Sarah Leeson talks about the work to maintain Mangravat Wood

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Transcript

00:00Hello, I am Sarah Leeson and I am the Company Secretary for North Loos Limited.

00:07So North Loos Limited looks after and maintains mangravit wood,

00:12which is a little bit of ancient woodland in the Loos area.

00:18Since May of last year, North Loos Limited has had no source of income.

00:26Prior to last May, North Loos Limited was associated with the North Loos Residence Association

00:33and whenever costs were incurred for maintaining mangravit wood,

00:37we were fortunate enough to receive donations from North Loos Residence Association.

00:43When the North Loos Residence Association wound up last May,

00:48when it combined with the Loos Parish Council,

00:52any source of income for North Loos Limited ended.

00:58We have a wonderful team of volunteers and are always looking for more volunteers.

01:03So we typically have manpower to carry out a lot of the work on the wood.

01:08But over the last few months, we've had to pay out nearly £1,000 for a tree survey,

01:16which was needed to do our health assessment of the trees in the wood.

01:21We are about to pay out about £2,500 for a tree specialist company

01:30to come in and carry out a lot of the urgent work which we identified from that survey.

01:36Much of that work is to cut back some of the old dead trees in the wood

01:45and a lot of the overhanging branches on the pathways to make sure there's no risk to people walking through the wood.

01:53Again, we're very fortunate to have a volunteer who does some of the smaller items of wood maintenance for us.

02:02But we have no option but to pay for a company to come in to do a lot of the larger work for us

02:11and particularly work which involves going up the trees.

02:17So at the moment, we are just looking for any donations or grants which people might be aware of,

02:26which we could apply for in order to boost our rather dwindling financial resources.

02:37So North Loos Limited is a private company, so it has no income and it has no membership fees.

02:46So we are entirely reliant on the goodwill of individuals to help us or for any donations.

02:55So anything, however small, would be greatly appreciated.

03:01And for those of you who haven't visited Mount Gravatt Wood, I would encourage you to do so

03:07because particularly in the spring, it is very beautiful with a carpet of bluebells and wooden enemies.