we now cater for birthday parties with an environmental and fun theme, choose from, Watery Wonders, pondy games,
hedgehog homes, mud mini-beasts, games, stories, Mini-Beast Safari, hunting for mini-beasts in the woods and meadow,
making the wooly caterpillar or dragonflies, play parachute games and treasure hunts.
Monday to Friday after school, £7.50 per child, minimum of 12 children for each party, maximum of 30 children with £5 per additional child over the first 12, call Louise on 01981 512561 to book.
we are running short introductory courses, 'Beginner's Wildflower and Tree Identification' and how to 'Create and Maintain your own garden Wildlife Pond', See 'Events' for details and phone Louise on 01981 512561 to book.
The theme of climate change will give pause for thought whilst enjoying a host of actibvities that include a treasure hunt, craft and junk models, the 'Museum on the Move' bus and much more - free entry to activities and no need to book - Call Louise on 01981 512561 for further information
Volunteers are needed for a wide range of activities including path building, planting, pond and stream maintenance, for further information contact Louise on 01981 512561
The AGM will be on 23rd May 2007 at Madley Parish Hall, beginning with refreshments at 6.15pm with the AGM starting at 6.30pm. At 7.45pm there will be a talk by Penny Platts on the 'History of Herefordshire Cider', which includes a tasting of cider samples. The AGM itself will include various updates on developments of the MESC project and how the Community can become involved with activities, events and volunteering. The recently published book, by Author Fiona Macklin in conjunction with MESC, is available on the night for £4.95.
Work has started on new paths to improve access to the new pond, on the weekend of 28th and 29th April an excavator and dumper was hired, volunteers worked 10 hour days to excavate a path from the shelter to the pond and also 'chiseled' a fantastic route though one of the woods.
The new pond is taking shape following planting and part of the new dipping platform being built, volunteers will complete the decking, and the surrounding area will be planted for a new wild flower meadow.
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There is an opportunity for a Teacher, to provide
occasional assistance to our Education Officer, Louise Murphy.
Madley Environmental Study Centre is committed to delivering life long Environmental
Education for communities within Herefordshire. As well as school visits,
the Centre holds events, fun days, wildlife workshops, and has a wildlife club for children.
The job of Environmental Education Assistant will entail providing teaching
support for school groups visiting the Centre (which, depending on bookings, may
be for up to 5 days per week from Mid-May
until early July (term time only), plus other occasional days (depending on school and other group
bookings).
The Education Assistant will generally be required when a school wishes to bring two
classes to the Centre on the same day. Therefore flexibility of working days is
essential. A school visiting for a day will at the centre for up to 5 hours
between 9am and 3pm, with half day visits for up to 2.5 hours between 9am and 12 noon and
12 noon and 3pm. The rate of pay will be at a rate
of £8.00 / hour plus 16p per mile travel allowance.
Although the activities will be prepared, the Education Assistant will need
to deliver the activities independently (as the Education Officer will be
delivering activities to the parallel class).
The usual age range of visiting children is reception -
KS3
The candidate must:
or
If a single candidate can not be found to cover the required dates,
a pool of teaching assistants may be set up. If you feel you do not have the flexibility in your working hours to cover all the possible required dates, but would be interested in being part of a teaching pool please apply, but make that point clear.
Please apply by sending a CV and letter of application (single A4 sheet) to be received by
1st March 2007 to Louise Murphy,
MESC, C/o Madley CC, Stone Street, Madley, Hereford. HR2 9NH. Alternatively,
email your application to louemurphy@hotmail.co.uk.
For further information telephone Louise on 01981 512561 (not available until 27th February)
or assistance can be provided on 01981 512736.
If you would like to be considered for future positions, applications can be submitted
at any time, there are also opportunities for people to gain experience
in teaching Environmental Activities to a wide range of people, from schools visits to
special events.
They must:
A new pond is to be built on the nature reserve in January, this will be a 'dew pond', separate to the stream fed ponds, and will have dipping platforms accessible to all. There will be opportunities for volunteers to help build new platforms and carry out planting, please contact us if you are interested.
A book detailng the history of the airfield and surrounding area is available from
MESC for £4.95 plus postage (UK £1), please send cheques payable to MESC for £5.95, to:
MESC
c/o Madley C.C.
Stone Street
Madley
Hereford
HR2 9NH
Following the success of the workshops organised in 2005, there will be a series of workshops and other training, some of which will be free, in March and April, events and workshops organised for 2006 will be publicised.
