Since the last blog update, the craftsperson role has been in ‘full throttle’ where myself and my colleague have been busy with the seasonal habitat management work around the Thames Chase beat and other FE sites. Our main focus has been at Jeskyns community woodland, where we spent most of
Flags depicting stories, histories, characters and places make spectacle for visitors Visitors to Thames Chase Forest Centre were treated to a beautiful spectacle on Sunday 30 August as 100 flags flew in the sunshine. The Land of the Fanns Landscape Partnership Scheme displayed the colourful silk flags created with arts
During 2019 and into 2020, Kinetika led walks across the Land of the Fanns and a series of creative workshops for people to record their stories of local places that had special significance, important characters from the community and those everyday stories that are so familiar as to become forgotten
Featured image: The cover of the booklet The Land of the Fanns wanted to make it easier for the public to understand and enjoy the local area. Eleven landscape character areas had been identified, one of which was the “West Thurrock Quarry Townscape”. This “townscape” had been the heart of
We have rescheduled our training programme which had to be postponed due to lockdown and now have even more to offer community groups who look after local heritage or environmental projects. The training is focussed on small charities and voluntary groups for them to gain useful knowledge across various aspects
Across the Land of the Fanns, stories have been gathered to tell the history and celebrate the people and places of the area The Land of the Fanns Landscape Partnership Scheme will celebrate all that is special and unique about the landscape it works within in a walking and arts
In 1878 Mr Thomas May, a land surveyor from Devon brought his young family, mother-in-law, servants and several families of agricultural labourers to Valence House in Dagenham, Essex. Thomas suffered for much of his life with tuberculosis, and we think that the move to Dagenham was a direct result of his
The Land of the Fanns Landscape Partnership Scheme has been able to keep certain projects running over the lockdown with the help of partners and, as that now begins to ease, there is lots to report on such as the developments at Pages Wood. Pages Wood is a Forestry England
Congratulations to the the winners of the Land of the Fanns Photographic competition 2020 with the theme ‘Land of the Fanns in Spring’, and thank you to everyone who entered. 1st Place: Wendy Impett 2nd Place: Lesley Robinson 3rd Place: Wayne Sullivan The Land of the Fanns is an intricate
Spring has well and truly arrived at Thames Chase Trust and in the Community Tree Nursery, with sunshine, pollen and fresh green growth sweeping through and blowing off the cobwebs of winter. There has been an obvious touch of sadness this spring however, with the Visitor Centre empty and most
This fabulous project to record ‘55 Features’ in historic parks and gardens of all kinds, builds on a series of vibrant training workshop sessions run by the Land of the Fanns, delivered by The Gardens Trust and supported by the Essex Gardens Trust (EGT). After desk-top and on-site training our
A busy winter saw the heritage projects progressing with new volunteers who joined several training courses and events. Many parks and open spaces in this area have historic landscape features, many by Humphry Repton and Capability Brown, so by engaging with Essex Gardens Trust, and their enthusiastic tutor, Twigs Way,
We are running a series of training days for local heritage or environmentally focussed small charities and voluntary groups to gain useful knowledge across various aspects of fundraising, managing volunteers and working with different communities. Epitome Consultancy and Training will run the day long courses at the Havering Volunteer Centre,
The Battle of Britain took place in the long hot summer of 1940. 2020 will be the 80th anniversary of the conflict in which RAF Hornchurch played a major role in the defence of London as the base to three squadrons of Spitfires. The former airfield has since become Hornchurch
Congratulations to the winners of the Land of the Fanns Drawing competition 2019 with the theme ‘landscape and / or heritage’, and thank you to everyone who entered. 1st Place: Steve Green, Towards Orsett Fen (featured image) 2nd Place: Christina French, Harold Wood Polyclinic tree 3rd Place: Robert Stevenson, Parklands
Thanks to the National Lottery Heritage Fund, the Land of the Fanns and funds from our community cafe, Bulphan villagers are celebrating the installation of their new sign to mark the beginning of the Mardyke Way*. …..and this is who unveiled it: Mrs Clarinda Richards. Born in 1841 and known
Throughout the spring and summer months, it has been amazing to see how much the trees and plants grow in such a short amount of time, and the differing environments coming back to life once the warmer weather starts. Seeing the increase in plant and wildlife, with a beautiful array
Is the cost of transport stopping your school from arranging educational visits? The Land of the Fanns Landscape Partnership Scheme could help fund your transport costs for a local environmental or heritage site educational visit. The benefits of visiting a local site for heritage and outdoor education are enormous. School
With supporting funding from Land of the Fanns, Essex Wildlife Trust (EWT) organised a course that introduced volunteers to brickwork repair of older structures. The nine volunteers were from the EWT’s Warley Place nature reserve and Upminster Windmill. Expert tuition was provided by the very experienced ‘Mac’ from Place Services,
Environmental and heritage projects set to benefit Do you run a community project that needs some funding? The Land of the Fanns Landscape Partnership Project’s Community Grant fund is open for applications again. Grants of up to £5,000 are available for local groups to run environmental or heritage projects within
It’s been another busy summer for the Land of the Fanns project with the team and partners engaged in delivery of training, events and the development and delivery of projects across the landscape. Here’s a round-up of highlights from the last six months. Training focus The Land of the Fanns
The Land of the Fanns in partnership with Discover ME (Discover Metropolitan Essex) invited intrepid explorers, history buffs and the plain curious to board ‘Daisy’, a vintage Route Master bus last weekend, on a tour of the fascinating built history in the local landscape. Daisy, a 1964 open top Route
