|
|
 Friends of Troopers Hill
Stepping Forward Project
Project Update |
Updated: 24th April 2012
The final grading and compaction of the stone to the steps on the Hill is still to be completed but they are already much easier to use. BTCV have rebuilt the steps into the woodland from the Field. Community Payback have carried out clearance work on the paths through the woods and cleared some gorse from the Hill. There was a 'Walkshop' on Easter Sunday to allow local people to influence the design of the waymarking for the woodland trail. A new bnch has been installed on the Field. More details below.
This page has the latest updates on the various parts of our project and details of how we are spending the £30,504.89 awarded in November 2011. Photographs are being added as work progresses on site. The section headings are those used in our stage 2 application. More information and background to the project are on the Stepping Forward Page.
The Stepping Forward Project has been funded through the Community Spaces Programme. The Community Spaces grants programme is being managed by Groundwork UK as an Award Partner to the Big Lottery Fund. Community Spaces is part of the Big Lottery Fund's Changing Spaces initiative.
 Improving Access for the less mobile and visually impaired
The major part of the project is to improve the steps on the existing paths across Troopers Hill Local Nature
Reserve.
Classic Landscapes Ltd have been appointed to carry out the works to the steps on the Hill and to install the land drains in the Field (see below). Before work started we met with their Director, along with the Project Managerand designer from Bristol City Council. Our ecologist Rupert Higgins also attended the meeting and has approved Classic Landscapes' method statement .
Classic Landscapes started work on Mon 20th February in the Field. They then moved on to the steps a week later. One small gang has been moving round the hill replacing the rotten timber steps and adding new ones where necessary. Most of the work to shape the steps has now been done. Work will soon start to compact the stone to give the final finish. A new plinth has been constructed around the bench on top of the Hill.
  
 
  
 
|
 Waymarking – Troopers Hill Woodland
Another part of the project is to provide waymarking to the woodland paths in Troopers Hill Woods. This will create a marked circular walk, including the Woods, the Field and part of the Hill.
More information about the woodland waymarking >>
 'Walk'shops
Sunday 8th April on Troopers Hill Field
We have appointed Ruth Coleman to work with us on this part of the project along with with architect, artist and master-woodcarver, Michael Henderson. Ruth was involved with us briefly in her work on the River Avon Trail and more recently she worked on the interpretation boards at Netham Park.
These 'Walk'shops allowed local people to influence the design of the carved waymarkers.
Following the walkshops Michael is now finalising the design of the waymarkers and will soon start work on them in his workshop. The waymarkers will be installed in the woodland in August.
  
|
 Access for Wheelchair Users
A wheelchair accessible path reaches the top of the hill via Troopers Hill Field, where some on street
parking is available. We are introducing two improvements as part of the project, a sign will be installed at the gate to this path describing the route
and following the suggestion of a wheelchair user we have installed an additional bench part way along the path.
We agreed the wording of the sign with Bristol Physical Access Chain (BPAC - a user group made up of disabled people) and Bristol Parks. Bristol City Council design team then finalised the layout for us and the order was placed with a local firm Wards in Barton Hill. We have now collected the sign. It will be fixed in place by volunteers once the works to the steps have been completed.
The new bench was ordered from David Ogilvie. It is the same design as the two benches next to the wheechair path on top of the hill. The bench has been positioned so that you can see the view through the gap in the trees and there is room either side of it for wheelchair users.
Following suggestions from BPAC and school children during the consultation, the sign at the entrance to the Hill from the Field has also been moved nearer to the path and lowered. This means that both children and wheelchair users will be able to see it more easily.
 
Improving Woodland Paths - BTCV - Complete
We worked with BTCV to use volunteers to construct a flight of steps on the path into the Woods from the Field. This work started on 3rd April and is now complete. The volunteers helped with the management of Troopers Hill by cutting down some saplings once the steps were complete.
  
Improving Woodland Paths - Community Payback
 Working with the City Council we are using offenders on the ‘Community Payback’ scheme to carry out a deep clean in the woodland; to clear some areas of scrub and to make the entrances more inviting. Work they have done includes cutting back the bramble and scrub on the upper path and clearing off the steps to 'Little Elizabeth's View' on the lower path. They have also removed rubbish, including garden waste that was dumped in the woods.
The team are also carrying out some management work on Troopers Hill LNR. On Sat 3rd March they cleared some scrub from the west end of Sally's Glade at the top of the steps from the woodland. On Sun 4th and Mon 5th March they removed some of the gorse that has spread over part of the hill over the last few years. To help with this they had previously installed a new gate at entrance E (the second one up Troopers Hill Rd). This made removing the gorse easier and will also make it easier for our park keeper to access the site with tools in the future. This work was completed on Sat 26th & 27th March. You can read more about the reasons for managing the gorse on our Forum here
  
 
  
 
  
 Improving Access – Troopers Hill Field - Complete
Part of the Field becomes very muddy in the autumn and winter and this forms a barrier to access to the
nature reserve. Work has been done as part of the project to improve this.
During week commencing 20th February, matting was installed at the entrances to stop these becoming muddy in winter, the design is such that grass will grow through. During the same week, land-drains were installed to deal with the muddy area near the slide. This work was carried out by Classic Landscapes Ltd as part of their contract for work to the steps on the Hill.
  
Improving Access – New Interpretation Board
A new interpretation board will be introduced at the Summerhill Terrace entrance to the Field with a map showing the
new waymarked routes in the woodland and how the Field links to the Hill and the Woods.
We are pleased to be working with Clare Challice of dandi creative design to design this board. Clare designed the existing interpretation board on top of the Hill and also our leaflets. The board will be installed in August after the waymarking has been completed.
We are hoping that the first draft of the design will be available in time for our May meeting where we will asking for input from those at the meeting. A further draft will then be shown at the Music on the Hill event in June. You can see the draft of the text for the sign here. The number of words is similar to those on the board on top of the Hill.
Improving Access – Road Crossings - Complete
To highlight where people can cross safely and to make the crossing points easier to use we have installed drop
kerbs to the pavements on Troopers Hill Rd opposite the entrance near the lower chimney and also the entrance at Greendown. This work was carried out on 7th & 8th Feburary 2012.
  
‘Troopers Community Spaces Celebration’
To celebrate the completion of the project we will be holding an event on Saturday 20th October from 2.00 - 4.00pm. It will be a walking storytelling event plus an amazing range of crafts to do in two new gazebos funded by the grant. More details will be on our Events Page once they are finalised.
We have purchased the two new gazebos that the grant is paying for so that we got them before any price increases. One of these gazebos had its first outing at the Good Friday service and both were used at the workshop for the waymarking trail (see above).
|