We received notice on October 1st that Outline Planning Permision has been granted for the proposed development of the Study Centre, a major and exciting step forward for the Project.
We are pleased to announce a fund raising scheme that will also enable participants
to win great cash prizes. The scheme requires you to make a payment by cheque
or cash of £50 which will be valid for one year, less than £1 a week. Participants
will be allocated a number between 1 and 49, on the first saturday of the month, the
first numbers drawn in the Lottery Draw will be the three winning numbers, first
drawn being first prize, second being second prize and of course third being third prize.
The Prizes:
If you are interested, please contact us, when payment is received you will be notified of
your number and start date, winners will be notified and sent payment by cheque
For months 1 to 5 and 7 to 11 will be:
1st - £50 2nd - £10 3rd - £5
For months 6 and 12 will be:
1st - £200 2nd - £70 3rd - £30
Following a photographic workshop earlier this year, there was great interest in forming a camera club, it was suggested that meetings could be made at least monthly with a photo selected from each meeting which could be used to produce a calendar, if you would be interested in this, please contact us.
MESC has now registered with the CRB as an 'Umbrella' Organisation, further details will follow later.
We are currently organising an Event at the Madley Village Hall on Saturday
Novemember 16th, details are to be finalised but it will be from 11am until 5pm, and
have the theme of recycling and sustainability with activities for all the family.
There may be an activity in the evening, to be announced.
We have now constructed the base for the airfield memorial, the memorial
wil be moved to the permanent location in October.
We apologise for not having displayed further photos of the airfield but this will
be done before the end of the month, along with other potos from wildlife workshop
activities
We have now installed new gates in the fence to enable access directly from the
former Madley Airfield. For those unaware, at present, access to the Nature Reserve is only
possible through the BT Communications Centre, so this is an important development for
future events.
Further information about the successful applicant and the role will be
published when the Project commences.
An Outline Planning Application was submitted to the Herefordshire Council in July,
the application included a site plan, floor plan of the proposed
building, a traffic impact assessment, a 'publicity poster' of the Project and additional
written information. Below is the additional 'written information':
Re. Madley Environmental Study Centre, Outline Planning Application - Additional Information
The outline application is for the Madley Environmental Study Centre (MESC) development of a main building, other associated buildings, further development of an existing nature reserve with fencing, lighting and structures for access. MESC is a registered charity formed in September 2001. The existing nature reserve was originally developed by BT, and the existing area and additional
area totally twenty acres will be leased to MESC from BT.
The purpose of the main building is to facilitate the provision of Environmental and Sustainable Education, and other Community activities and events. The Project currently has funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund until March 2006, to provide education activities provided by an Education Officer and develop the nature reserve, a portacabin is currently used as a classroom and office, with a small store, and as the need for further facilities has been demonstrated from Community Consultations and the number of visitors received, it is the vision of the trustees of MESC
to provide a 'green' building for use by the people of Herefordshire.
Although we have reserved all matters on the application, in addition to the required site plan at scale 1/2500, we have enclosed the following information:
The proposed floor plan was developed from a brief provided to our Architects following a full consultation with the Community and Users of the Study Centre. The Architects were selected following a competitive process, and he building design and construction will demonstrate cutting edge sustainable building practice, and will incorporate a variety of building construction methods which will provide opportunities for skills learning by members of the Community.
The main building accommodation is likely to comprise two classrooms, office space, toilets, kitchen, library, laboratory, foyer and hall. Other associated smaller buildings such as a separate toilet building, storage building etc may also be required. MESC currently propose that the building will be constructed in two phases, phase one will not have a dedicated hall, but a space that is fully adaptable as a foyer, meeting room, additional classroom or hall, phase two will include a separate hall.
The uniqueness to the site, is provided by the BT Madley Communications Centre, with the backdrop of the dramatic one-hundred foot diameter satellite dish antenna. It is intended that the Project will truly be 'where nature meets technology'. The attached site plan shows a proposed 10 metre high tower on which is intended to locate a 'trackable' solar panel and also telescope.
The application site consists of eleven hectares, which comprises the following:
The main access to the site is via the existing gates marked 'A' on the site plan attached, with alternative access via gates marked 'B'. Until such time as the main building is completed, access for school coaches will continue to be via the BT Communications Centre site entrance, as the classroom provide by BT for teaching purposes will continue to be required. The existing outdoor
classroom shelters will continue to be used for education purposes.
