THE ISLES OF SCILLY ENVIRONMENTAL TRUST
A NATIONWIDE EFFORT
Beachwatch '97 takes place on Sunday 21st September and the Trust would
welcome help with this event. The greatest concentration will be
on Porth Hellick in order to try and clear the remaining polyester film
from the Cita. Volunteers will meet at the Trust office at 9.15am
and there will be opportunities to assist throughout the day. This
clean-up is part of a nationwide effort to improve the British coast.
Any help, even for a short time, will be very much appreciated.
ANY HELP
IS WELCOME
Up to a few years ago much of the vegetation the Trust is called upon
to manage, would have been harvested and used by the island community.
Bracken provided winter bedding for the animals, reeds were used for thatching
and gorse was collected for burning. Sadly there are very few grazing
animals still farmed on Scilly and almost as if the bracken is aware of
its advantage, it has increased at an alarming rate. We are experimenting
with several methods of control and are planning to recover much of the
open land, so that heath and native flora can regenerate.
NO USE FOR GORSE ?
Gorse forms a dense canopy of the plant which smothers all the other
vegetation, it also is a plant which can burn from green. Some of
the longest established stands of gorse present a huge fire risk.
As we cut the gorse it generates large quantities of excellent burning
wood. The wood is available free for collecting and we would welcome
people taking it off our hands. It always seems a great waste if
we end up destroying the material just because we cannot find anyone who
wants it.
Andrew Gibson
SCILLY up to date BY POST
Unfortunate News
Over 1,100 people write regularly each year to someone who, for many, has
become synonymous with thoughts of Scilly. That person is Mrs. Dorothy
Read of "Scilly up to date BY POST". Those readers who use this voluntary
service (run in aid of charity) wait eagerly for their copy of "Scilly
up to date" to arrive with the post.
 We
are sorry to report that Dorothy has been very ill in Hospital following
major surgery on 23rd August, 1997. For much of the first four weeks
she was heavily sedated and on a respirator in Intensive Care. She
is now making a slow but steady recovery and
we all wish her well.
John Read.
PS: This will almost certainly mean that those using her services will
find there is a prolonged delay before they receive their magazine.
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