The Swift - the newsletter of the South Cheshire Group

Chairman’s Letter

Dear Wildlifers,

As I write this letter at the end of November we have just begun to experience the first of the winter frosts, but as you will probably be reading this in Spring, our Winter programme will have been completed, and the Summer programme will be at hand.

The first of our Summer events has already been provisionally booked to take place on Saturday, 10th May. This is to be a day’s visit to the National Memorial Arboretum near Litchfield, starting at 9am from Nantwich and returning around 4pm. As this is likely to be a popular trip we have at this moment booked a coach with up to 53 places on it: if you have not already signed up please phone us on 01270 664691 to do so.

As Vivienne needs to shed the responsibility for organising the Summer events, Jane Knight has kindly agreed to step into this vacant office with some continuing help from Viv, and we look forward to Jane’s input in our Committee meetings in the coming months. The rest of the Summer programme will thus be arranged in due course.

Recently John and I have been asking ourselves why South Group continues to exist, bearing in mind that we have a membership numbering in the hundreds, but only ever see a maximum of 35 people at any event. The 5 or 6 Winter meetings attract an average of 25 to 30 people, and represent good value for money at £2.50 a time, with excellent speakers and excellent slide and PowerPoint shows, but the average age of those attending these meetings must be about 65 with very few people under the age of 40 showing any interest.

Similarly we can perhaps muster a dozen of the more physically active members on each of our Summer outings, and that, apart from fund-raising events, seems to be the sum total of our activities as South Group.

If any of you get involved on a more practical basis in any way we would like to hear about it, preferably by way of an article submitted to John for inclusion in the next issue of Swift. If however we receive no input into Swift we shall have to conclude that the Group exists merely for the evening entertainment of a fraction of the membership, and for outdoor activities of even fewer people, and the Newsletter will become merely a list of Summer and Winter events. The final outcome is up to YOU.

Keith Wyatt, South Group Chairman.

Editorial

By the time you have read the latest issue of Swift, you will realise that, once again, it could be renamed “the Keith and John Show”. Surely someone has seen something of interest, as far as wildlife is concerned, and has a pen and a bit of scrap paper to record it on, or perhaps a photograph of some interesting wildlife.

I would love to be shocked one morning, to find that the postman has brought me something to publish, or my trusty e-mail system has done the same.

Global Change, (I don’t like the warming word), has certainly got my calendar confused. A family of Shield Bugs only left my wildlife garden during the 3rd week in November, and the same week I had Red Admiral butterflies on my Buddleia globosa, which was still in flower.

On behalf of the Committee of the South Group, may Take this opportunity to wish all our members a very happy Christmas, and a prosperous, and wildlife laden 2008.

John M Wood

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