Dear Friends,

It has been an amazing year – with so much achieved in spite of all the covid disruptions, and we want to send a warm note of thanks to all of you.

Our conservation work goes from strength to strength. A huge thank you to both Wills, and congratulations to them on getting formal approval for the woodland conservation plans.

Sharon has taken retirement, but leaves a wonderful legacy. We have just welcomed Paddy to lead on our lifelong outdoor learning, while Jackie has taken on Communications — with help from Bori now 5 days into her role with us — as well as leading on community engagement.

The Vine Road Project Master Plan proposals not only received strong funding support early in the year, but very positive endorsement during the summer consultation. Our thanks to John Ainger for all his work on the pop-up café, proving how needed that is – and to the Feel Good Bakery for picking up where John left off, just as the weather turned colder. Thanks also to all of our Community Growers, who have kept the project running through lockdowns and developed exciting plans for the future.

Although we cannot yet give you detail, it looks like we will have a very busy year in 2022 as we address the six-year ‘Innovative Flood Resilience’ project where we are partners of the Council and WWT. All I can say right now is ‘watch this space’!

With all of this going on, FoBC has revisited its Vision, Mission and Objectives, not only in terms of what we are doing in our spaces but in the wider context of threats to the planet – not just from climate change, energy and emissions, but also the vastly more complex issues unbalancing so many fundamentals of life on this planet. Our core remains conservation, but we are also addressing biodiversity and the environment, wellbeing and lifelong outdoor learning – in all of which we will be increasing our engagement with the community.

It is an enormous challenge, but we all need to engage if we are not only to save the planet as we know it, but actually leave this world a better place for future generations. Thank you for all of your support – we need it now more than ever!

Wishing you a very happy festive season,

The Friends of Barnes Common Team