FOFV Newsletter no 102                                                    February 2024

Dear Friends,

Thank you to all who came to the Wassail in January with drums, bells and voices. It was a wonderful turnout. Let’s hope the trees produce a bumper harvest for us all this summer. Thanks also goes to Val for the hot punch.

We were wonderfully entertained by the Madrigal singers and the Kentucky Running Set (if you have never seen this danced, it is a must). Many thanks to them.

Work on Flass Burn:

Road surface water from the Fieldhouse Lane area enters Flass Burn near the wooden Bridge. Over the last, wet, year the bank opposite has been eroded and collapsed. Northumbria Water fenced off the area and now have plans to rebuild the bank using stone gabions. The work will need heavy machinery and the path may be closed temporarily but we do not have a date when work will start.

Work on the Old Curling Pond:

Having once been periodically wetted, the Old Curling Pond within Flass Vale is now disconnected from Flass Burn. The now dry land is poor in biodiversity and is dominated by nettles. Wear Rivers Trust and the Friends of Flass Vale propose the creation of a wet meadow to enhance the biodiversity of the area. Restoration work, carried out by hand, will divert some of the flow of Flass Burn into the site of the Old Curling Pond. This will re-wet the area, creating suitable habitat for wet meadow species such as Greater Burnet, Ragged Robin, and Water Forget-me-not to thrive. Although only in a small way, the work will keep water in the Vale for longer and help reduce flooding further do

Christine Hein-Hartmann