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Maybush Copse Friends

for the history, see below
This page is about Maybush Copse, an 8 acre site off Cot Lane, purchased in 2009 by the Chichester Harbour Trust, with support from the Chichester Harbour Conservancy, the Parish Councils of Southbourne and Chidham & Hambrook, and donations from over 180 local residents
Where is the entrance to Maybush Copse? The entrance to Maybush Copse is in Cot lane, about 200m south of The Barleycorn, or about 50m past the turning into Maybush Drive. The entrance is on the right hand side as you go south, opposite a house that stands by itself called 'Roussillon'.
Maybush Copse Friends is a residents group set up to manage the Maybush Copse site
July 2010

MAYBUSH COPSE - reptile fencing

Thanks to everyone who came out for the working parties installing the reptile fencing. We have now completed the work. The purpose of the reptile fencing is to exclude slow worms from the areas planned to be grassy areas. Special thanks to the Friends of Chichester Harbour and the Community Payback team for their help..
Slow worms are protected species so we have to take appropriate steps to make sure they are not harmed. Once we have relocated the slow worms to the area outside the fencing, and the planned grassy areas are 'slow worm' free, we can use machinery in these areas to lay soil and prepare the surface for sowing the grass. Special thanks to the Community Payback team
PS Maybush Copse depends on your support, and I am please to say that so far we have signed up over 100 members. It demonstrates the healthy local support for the project and also gives the organisation some initial funds to get things going. We haven’t pressed membership as hard as we could have done although it is really important to us, so please take the initiative and get yourself joined up.
If you would like to become a member of Maybush Copse Friends, please send your subscription (£5 per person, but this is voluntary) to: Peter Hilton, Treasurer, Maybush Copse Friends, ‘Jacaranda’, Main Road, Nutbourne, West Sussex PO18 8RS •
Tel (01243) 576310

Saturday June 19th, 10am
Maybush Copse Friends - Work Party.
We need to do some digging. Can you help?
posted June 14
The main task of this work party will be to install a reptile fence - part of our slow worm protection efforts - round the areas we have cut. We need to dig a long trench (6in deep, one spade width) so if you can do some digging we especially need you.
stout shoes/boots, gloves, please bring tools - spades, rakes, shears
Beer Festival at The Barleycorn
Live Music: Hog Roast and BBQ.
Tug of War at Maybush Copse see the Photos
Sat 8th
May

Maybush Copse Friends
Annual General Meeting of Members
March 29th, 2010
St Wilfrid's, Broad Road, Hambook
Saturday
Feb 13th

The Third MAYBUSH COPSE
work party
Over twenty people turned out on a fine cold day to continue the site clearance. Thanks for your support.
posted Feb 3
PS If you haven't joined up as a Maybush Copse Friend yet, we will be delighted to sign you up - It is a way of raising the starter funds necessary to get the improvement of the site underway. There is a voluntary (you don't have to pay, but we hope people will) subscription of £5. Cheques payable to ‘Maybush Copse Friends'. email for a membership form, phone Peter Hilton on 576310 or download a pdf here
Tuesday Dec 1st

MAYBUSH COPSE - work party

Thanks to everyone who came out for the working party of scrub-bashing and clearing! There were over 30 volunteers including Friends of Chichester Harbour. A large skip was filled with all sorts of rubbish. It's great to see the progress the group made.
PS If you haven't joined up as a Maybush Copse Friend yet, we will be delighted to sign you up - It is a way of raising the starter funds necessary to get the improvement of the site underway. There is a voluntary (you don't have to pay, but we hope people will) subscription of £5. Cheques payable to ‘Maybush Copse Friends'. Ask for a membership forms at the work party or phone Stephen Johnson on 572059
Maybush Copse revealed

The work party (Oct 31) did a good job, and now it is possible to see a great deal more from the road. This was early morning (8am) in November a week after the workparty had removed a mountain of brambles and rubbish.
I was even lucky enough to get a sight of a green woodpecker - see below
The 'Before' photo showing the tangled vegetation and rubbish that needed to be removed.
Saturday October 31st
MAYBUSH COPSE - work party
Excellent Saturday 'party' - 43 people turned up, despite the damp start.  Gosh, didn't everybody work hard! It's certainly made a big difference. Thanks to Diana and Carla - great baked potatoes, cheese and coleslaw. Robin Yeld has taken the bath away and will attempt to sell it on ebay.....
Thanks also to Ranger Keith from the Chichester Harbour Conservancy who channelled our destructive enthusiasm constructively, and brought coffee and tea for our well earned break.
Tuesday December 1st
MAYBUSH COPSE - work party
from 10am till 12 noon. Come and join us for a working party of scrub-bashing and clearing! The work continues, and this time we will have volunteers from the Friends of Chichester Harbour joining in.  You will need strong gloves and tough footwear. Coffee and biscuits will be provided by the rangers

July 27 2009

Inaugural meeting of "Maybush Copse Friends"
Constitution
(the Residents Management Group for Maybush Copse)
 Minutes of the meeting
incl Open Forum
Well supported meeting - over 60 people present. 'Maybush Copse Friends' formed - Constitution agreed - Committee elected - Members voluntary subscription set at £5 (well, of course we hope you will put in a bit extra) - First Members signed up. We need your help - join up as a member. Register your willingness to help with Work Parties - Admin / Committee - Social / Fundraising - Other. There is a lot to do - We need you!
Join the Maybush Copse Friends! Voluntary Subscription is £5
For more information contact Stephen Johnson tel 572059

Maybush Copse Celebration Party
 
Sunday July 26th 2009
Over a hundred people came to Maybush Copse for an informal party....... read more and photos
July 2nd, 2009
Maybush Copse Land: Community backed bid - Success!