The areas that are outside of the BT Communications Centre will be developed to diversify the habitat and enrich the biodiversity, creating reed beds, marsh areas, meadow and ponds, and these areas will be developed following consultation with members of the Herefordshire Biodiversity Action Plan. The area has been classified as a Special Wildlife Site (SWS) within the Herefordshire Unitary Development Plan,
and all development including the building will compliment this status.
The Project currently provided employment for one part-time Education Officer and three Support Teachers as needed. It is proposed that with the new Study Centre Building, there will be full time Project Manager, part-time Project Officer and part-time Administration, in addition there will be opportunities for occasional support teachers, and other opportunities at various times.
Further Information available includes:
Contact:
MESC
c/o Madley Communications Centre
Stone Street
Madley
Hereford, HR2 9NH
Tel 01981 512736
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There is an opportunity for an Environmental Education Teacher, to provide
occasional assistance to our Education Officer, Louise Murphy.
Madley Environmental Study Centre is committed to delivering life long Environmental Education for communities within Herefordshire. As well as school visits, the Centre holds events, fun days, wildlife workshops, and has a Watch group.
The job of Environmental Education Assistant will entail providing teaching support for school groups visiting the Centre for 2 days per week from Mid-May until early July (term time only), plus other occasional days (depending on school bookings).
The Education Assistant will generally be required when a school wishes to bring two classes to the Centre on the same day. Therefore flexibility of working days is essential. A working day will usually be from 9:30am - 3:00pm and paid at a rate of £8.00 / hour.
Although the activities will be prepared, the Education Assistant will need
to deliver the activities independently (as the Education Officer will be
delivering activities to the parallel class).
The usual age range of visiting children is reception -
KS3
The candidate must:
or
If a single candidate can not be found to cover the required dates,
a pool of teaching assistants may be set up. If you feel you do not have the flexibility in your working hours to cover all the possible required dates, but would be interested in being part of a teaching pool please apply, but make that point clear.
Please apply by sending a CV and letter of application to Louise Murphy,
Education Officer, MESC, C/o Madley CC, Stone Street, Madley, Hereford. HR2 9NH
They must:
We are looking for ten people living or working in the Golden Valley area to come and learn the many techniques required to create a living willow sculpture.
The main funder, Creative Industries, are very keen for the newly learned skills to be put
into practice in the community, although this is not essential. The training will be provided by Steve Pickup, who has created sculptures all over the country and abroad.
The training is free,although we ask for £10 towards providing lunches and refreshments.
If you would like to book a place, please phone Louise Murphy on 01981 512561, places will be allocated
on a first come first served basis. Interested parties must commit to both weekends during March (13th-14th & 27th-28th)
and be over sixteen years old.
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MESC have been awarded a Grant of £250 from BT through the BT employee scheme
for contributing to the community through voluntary work associated with MESC, and this award will, together with funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund,
enable a Laptop PC to be purchased. Louise Murphy, Education Officer, explained "this
will enable our outreach work at schools and other community centres to include presentations using the
laptop PC, it will also allow us to demonstrate our website and show the variety of activities that are
available, without the need to produce and take a large amount of paperwork on the visits".
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Two outdoor Classroom Shelters have been added to the nature reserve, one
located within the woods while the other is located near to the main pond dipping platforms.
Louise Murphy, Education Officer for MESC said 'the outdoor classrooms will enable
many more activities to take place in the reserve under shelter, and will be a great
addition for our larger events'.
The Gannett Foundation was the primary funder, with funding also from the Heritage
Lottery Fund, BT and MESC, Volunteers also completed some of the build.
Outdoor Classroom Photos
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The Wildlife Watch Club has a program of events one sunday per month, currently the current schedule is:
Hibernating Hedgehogs! Find out how our prickly friends survive the winter,
make a hedgehog and help to make a hibernation box.
Migration Mysteries:
Find out where our feathered friends go in the winter and make a winter bird mobile
Help the birds that stay behind by making feeders to hang in the garden.
Party Time!
Come and make natural Christmas decorations, and join in the party games with a wildlife twist!
Pre-booking is essential, please tel Louise on 01981 512561
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MESC have been awarded a Grant of £25000 towards the proposed new Study Centre Building,
the award comes from the Severn Waste Environmental Fund, which is managed by 'Welcome To Our Future'
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Following our first 'Fun Day' last year, this years event will take place on Sunday 21st September.
