The Butterfly Wood Project
2
The Pitch
Problem statement
Our self funded project (also named in the Cornish language) was set up in memory of our beloved son, David, who died by suicide in 2013. Emerging from the darkness that followed we wanted to create something positive from something so negative and I acquired a piece of long abandoned woodland in 2019 (it also includes part of a small river). It was full of invasive plants and tons of fly-tipped, polluting rubbish. Knowing how important being in nature is for mental well-being we are working to restore it to be a place of tranquility and healing to be used by local schools, as an outdoor classroom, and for local mental well-being groups to use for green therapy.
Solution
The end goal is for the whole area to be available, completely free of charge, to user groups. At present we have opened up about 2/3 of it and have had numerous school and youth groups, plus social prescribers make use of it, but we now need to build a safe walkway through the remaining part of the land in order that more of it is accessible to user groups and this is a cost we cannot manage on our own. Once this is done the impact will be that many more groups will be able to utilise the space safely and so improve their mental well-being.
Why are we best placed to deliver?
Due to Covid the work has been mostly done by just myself and my husband so we've proved our abilities in clearing both the land and the river of polluting rubbish. We have a strong sense of reusing/recycling things we find and this has helped us keep costs down too. Some of our proudest practical achievements have been a) digging out a dozen huge lorry tyres from the riverbed and turning them into seats/tables b) installing a self composting toilet and c) clearing 10s of 1000s of invasive Himalayan Balsam & Hemlock Water Dropwort plants. Our proudest emotional achievements have been getting the hugely positive feedback from children whose school has absolutely no green space of its own.
Focus Areas
Delivery plan
Budget breakdown
| 18 sleepers @£37-79 each | £680 |
| 9 x 2.4m lengths of treated 75mmx50mm timber @ £7-80 each | £71 |
| 70 coach bolts (100mm x 8mm) @ £4-21 for 5 | £58 |
| 300 galvanised washers | £16 |
Beneficiaries
100 people
Expected impact
Once this work is done we will be able to open up more of the woods to user groups and to extend the hours it is available. This will mean that more groups can access the benefits of the land and more people, especially children, will feel the positive effects of being out in nature. In particular, schools will be able to extend the scope and range of their visits. Once this work is completed we will also be able to give more of our time time to increasing the biodiversity of the area and to improving facilities available.
Track record
I ran the Helston WW1 Heritage Project, which ran from 2014 to 2019. Working in partnership with local councils, schools and organisations we were awarded £10,000 of Heritage Lottery Funding and, as well as putting on five, month long, annual exhibitions we uncovered, shared and recorded a lot of previously unknown local WW1 history. Our exhibitions were visited by hundreds of people with some coming from around the world. We also renovated every UK grave of our town's WW1 fallen. I was very honoured to be invited to represent our project by taking part in three national WW1 commemoration events. Our project culminated in the staging of a 1919 style music hall show, for which tickets were massively oversubscribed.