Wildlife of the Month – Thank You!
This year has been a great first year for our project. We have members from all over the village who have attended our workshops and meet ups: making new friends and creating wild areas for our wildlife. Support from you, the Residents, the Local Businesses, the Village Hall, the Church, the Parish Council, West Suffolk Council, Susan Glossop, the District Councillor and Beccy Hopfensperger, the County Councillor has been fantastic. Thank you to everyone who has been involved.
Our project has been on several media platforms. It’s been written about in several newspapers including the Bury Free Press, Suffolk Free Press and the EDP. We’ve been on Radio Suffolk, Radio West Suffolk and National German Radio. As many of you know we were also on BBC One’s Flagship Programme, Countryfile in August. Since being on TV, many people in parishes across the country have been in contact with us: to find out how they can be more like Risby and develop the place where they live into a Wildlife Friendly Community!
Next year we hope to build on this brilliant start by doing more with our wild spaces so we can continue to create a wilder future to benefit both people and wildlife in our beautiful village. Thank you to you all.
Risby ‘A Walk of Art’
Suffolk Artlink, a participatory arts charity contacted us earlier in the Autumn about running an art project in our village, called Make, Do & Friends. The photographer, Gillian Allard ran a ‘walking workshop’ in Risby, in which she accompanied residents as they showed her some of their favourite sights in the village, and she gave them tips on how best to photograph them. The resulting images were then bonded by Gillian on to logs donated by Nigel Abrey. The artworks are now displayed around the village. Thank you to the Church, the Parish Council, Nigel Abrey and the Village Hall for allowing us to create this ‘Walk of Art’. We hope it has brought some joy during this difficult time of Lockdown to the whole of the village. After Lockdown the artwork will be moved to the Recreation Ground so that people can continue to view it and gain enjoyment from the pieces. Thank you to Jane Bryant, a resident, for organising this art project, thank you to Candida from Suffolk Artlink for choosing Risby, thank you to all the residents who took part and thank you to Gillian Allard for all her hard work and inspiration.
Risby Wildlife Working Group (WWG) News
Once Lockdown is over and we can get together again we will be organising more maintenance of the wild areas. These dates will be advertised on the website and our social media pages. If you would like to take part, please contact Sophie: wildlifefriendlyvillage@gmail.com or visit www.wildlifefriendlyvillage.co.uk
