it is.

The Copse offers local residents:

• A place to walk and enjoy peace and quiet
• A place to study our rich flora and fauna
• Significant archaeological remains
• A resource for families, local schools and the community

The FRIENDS OF BRANDY HOLE COPSE desperately needs your support and the backing of the people of Chichester to survive and to ensure that their work to protect and conserve the Copse as a Local Nature Reserve can continue.

WHAT CAN YOU DO TO HELP?

• Become a member of the Group
• Make a donation to the work of the Group
• Offer a small amount of your time to help out as:
  • conservation worker
  • helping with raising public awareness of the Copse
  • helping with membership recruitment
  • acting as an occasional warden
  • anything else you feel able to do

For more information, please  find our contact details by clicking on contact us

Chichester Natural History Society Lecture Season 2012/13 at a new Venue

Chichester Natural History Society Lecture Season 2012/13

They have a new venue for their lectures. From October 2012 they will be moving from County Hall to :

The Pallant Suite
Chichester Freemason’s Hall
South Pallant
Chichester PO19 1SY

Access is off South Street with free car parks right and left at the south end of South Pallant.

The lectures will still commence at 7.15 p.m. on Wednesday evenings. Doors open at 7.00 p.m. Evening ends at 9.30 p.m.

Lecture Programme 2012/13

Oct 3 2012

Reproductive Success of Birds in Oak Trees
Speaker:  Martyn Stenning

Oct 17 2012

Traditions, Stories and Uses of Trees
Speaker: Jonathan Huet

Oct 31 2012

Stepping up for Nature (RSPB campaign)
Speaker:  Mark Underhill

Nov 14^th 2012

Wildlife of West Sussex
Speaker:  Richard Williamson

Nov. 282012

A.G.M. and Members slides

Dec. 12 2012

Members Evening

2013

Jan 16  2013   

Plants of the Bible
Speaker:  Alan Martin

Jan. 30 2013

Amber: Window on the Past
Speaker:  John Cooper

Feb. 13 2013

Mountains of Scotland
Speaker:  Patric Coulcher

Feb. 27 2013

Disturbance and Wildlife
Speaker:  Sarah Hughes

Mar. 13 2013

Squirrels of the World: An illustrated Talk
Speaker: Daniel Allen

Chichester Natural History Society 2012 Spring Lecture Programme

18th January,   Butterflies and Moths of Sussex,   Michael Blencowe

1st February,   Guyana, the Last True Wilderness,   Mike Russell

15th February,   Wildlife and Plants of Chichester Harbour,   Judi Darley

29th February,   Birding in Far Eastern Siberia,   John Hobson

14th March,   Trees,   John Blamire

28th March,   Gales, Greenhouses and Global Warming,   Ian Currie

Good-Bye from Tony Dignum and Vivian McPhee

Tony Dignum and Vivian McPhee have announced their resignations, as Chairman and Secretary respectively, of the Friends of Brandy Hole Copse.

They have agreed to continue in office until the Annual General Meeting in May 2012, when we shall be seeking nominations for a new Chairman and a new Secretary.

Tony Dignum

Tony, who joined the Friends early in 2009, soon received the spring newsletter which included a request for members to consider becoming Chairman. As he valued the Copse, and thought it important that the Friends continued with an active committee, he put his name forward, and was duly elected at the 2009 AGM. Vivian took over as Secretary on a temporary basis soon after, as the long-serving Tom Snow was resigning.

As Chairman, Tony has chaired the AGM and about four committee meetings a year.  Until he was elected to be a District and City Councillor for the nearby Chichester North Ward, Tony also acted as one of the Friends’ two representatives on the Management Board of the Brandy Hole Copse Local Nature Reserve, which meets three times a year. As Secretary, Vivian’s main tasks have been to produce minutes of meetings, answer occasional correspondence, and occasionally to respond to consultations on behalf of the Friends. She also took the lead in drafting the Copse Code, which has now been adopted by the Management Board.

Tony and Vivian have enjoyed working with the Committee, but they both feel that they must give more of their time to their other commitments: Tony as a District and City Councillor, and Vivian to her voluntary activities as School Governor and Homestart Volunteer.

The Friends now seek new volunteers to replace Tony and Vivian. The main external challenges facing the Friends and the Copse are the still-present threat of housing development on Whitehouse Farm, and the financial squeeze on the District Council’s budget, which could reduce the funds allocated to the Copse. Internally, the Friends need to recruit a new Chairman, a new Secretary, and additional committee members, as well as working volunteers and ordinary members.

Could you be one of them?

The Chairman should be someone who is prepared to take over a leadership role, and to work with a small but enthusiastic committee. The Secretary should be able to take minutes at meetings, and use a computer.

The Friends is a worthy organisation. It deserves your support in any way you can. We also consider it important for younger people, especially those from families who enjoy the Copse, to take over the responsibility for its future.

Please do what you can to ensure that the Friends’ organisation survives and prospers.

Chichester’s Successes in the South and South East in Bloom Awards

James Alison and Justin Jones of CDC on behalf of the Management Board receiving the Brandy Hole Copse award from Blue Peter Gardener Chris Collins

More than four hundred people attended the South and South East in Bloom Awards at Fontwell Park Racecourse, where both Chichester and Brandy Hole Copse won major awards. Chichester took the Trophy for the Best Large Town in the Region, while Brandy Hole Copse won its fourth Silver Gilt Award in succession in the Country Park Category.

The awards, which are sponsored by Southern Water, attracted a near-record 253 entries. This was the sixth year in succession that Chichester has won a major award, and it was the fifth year for Brandy Hole Copse. Chichester, which won a gold award this year, had regularly won a silver gilt award since 2006, and it won a silver award in the Champion of Champions category in 2009. Brandy Hole Copse won a Silver Award in 2007, followed by Silver Gilt Awards annually between 2008 and 2010.