AGM 2023-2024

Saturday 16th November 2024 at 14.00 at Headley Village Hall

Present

The committee and 12 members

Apologies

Mary Saunders, Paul Curtis

Minutes of the November 2023 AGM

The minutes of the meeting on 18th November 2023 were accepted as a true record of the meeting. There were no matters arising.

Chairman’s report  

William reported on the past year. The year before, the Heath was recovering from the impacts of Covid. This spring, the Heath sprang back to life, with some highlights like red kites being seen. Sadly stonechats and Dartford warblers have not been seen recently. There was work done earlier in the year, on Chalk Slope, by My Green Future volunteers. There was a well attended butterfly walk, led by the Friends, in the summer – attended by an appreciative and curious group. A walk led by Peter Denyer on the 1st June explored the evidence still present on the Heath from the time the Canadians were here, preparing for D-Day. In preparation for the walk, some of the items were cleared of vegetation, to be more visible. Some points of interest on the walk were the remains of practice trenches, an explanation of the origin of the name, The Pyramids (stacks of fuel barrels) and where a Wellington bomber crashed near the main car park. The walk was attended by around 30 people. A general walk in the autumn unfortunately had low attendance, due to very wet weather.

It is hoped that there will be a new military trail on the Heath in summer 2025, as the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War. It is likely to use some of the marker posts of the Lizard Trail, and some extra ones. There will be QR codes linking to the relevant information for that location. Belasis is of considerable interest, but as many people who will be interested are getting older and less capable of the long, steep walk from the main car park, the intention is for a small car park for those wanting to see that part of the trail. This is being pushed by the NT. Ali Clarke, from the NT, plans to get the village to display the Canadian flag in the summer. The Friends might want to pay for something relating to the visible reminders of the presence of the Canadians on the Heath.

There is an archive of aerial photos of the Heath, in the War and soon after it, showing the complete devastation in 1947, and the vegetation slowly coming back. These are in the office at Box Hill.

Dr Giles Groom has carried out the botanical survey that he carries out every two years; it is paid for by the Friends. He surveys the same 8 sites, which are also the same photo point sites, and gives an exhaustive record of the plants over the years.

Films of the Heath back in the 1960s and 1970s have been restored and voice-overs done, by Robin and Lucy Hunter, and Peter Denyer. We hope to have an event for members at which the new film can be shown. William is hoping to do a set of modules about the Heath, with various modules such as vegetation, geology and bird life, which might be of interest at Juniper Hall.

There have been various ideas for using the Bridges money on something for the Heath, but any proposal has to be accepted by Natural England, which limits options.

We have sufficient funds to undertake most of our activities, and sometimes we can help the National Trust in buying some bits of equipment, which is capital expenditure, (rather than revenue) to help the management of the heath. We can pay for surveys from time to time.

We have 68 members now, but this number is slowly declining, and the age profile getting older. This will present a looming problem, for the longer term. Like many other organisations, we need to attract new and younger members. We need a few hundred, rather than tens. If anyone has any ideas on how to address this, please let us know. Sometimes failing charities amalgamate.

William thanked all the members of the committee, and all the members of the Friends. It would be good to have more members of the committee.

Report by National Trust Ranger, Theo Howard

Theo has not been the Headley ranger for three years. About 80% of the conservation work on the Heath is by volunteers, who therefore play an important role. There has been a lot of cutting of bracken, with the aim of cutting it three times per year, so it is weakened substantially. In the area of the Gravel Pits, there is almost none left now – leaving space for heather, native gorse and wild flowers. There has been a bit push against buddleia, which is a non-native invasive plant, that has a negative impact on the food plants of many insects (as insects use the buddleia for nectar, rather than the food plants, that their larvae need). It has almost all gone in 6th Valley. We have a new NT Immersive Ranger, Amber, who is with us for the next few months.

