Matt Brierley from the Butterfly Conservation Trust led a walk on 21 August for fifteen of our members around the wildflower areas in the park adjacent to Tommy Taylors Lane. He told us how to identify the commoner butterflies, how we can help them and pointed out the plants that caterpillars live on. As we walked through the wildflowers we spotted some large white, common blue and gatekeeper butterflies. We hope to repeat the walk in a different season of the year.
The Cheltenham Trust has recently appointed a new CEO, Laurie Bell. The Trust is hosting a reception this evening, 17 July, in Pittville Pump Room, to introduce her to the business community. Our Pump Room Action Group has been invited and the Chair, Hilary Simpson, has a ten minute slot to speak about our work. She will mention, of course, our 2018 report on The Visitor Experience at Pittville Pump Room and our You Tube video, which outlines our vision for the Pump Room.
And, no, contrary to the article in Cotswold Life this month, the baseball bat was NOT placed there by the American forces during WWW2. The three statues were removed in 1938-39 as they were beyond repair and new ones installed in 1960s, one with a staff which looked like a bat. That in turn deteriorated and was removed; someone believed the myth and a new bat was put there in 2018!
John Simpson and Steve Blake, with a few of the 80 strong audience
There was a fantastic turnout for John Simpson’s presentation for Cheltenham Local History Society at St Luke’s Hall on 5 March. John talked about the award-winning website, Pittville History Works, explaining how the searchable database was built up to over 14,000 items. It covers every person and building in the original Estate from 1842 to 1939, with stories of individuals ranging from those in the women’s suffrage movement to the First World War to the slave trade. Historian Steve Blake also gave a quick update on his planned, more detailed, research into the builders of Pittville’s houses.
Some of our regular Green Space volunteers and a few residents came out last Sunday to ‘clean for the queen’, a national event in which forty-seven Cheltenham groups participated. We were in Pittville Lawn and enjoyed a coffee at Central Cross Cafe. See if you can tell where we made a difference!
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Charity Commission Registration number 1146790