A year after its initial bid, the Chichester Harbour Trust has successfully completed the purchase of Maybush Copse. The 8-acre site needs some work done on it so that it can be opened for enjoyment by the local community as an area of woodland and open space.
This would not have been possible without the Chichester Harbour Trust and the Chichester Harbour Conservancy. More importantly, without your help, encouragement and determination we would not have had a project at all.
I am told 180 people made donations to help buy this land (in addition to Southbourne, and Chidham & Hambrook Parish Councils and various local organisations). Clearly your generosity was as solid as your enthusiasm.
Statement from the Chichester Harbour Trust
Maybush Copse viewed from the south
Cot Lane Land (Maybush Copse): News update Mar 5th, 2009
Our plans to purchase the site in Cot Lane are going ahead. Solicitors have been instructed and we will complete the purchase ......if we can raise the necessary funds. 

Lots of cheques have been coming in, well over 100 people have made donations so far, and the response has been wonderful despite the time that has elapsed since the initial tender bid, and the change in the economic climate.

Cot Lane Land (Maybush Copse): Good news update Feb 2009
see also background and history
Things are at last moving, and the news is good. Now we have to fulfil our pledges. Already two thirds of you have done so! For the other third - it's time to do get out the cheque book. And if you are new to this, it's not too late. You can join with the community and send in your cheque.

The Vendor is prepared to sell the land to the Trust, and the Trustees and Harbour Conservancy have agreed that they are committed to the purchase and would like to proceed subject to the funds being available. Thus a deal has been agreed in principle. 

Since our bid is higher than the sums we have been promised, we have an amount, but not huge amount, to raise in addition to the current pledged sums. I am, and I hope you are, determined not to let this opportunity slip. It will make such a difference to the community and to the local area as a place to live. Please help, if you can, by increasing the amount you can give.
Feb 2009 - - Cot Lane Land 'Maybush Copse' in the snow
Cot Lane Land (better) news update Jan 2009
see also background and history
There has not been much hard news to report until recently as regards the sale of the land in Cot Lane (the land that we would like to buy for the community through the Chichester Harbour Trust). However there are now serious doubts as to whether the sale to the unknown prospective purchaser will go through. If this bidder drops out, or attempts to renegotiate the deal, our chances of buying the land will be very much improved.

I don't want to raise false hopes, but be aware that our bid is not dead, rather it's been hibernating, and hopefully will soon be waking up, having a good stretch, sniffing the air and thinking about breakfast. Yes, you can take a metaphor too far, but I hope you know what I mean.
....
Cot Lane Land for Sale: 8 acres of land, for sale by informal tender on June 26 2008

Residents have joined with the Chichester Harbour Trust (a registered charity) and the Chichester Harbour Conservancy to try to buy this land for the benefit of the environment and the community.

The Chichester Harbour Trust is interested, given public support, to buy the land and manage it for conservation and the community. The land would be protected from building. Some ideas that could be explored are that the land could combine woodland with paths, more open habitat, (a pond? - possibly) a large open space, with public access for walking, informal recreation on the open space, and occasional community events. For use by everybody, and definitely young people.

 
Reasons to purchase could be community enhancement, defence against full development, (not immediately likely) or unauthorised development. Clearly the land would need some attention - see photos
We have shown there is community support.
(If you came to the Public Meeting, or have talked to your neighbours, you will know that there is.)
We have to raise the money. We have to reach a conscensus on the use of the land, both the way it is planted and landscaped, and we have to show we can manage it for the long term.
Most of all we have to win the Tender (original closing date June 26th 2008!)
 
The Site
 
The entrance from Cot Lane
 
in need of some improvement
 
looking north from Cot Lane
 
somewhat overgrown in places
 
a glimpse of the interior
 
Looking south from the junction with Maybush Avenue
 
 
 

On Sunday (June 8th), a group of prospective purchasers gathered together very much at the last moment and went to the site for a mass viewing.

The sun shone, the sky was blue, we clambered over the gate, ..... the teazles.....teased, and the stinging nettles ...... stung, but it didn't deter us. Hopefully you are not deterred either.

 
June 11th 2008 - Public Meeting - St Wilfrids Church Hall, Broad Road, Nutbourne
 
St Wilfrid's Hall was packed (est 115 people) and the meeting was lively and enthusiastic
 
Stephen Johnson chaired the meeting
 
Chris Bulbeck, Chairman Southbourne Parish Council
 
James Davis (for the Chichester Harbour Trust) and Alison Fowler (AONB Manager, Chichester Harbour Conservancy)
 
Myles Cullen, Leader of the Chichester District Council and Mark Dunn, Chairman of that West Sussex County Council
How it all started.
The idea of a community bid to purchase the site was first floated on the village website on  29th May 2008. Chichester Harbour Trust and Chichester Harbour Conservancy were interested. Parish Councils of Southbourne and Chidham and Hambrook were supportive. A Public Meeting was arranged for 11 th June 2008 to gauge support. The strength of residents' support was readily apparent. In the next fortnight we raised enough pledges to enable the Chichester Harbour Trust to make a realistic bid before the Informal Tender deadline of 26th June 2008


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