ADDINGHAM Civic Society’s Environment Group is approaching its third anniversary - and is making big plans for the next few months.

In 2018 membership grew from 50 to over 150 residents and several new projects were launched. They included the 4Becks Project, which is concerned with flooding and how the water levels change, which organisms live in the water, water quality and how the becks and their banks need to be restored. Also launched was the Zero Carbon Addingham project which aims to cut carbon emissions in the village.

The group was able to carry out a full programme of field work involving over 50 volunteers turning out on Saturday mornings to litter pick, rake grass, sow wildflower seed, bash balsam, clear culverts and plant hedges.

The Environment Group, set up by village’s Civic Society in April 2016, is a group of villagers committed to protecting, enhancing and, in some cases restoring the natural environment of the village and surrounding countryside for the enjoyment and well-being of both residents and visitors.

Much of the group’s 2019 programme will be a continuation of the 2018 programme, but new in 2019 will be:

• A bumble-bee project co-ordinated by Maurice White involving volunteers, training in identification and surveys of village bumble bee populations;

• A “Zero Waste” project which will be an expansion of the group’s “war on plastic” project to include all waste and to encourage recycling;

• A stronger focus on village trees within the “trees and hedgerows” project;

• Closer collaboration with the Primary School learning about wildlife, energy, and water, both in theory and practice;

• The formation of Addingham Saplings, a new children’s group, co-ordinated by Debs Griffiths, to help children and their families enjoy and learn more about village wildlife.

In addition the group is planning a village litter-picking day on Saturday, April 13 together with the Scouts, and this year’s Environment Weekend in Addingham will take place on May 18 in the Memorial Hall, with walks talking place on May 19.

Volunteering, as last year, will be on most Saturday mornings through the year (10am-noon).

A detailed report of activities in 2018 and a full list of objectives for 2019 - ordered according to the group's main themes of biodiversity, climate change and pollution and waste - can be found on the Environment Group website at addinghamenvironmentgroup.org.uk