Sponsors and Links
If you would like links to your organisation listed here, please use our "contact us" form to provide your details for our consideration.
Our Sponsors:
DF Legal LLP DF Legal are our lovely local solicitors, based in Ledbury and Tewkesbury - they are handling all legal work associated with Colwall Village Garden and setting the group up as a charity and a company limited by guarantee - completely pro bono. Do consider using them yourselves for any conveyancing, family or employment law matters - in fact, for anything "legal"!
Herefordshire Council us supporting us with a grant of £2,000 from their Community Projects Grant scheme. This aims to help establish, improve and develop new activities, facilities and services across Herefordshire. They have offered us grant aid of for the work required to fence the Colwall Village Garden and to lay out the allotments.
Herefordshire Year in the Orchard Orchards are an intrinsic part of the character, biodiversity and economics of Herefordshire. 2011 marks the bicentenary of the Pomona Herefordiensis - the first scientific based, colour illustrated Pomona or book of apples, published by Thomas Andrew Knight, an eminent horticulturalist and Herefordian. To celebrate this remarkable book and the county's orchard heritage the Orchard Topic Group is co-ordinating a special celebration of Herefordshire's Orchards - Herefordshire Year in the Orchard
The National Trust
The National Trust have awarded us funding over the last 3 years from the “Conserving and Restoring Traditional Orchards" grant scheme, which they have been running on behalf of the UK Habitat Action Plan (HAP) group for traditional orchards. This was set up to improve the condition and increase the extent of traditional orchards throughout England through: practical management activities; restoration and creation projects; public events and interpretation; wildlife surveys; heritage fruit varieties surveys and skills workshops.
Malvern Hills AONB Malvern Hills and surrounding hinterland are designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, in recognition of their special landscape features and qualities. The AONB partnership supports landowners and other bodies who manage land and facilities in the AONB. They have funded Colwall Orchard Group over the last 3 years through their Sustainable Development Fund - set up to support projects that bring social, environmental and economic benefits to the AONB. This seed funding has been vital in initiating a range of activities, most of which we now run sustainably within our resources.
Malvern Lions get involved in a variety of projects to help the local community. At Christmas and Easter they have a scheme in conjunction with the local paper the Malvern Gazette, to donate £1,000 as small grants to local organisations. They have kindly agreed to offer us £250 towards the purchase of a tractor for the children’s play area at Colwall Village Garden.
The National Communities Resource Centre at Trafford Hall offers residential training courses followed up by small, seed funding grants. The training courses bring people together to share ideas and experiences, learn new skills and increase levels of confidence. The grants enable community groups to translate their experience into positive impacts on their local community, after they have been to Trafford Hall. Deb attended an organic gardening course and they have now given us £200 for communal allotment tools.
National Orchard Groups
The Orchard Network is the website of the Habitat Action Plan (HAP) group for Traditional Orchards - a partnership of organisations working together for the conservation of Traditional Orchards as a wildlife habitat. This site is a useful resource for finding out about the wildlife that thrives within our orchards, the issues that surround their conservation, and ways that you get involved.
National Orchard Forum
Acts as an umbella groups for all the orchard groups around the country. Pools information and expertise from around the country and provides information of national interest.
Brogdale Horticultural Trust
Home of the national fruit collection.
Local Orchard Groups
The Big Apple
An association of orchard owners in the seven parishes of the Marcle Ridge in Herefordshire. They run excellent blossomtime and harvestime festivals and annual cider and perry trials.
Marcher Apple Network
A society for reviving old varieties of apples and pears in the Southern Marches.
The Three Counties Cider and Perry Association
An association for cider or perry enthusiasts in Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, Worcestershire.
Gloucestershire Orchard Group
Aims to conserve, promote and celebrate traditional orchards in Gloucestershire.
Herefordshire Orchards is the website of the Herefordshire Orchards Community Evaluation project (HOCE). This study of six very different orchards in Herefordshire used accounting techniques to derive a broad value of each orchard. This new approach has drawn in many different interests, and has expressed the value of each orchard in a new way that maybe speaks as much to the head as the heart. The results of this study, in England 's most rural county, has implications for the conservation of orchards of national significance.