There will be a host of fun learning activities and entertainment, including pond dipping, face painting, story telling and model making. There wil be a small entry charge and further details will appear nearer the event.
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MESC will again be taking part in the Family Learning Weekend scheduled for the weekend of October 10th to 12th.
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MESC has started a Watch Club for 10-12 year olds, if you would like to take part, or would like to find out more, please contact our Education Officer, Louise Murphy, tel 01981 512561
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This years Groundwater Festival, organised with BT and the Environment Agency, will take place at Madley. This year, two inner city schools from Birmingham and Coventry will be attending. The equipment and Marquee for the activities will be retained for several days to enable local schools to attend, and will also be used during the Fun Day on September 21st, and prior booking is not required for this.
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The Madley Communications Centre is celebrating 25 years of Communications from Madley, originally the site was called Madley Satellite Earth Station, and began operations in 1978. MESC will be involved during the day, when the local school, Madley Primary, will attend for a Pond Dipping Session.nding.
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The Gannett Foundation awarded a Grant of £5000 towards the building of
an outdoor classroom. The classroom will enable larger groups to visit the reserve, effectively, two classes could take advantage of the wetlands and woodland habitat. Part of the Classroom will be funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, and we expect part of the structure to use reclaimed telegraph poles.
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BT awarded MESC a cheque of £5000 towards the Heritage Lottery Fund Project and to continue the maintenance of the site.
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The Architects
produced three different schemes for the proposed building, there were
discussions about the alternatives by the Executive Committee, the Steering
Group and members of MESC, culminating in a vote in favour of the scheme
proposal 1, advantages of this scheme over the others included the low impact
on the surroundings and the future adaption and extendability of the
design.
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The
Environmental Education Officer, funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund has been
appointed. If you would like to find out more about the activities and
facilities on offer, please contact
Louise Murphy, by telephone on 01981
512561, or by email, to louise_murphy@fsmail.net
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MESC will be
participating in a Family Learning Weekend, when on October 12th, Pond Dipping
sessions will be available (pre-booking is essential), and at the Hereford
Courtyard Theatre, there will be a Presentation of our Project and various
information will be made available.
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A shortlist of
Architects was interviewed with a view to producing an exciting cutting edge
design scheme for the new Environmental Study Centre, we were looking for
various qualities including of course design, innovation, approach to
sustainable building practice and their integration into a team, which includes
various partner organisations and of course the people of Herefordshire. The
selected Architects were Simmonds-Mills, who have an extensive background in
Sustainable Building Practice and are also Builders too, we are excited at the
prospects of an exciting design, which we hope to present in November or
December 2002, updates on progress wil be added to this website.
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The winners of
the Schools competition to design a building for MESC are The Canon Pyon
School, who produced a comprehensive and impressive design. The School will
receive a prize of vouchers and the design will be shown on this website.
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MESC will
shortly be advertising the position of Education Officer, a job description will be available on this Web Site in the
near future.
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To coincide
with the Earth Summit Event in Johannesburg, Hereford High Town is staging an
Event on Friday August 30th, and MESC will be taking part.
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All of the
entries have been received for the Schools Competition, and the winning entry
will be notified at the start of the new School Year.
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The Fun Day, a
free event which included a host of fun activities for the family to enjoy was
a success, with over 100 people attending. Everyone who attended actively
participated in the Consultation exercise to find out what the people of
Herefordshire would like to see in the proposed Environmental Study Centre
Building. As a result of the response from the Public, MESC intend to have a
annual Fun Day Event.
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Paul Keetch
was at the MESC site to present the Grant award of £5000 from WTOF
Pictured, from Left to Right,
Paul Keetch, Sebastian Bowen, Lillian Keiten and Rob lloyd
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MESC are
organising a Family Fun Day on Sunday
23rd June, followed by two open evenings, there will also be a Competition for
Schools to Design a 'green' building, and a questionnaire is to be used to find
out what the Community would like from the future building of MESC, more
details will appear in the near future.
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MESC held a
Car Boot sale on the former Madley Airfield on Sunday 19th May, fortunately the
weather was much improved from the previous one held last October! After
deducting the advertising costs, a small but worthwhile profit was made, and we
would like to thank everyone who helped, and of course the 'booters' and the
'buyers'. Our next sale will be at the same location on May 26th, from 10am
until possibly 2pm. There are no other planned dates at this time.