The volunteers have opened up around 50% of the scrub encroaching into Hill House pond, to improve conditions for the rare starfruit plant, that needs regular poaching by cattle. (Poaching is the damage caused to turf or sward by the feet of livestock. Hooves cause compaction of the soil surface, leaving depressions which can be 10cm to 12cm deep). Trampling the area mimics that effect.

Lark Heath has also been opened up, removing a lot of gorse and birch, to allow the mature heathland to recover. Clearance is also pushing up towards Goodmans Furze, and also at Middle Hill. When the larger vegetation is removed, the heather can regrow from the seedbank in the soil, and bluebells from suppressed bulbs, but they can soon become overwhelmed by bracken. Butterfly Conservation has worked on Headley several times, and will be with us again on Friday 20th December, on Chalk Slope. Hazel has been coppiced in 6th Valley.

There have been some nice successes. For the first time, this year there has been a Man Orchid. It has been overall a good year for orchids in Surrey. There have been more than 30 Bee Orchids. Also the re-emergence of Horseshoe Vetch and with it, there seems to be a small established colony of Chalk Hill Blue butterflies – though the drabber females are hard to locate. There have recently been sightings of Hawfinches, in the valleys – perhaps as many as 100. They are winter migrants here. The National Trust also held a butterfly walk, which was well attended. There will soon be an archaeology walk on Box Hill.

The Pyramids bench view is now open, as the gorse has just been cleared, this week. We are keeping up with the management, without much getting behind. The NT has a contractor with a flail mower, that can cut grass and vegetation on the very steep areas. Work continues on some of the overgrown footpaths, to make them more user-friendly for the visitors to the Heath.

A series of podcasts have been produced by the National Trust, about its areas on the North Downs, titled “A Walk with a Ranger”. The one on Headley Heath features Theo. They can be found at https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/surrey/countryside-woodland/surrey-hills-podcasts

Treasurer’s report

2023 – 2024 Treasurers Report (Financial year 01/10/23 – 30/09/24) – from Paul Curtis.

As at the end of 2024 financial year 30th September the finances of the Friends of Headley Heath are in a healthy position with Net Assets of £12,134 available. Of that £3,662 is the Bridges Glade Donation, and £478 the Henry Beavon bequest.

Accounts for the year ending 30 September 2024 have been submitted for auditing and signed off by auditor, George Nixon on 30th October. All necessary documentation has been sent to the Charity Commission.

Total Income to 30/09/2024 was £568. Total expenditure to 30/09/2024 was £645, giving a deficit of £77. The cheque for hire of Headley Village Hall for the AGM of £45.00 has not yet been presented

Membership: We have 68 (44 paid up members & 25 overdue), 11 honorary and 9 volunteers so total 89. It would be useful for the Committee to attempt to contact members whose subscriptions are overdue, in order to encourage payment.

The financial report was approved, and adopted by the meeting.

The Committee

Members of the Committee (William McKee, Peter Denyer, William and Lucy Hunter, and Sarah Clayton) all agreed to stand again.

George Nixon has confirmed he is happy to continue as auditor next year.

This was approved by the meeting.

Questions and discussion

Lucy Hunter asked what can be done to deter another invasion by “travellers” next year. They came to the main carpark for around a week in late August, and had several large bonfires (burning plastic off electric cable etc) on the grass. It cost a considerable amount of money, for the NT, to serve the necessary legal papers and employ bailiffs. There was discussion about having height barriers for the car parks, which could be unlocked if necessary vehicles needed access. However, these may be too easy to cut. They might stop overnight camping and fly tipping, but the cost is around £8,000 each. There has been fly tipping at the Brimmer car park.

The Friends must promote the walks further in advance next year. Butterfly Conservation make their walks etc programme a year in advance

Refreshments and talk about the Canadians here in WW2

After tea and biscuits, Lorraine Spindler gave a very interesting talk about her research into the presence of thousands of Canadians in Surrey during the Second World Way. This included the many war brides, the training, the role of the Canadians in defending the area when British troops were elsewhere, and the role of Belasis in Operation Anthropoid, to kill Reinhard Heydrich.