Other groups and organisations with an interest in orchards
Common Ground
Founders of Apple Day, Common Ground have been working to save old orchards and create community orchard since the 1980s.
Forum for the Future
What is the real value of an orchard? How do you put a price on biodiversity, tranquillity or heritage? The Bulmer Foundation worked with Forum for the Future to derive a novel methodology for assessing the full total economic value of orchards in Herefordshire, as described in their ‘Windfall’ report.
Orchard wildlife:
Orchard Network
Website of the Habitat Action Plan (HAP) group for Traditional Orchards. Useful resource for finding out about the wildlife that thrives within orchards, the issues that surround their conservation, and ways that you can get involved.
Herefordshire Biodiversity Partnership
The Herefordshire partnership has defined key actions required to conserve, enhance and restore our wildlife habitats and species in their Herefordshire Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP).
Colwall Orchard Group is one of the ‘BAP partners’ working to conserve orchards and the animals that depend on them.
The People's Trust for Endangered Species
The people’s trust for endangered species runs various conservation projects, including a survey of traditional orchards, focusing on the noble chafer beetle.
National Biodiversity Network
Gathers and collates datasets from many different sources and makes maps and other information available to the public through interactive species maps and a range of other tools.
Other interesting links:
West Fest 2011 - date for your diary: 9th July 2011 "... the best West Fest to come?"
The West Fest Committee have made a donation to the Colwall Orchard Group, for which we're very grateful. If you've never been before, West Fest is a great day out with entertainment for the whole family. Details of the 2011 event will be available on the West Fest website: in the meantime, why not catch up with all the fun of the 2010 West Fest in pictures and the audio podcast?
Colwall Greener
A group set up to help Colwall meet the twin challenges of peak oil and global warming. They supported Colwall Orchard Group in the early days of the project .
Transition Malvern Hills
A Transition Town initiative for the communities in and around the Malvern Hills area, to encourage practical local action to tackle climate change and oil dependency.
The video below highlights the local, sustainable and resilient initiatives that are going on in the area and promotes the event "People make transition happen" that took place at Malvern theatre on 27th May: it includes reference to Colwall Orchard Group as an "outstanding community project that is restoring the old orchards and making use of their produce".
Bulmers
Bulmers was founded in Herefordshire in 1887 and is now the world’s largest cider producer. They support a range of orchard projects, including the Herefordshire Woodpecker survey.
Caves Folly
Caves Folly is our local organic nursery and kindly hosts our Mistletoe Festival every year.
Chris Morton’s photo galleries
Chris Morton , a member of Colwall Orchard Group, has a wonderful selection of photographs of Colwall, Herefordshre and further afield. The galleries include many pictures of our orchards and orchard trees and blossom, as well as some pictures of Moccas Park taken on our member’s trip last November.
Herefordshire Council
Herefordshire Council’s Countryside Initiatives include a fruit tree kit scheme, encourage people to plant old apple varieties and other fruit types, either to restore an old orchard or in gardens to keep the fruitstock alive for propagation in the future.
Reeves Design
Helen Reeves is a great supporter of Colwall Orchard Group and designed our fantastic logo and the various posters, plans and displays that we have been using over the past year.
Trees for Life
Nick Dunn ran out very first pruning training course - and is a wonderful local supplier of a huge variety of quality fruit trees. The company was responsible for taking into cultivation two of our Colwall varieties - the apple "Captain Tom" and the apricot "Golden Glow".
Vigo
Suppliers of presses, crushers, mills and a variety of other equipment used in juice and cider making; and in the preservation of juice and other garden produce.
Westons
Weston’s started making cider in Much Marcle in 1878, and are now a major cider company using fruit from their own cider and perry orchards and about 250 other farms. They have a visitor centre and get involved in a range of orchard based events and projects including support for the Orchard Network.