The Reduced Activity of the FOHGC during April and May

As everyone should know by now, there has been a complaint made about the FOHGC. The Council are therefore holding an official enquiry. As a result there has been reduced activity of the FOHGC during April and May in HGC.

Here’s a summary of the reduced activity of the FOHGC during those two months.

April

The FOHGC received a couple of donations of £100 from Facebook members. This money was to purchase plants etc. The FOHGC also purchased a third Silver Birch and planted this, along with a mix of 15 hazel, crab apple and rowan trees donated by the Woodland Trust.

Since 2019 the FOHGC have planted well in excess of 300 native trees on the site.

The buzzard appeared to have left for a while but has since been sighted several times.

Pete Lowden continues to maintain the website. Helen Bovill’s monthly nature posts have been received enthusiastically.

Hull Civic Society do not contribute any funding to the FOHGC and now no longer pay the insurance. As a result the FOHGC have acquired their own insurance at a cost of £230 per annum.

Site visit

After the recent complaint to the Council, Andrew Wilson, Jennifer Woollin and Mike Tindall, council officers, met with the representatives from the FOHGC on site for a positive meeting. The notes of this meeting were distributed separately. Hull City Council request to the FOHGC

As agreed with Jennifer Woollin, the volunteers have planted the wildflower meadow with the special EW1 seeds recommended by Jennifer. We have however been prevented from planting the butterfly garden until the review is complete. A further planting will now have to take place in the autumn. As a result, and at the request of Andrew Wilson, Open Spaces manager, the wildflowers that were for the Butterfly Garden have now been planted outside the site on the Thorseby Street cut through.

Accounts

The accounts show that we have a balance of £4,705.25, although the monies for the insurance are not deducted as yet from that figure.

The volunteers re-erected the broken fence at the rear of the Princes Avenue shops. Sadly, it looks like more rubbish is beginning to pile up at the shop’s rear.

Several species of butterfly have been noted in the cemetery by Helen Bovill, particularly on the Spring Bank West frontage.

Many bird species, including blue tits, great tits, tree creepers, chaffinches and goldcrests have been seen in the cemetery this month. A tawny owl has been seen on the site. It has occupied one of the owl boxes erected by the group. We believe it mated and two owlets were seen in April in this box. They now appeared to have fledged. Wonderful Wildlife

The reduction of the activities of the volunteers has seen an increase in the amount of anti-social behaviour. This includes a fire, theft of litter bins and a proliferation of rubbish dumped. There have been an increase of people who have volunteered to litter pick on the site.

May

A few more donations were received from Facebook members.

Research was undertaken on several of the vases/urns that were recovered from the drain shaft in the Quakers section. Particularly the one of Ronnie Jackson who was lost on the St Romanus in 1968. Andy Lister has repaired the vase and mounted it on an oak plinth. It will be presented to Ronnie’s step brother during the next couple of weeks.

An English oak was donated from a teacher at Thoresby Primary. It was planted in the Workhouse Memorial area.

The two areas near the Thoresby Street cut through were tidied and the drains were cleared.

12 headstones that failed the Safety push test were laid flat by the Council.

The Quaker’s committee have asked the volunteers to help improve their burial section.

Conclusion

That’s a summary of the activities the FOHGC have done over the last two months. Not bad is it?