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Hands-on learning to preserve Herefordshire’s natural heritage Heritage Lottery Fund announces grants across the West Midlands
Everyone living in Herefordshire will have the opportunity to get involved in preserving their rich natural heritage thanks to a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF). It is one of several projects that will benefit people across the West Midlands.
Madley Environment Study Centre (MESC) will use £83,000 of Lottery cash to fill a gap in Herefordshire by providing new environmental education resources. But MESC wants to do more than teach local people about the environment. They want to get everyone actively involved in preserving their natural heritage for future generations. Learning will not be just about facts- it will be all about hands-on experience and enabling everyone to take action to improve their environment.
The environment centre site was once a World War II air base but is now rich in many species of flora, fauna and wildlife, providing an excellent example of the county’s habitats. As well as teaching people about the wealth of natural heritage that surrounds them, MESC also aims to get a wider range of people involved in environmental issues. By training teachers and community leaders they hope to reach people who have previously had little contact with nature activities. There will be hands on experience at the site and a wide range of activities based in schools and youth clubs. There will even be a website for those who can’t visit.
Sheena Vick, HLF Regional Manager for the West Midlands, said:
"This is a fantastic opportunity for everyone to join in and help preserve the rich natural environment that makes Herefordshire so special. Development of the centre’s education work will not only help protect the future of Herefordshire’s natural heritage, it will also contribute to sustaining the environment for the whole planet."
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Construction Work in advance of the feasibility study for the new building began, with cable ducts, power cable and fresh water pipe being laid within the Wetlands area, this will enable temporary services to be provided during construction and allow cables for other purposes, such as web cameras to be provided to the area.
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MESC received
32 pallets of 'Yellow Pages', we plan to incorporate these into the proposed
future building, their exact use will be determined by the Architects, who will
be chosen to provide a feasibility study, but we envisage that they will be
used for insulation and structural purposes. Our thanks to Philip Buch, Stuart
Davey and Leonard Fletcher at Northallerton, and on behalf of MESC, Gill Tudor,
Rob Lloyd, Kevin Watson and Dave Watson.
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MESC received
another 'batch' of 'recovered' telegraph poles from BT, a total of 100 is
expected, they will be used for the future building and will also be used for
the construction of fencing and other structures such as earth retaining
walls.
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MESC held a fundraising Car Boot sale on the former airfield which is now owned by BT and adjoins the MESC wetands habitat, unfortunately, it was probably the worst weather day for many months resulting in the sale being abandoned. However, sufficient funds were raised to cover the costs and add a little to the funds.
Back to TopAn INSET day was held at Madley Comunications Centre, the location of MESC, on September 20th 2001. The following is an extract from the minutes of the HEEF (Herefordshire Environmental Education Forum) meeting of September 20th 2001
The inset course was well attended by 11 local teachers. BT Madley was a good venue and ideas were generated from the teachers for the future of the Ed. Centre. It was suggested that the Herefordshire Geography teacher group would be interested in having a similar INSET training day during the 2nd/3rd week in July 2002 to be led by Ben Bailin (if available) and held at BT Madley.
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MESC received
Charity Status on September 11th 2001 with the Charity Name " Madley
Environmental Study Centre (MESC)", the Charitable Objects are "The Advancement
of the Education of the Public in Environmental Studies".
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An imprint was
found on a large window at Madley Communications Centre, Ian Collins took the
photograph from inside the reception area. The photograph was taken with the
sun illuminating the mud-impact print on the outside.
Monday 5th March 2001 was an auspicious day for the Madley Environmental Study Centre with a sizeable gathering of supporters present to launch the bid for funding to extend and expand the on-site facilities. Notable among these was our Patron Paul Keetch, MP for Hereford. Also present to lend their support were representatives from the Environment Agency, the local Education Authority, Hereford Council, Hereford Nature Trust and Kingstone Parish Council.
There was considerable doubt that the presentation would take place with the Foot and Mouth precautions in place at the time, but hurried consultations with MAFF resulted in advice to go ahead. A number of presentations were given outlining the aims of the bid and the support from various organisations and individuals.
Although unable to attend a message was received from Chris Earnshaw of the BT board giving his full support to the project. For once the weather was kind to the project with bright sunshine encouraging Children from Madley primary school to demonstrate pond dipping and their resulting 'finds' to the people present.
Gary Overton, BT Madley Communications Centre Site Manager, and
the Wetlands Team would like to take this opportunity to thank all those who
attended the launch bid.
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