The Land of the Fanns team hosted a fabulous pop up display, curated by MOLA (Museum of London Archaeology), showcasing the fascinating history, archaeology and heritage of the area. MOLA archaeologists, Land of the Fanns staff and volunteers had a great time at two recent events, the Hornchurch Country Park
Budding naturalists can discover the amazing variety of wildlife living in your local area at a free BioBlitz day at Thames Chase Forest Centre on Sunday 21 July 2019. From 10am until 3pm, with the Land of the Fanns and Thames Chase Trust, as part of the Mayor of London’s
Community Mapping Land of the Fanns 100 Stories Project Kinetika is a Purfleet based arts organisation and we are working with Land of the Fanns to deliver a Community Mapping project. We are inviting local people and communities to identify and celebrate 100 Stories gathered in response to the different
Mitchell Jacobs, Forest Craftsperson Apprentice with Forestry England, gives us an update on his apprenticeship to date… It has been five months since starting my apprenticeship, and the training I have received has been put into good use. The most recent project was in habitat improvement along the Ingrebourne River
Land of the Fanns were the business partner for Grays Convent School on this year’s Next Top Boss challenge. Thurrock’s Next Top Boss, run by Inspire Thurrock Council, gives young people the chance of working with local employers on real business challenges. Jodie, student at Grays Convent School tells us
Will you be my Bat Buddy? I am a bat and I need your help. There are several ways you can with “Bat Buddies” at Thames Chase. Firstly get to know us. Come on our bat walks based at the Thames Chase Visitor Centre, Pike Lane. You’ll hear the calls
Congratulations to the the winners of the Land of the Fanns Photographic competition 2019 with the theme ‘Land of the Fanns in Winter’, and thank you to everyone who entered. 1st Place: Robert Stevenson, Ingrebourne Marshes 2nd Place: Paul Harold, Clouds over Rainham Marshes 3rd Place: Nick Griffin, Cely Woods
It has been three months since Mitchell and Tegan started their Forest Craftsperson Apprenticeship with the Forestry Commission. As part of the Land of the Fanns Scheme, the Forestry Commission at Thames Chase are hosting two apprentices on their National Apprenticeship Scheme. Mitchell and Tegan gave us an insight into
We are recruiting for the following position: Job Title: River Restoration Project Manager Salary: Band £28,000 -£31,000 per annum, (35 hours per week) Contract length: Fixed term contract – for 1
As we are now a year and a half into the project, it’s probably a useful time to recap on what the Land of the Fanns Landscape Partnership is about from a manager’s perspective. For the community it’s a five year programme that began in 2017 that will deliver 27
Our outdoor learning area has been transformed with a new wildlife pond. With the Community Action Fund, granted by Land of the Fanns, we have been able to create a living science area where our children will learn about habitats and wildlife in their own school field. The Thames Chase
The Land of the Fanns is an intricate landscape, full of surprises and ‘hidden gems’ which straddles the London – Essex boundary and encompasses significant parts of Havering, Thurrock, Barking & Dagenham and Brentwood. We were looking for photographs which capture the essence of the area, the landscape, heritage and
On the 22nd July 2018, we were joined by families and experts to count wildlife at Broadfields, Thames Chase. The day was a great success where we found and identified nearly 100 species of butterflies, bees, beetles, bugs, moths, crickets, flies, dragonflies, spiders and river critters! The BioBlitz was a
A few lucky local residents took a ride of a lifetime one Saturday in July. A shire horse-drawn 1906 omnibus delivered them, as they would have done back in Victorian times, slowly and relaxingly, to several historic locations around Havering. The horse drawn carriage was a Land of the Fanns
The Land of the Fanns team have been busy once again, right across the project area from Havering Country Park to Davy Down, and Weald to Belhus, on projects ranging from photography workshops to river clean ups and tree planting. We have hit an all time high on our social
Breeding wader populations on the reserve have been steadily increasing over the last 6 years, and in 2017, there were 68 pairs of lapwing, and 53 pairs of redshank. The previous focus for our habitat management has been Aveley Marsh, and this is where the breeding wader populations have been
Walled Gardens originate from the Monastic enclosed courtyards and Cloister gardens of the Middle Ages. Monks were educated and studied Latin and botany, growing herbs and flowers for medicinal and culinary purposes. Evolving over the centuries, the formal Knot gardens and geometrically laid decorative Parterres helped create the evolving productive
As this is my first blog post, and I rarely get a chance to talk about them (at least not in a good light!) I will start with an introduction to the wonderful Land of the Fanns team. Most recently Joanne Dungate has joined the team as the Finance and
We are live! Thanks for visiting our blog. The Land of the Fanns website and blog are now live! We are a small team of 4 – Benjamin (Benj), Debborah (Debbie), Aisling & Amena. Benj is the Scheme manager, Debbie is the Heritage Engagement Officer, Aisling is the Environment Engagement
Ormiston Park Academy students visit Thames Chase to plan the next stage of their Davy Down Pump House projects. This was an amazing chance for the students to garner valuable tips and advice direct from industry, by meeting Susan Cross of Tell Tale Interpretative Consultants, also the LOTF commissioned interpretation consultancy, to
Our Heritage Engagment Officer, Debbie, was out visiting the Heritage Museum in Purfleet and enjoying the views of the Land of the Fanns area from the Langdon Hills, with Head Ranger, Nick Stanley and Ranger Lauren.
Where do you find the next entrepeneurs of industry? Well, they may be right here in Thurrock. Ten, young teenage students from Ormiston Park Academy were invited to research, plan and deliver an interpretation project for the Pump House pumping station at Davy Down Park recently. I was delighted, as
Thames Chase Trust, Pike Lane
Upminster, Essex RM14 3NS
01708 642970
landofthefanns@thameschase.org.uk
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