Thursday, 30th May 2024: our Annual General Meeting

This evening we held our Annual General meeting, attended by seven members of our committee and one Friend, with apologies from two members of our committee who were away, and two Friends.

1. The minutes of last year’s Annual General Meeting were approved.
   
2. The Chair gave a report of the past year’s activities and thanked the committee and all volunteers for the work done. His report can be read below.
   
3. The Treasurer presented the Income and Expenditure account for the year. The funds held on 31st March 2024 were £88.82. Since then a grant of £159.96 from Alwoodley 2030 has been received giving a current balance of £248.78.
   
   Thanks were given to Rob Hall for auditing the accounts.
   
4. Rob Hall was re-elected as auditor for the forthcoming year.
   
5. All the existing members of the committee chose to remain in office. Roger Gilbert was elected Chair; Judith White was re-elected Treasurer; Sue Chambers was elected as minute secretary.
   
6. All present unanimously gave a vote of thanks to David Preston for all the work he has done in Adel Woods and with Friends of Adel Woods in the last year.
   
7. The Chair proposed votes of thanks to Judith White and Stephanie Clarke, who will shortly be leaving Alwoodley, for all the work they have done as Treasurer and Secretary respectively, and as committee members and members of Friends of Adel Woods over the last fifteen years. This was unanimously approved.

The Chair’s Report

We are just about to complete our fifteenth year of FOAW and in the last year we have had a successful year with many work parties and educational walks and talks.

Work Parties

Starting with work parties, we have had 18 work days comprising:

• 13 mornings of litterpicking
• 7 mornings working on Adel Moor – removing bracken, brambles and saplings.  Three of these took place on a Wednesday.
• 1 morning on Adel Pond and ditches with David Preston
• 2 mornings on Adel Bog, one with David Preston and one with David and Heather Wagstaffe
• 5 mornings of path clearing – including repairing the Stairfoot Lane steps
• 1 morning clearing scrub and bracken from around the Buck Stone
• 2 days of nest box cleaning and surveying with Steve Joul
• 1 morning of mowing the cricket meadow and learning to scythe with Leeds City Council ranger, Rachel Todnor.

The astute among you will have noted that the list totals thirty two activities, not eighteen. This is because on many of our work parties we do both litter picking and some other activity – such as path clearing or working on Adel Moor.

Joint Events with Alwoodley 2030

In addition, Friends of Adel Woods supported two events organised by Alwoodley 2030: in August 2023, clearing scrub from around the young fruit trees planted in the former rugby practice field; and in January this year, pruning and clearing scrub from around a mature apple tree in Copper’s Field behind the Buckstones.

Educational Events

We had four educational events in the year May 2023 to April 2024.

• In June last year, we took the opportunity of a band concert on Alwoodley Village Green to have a stall to promote awareness of our work.  Thank you to Judith, Stephanie and Tamsin for helping with that – and to Daddy Kool the ice cream man who helped us to put up the gazebo in a strong wind.
  
• On the 1st September, Leeds City Council ranger, David Preston, led a very successful bat walk.
  
• On the 8th October our committee member and local naturalist, Steve Joul, led an equally successful fungal foray.
  
• And on the 5th May Steve led our annual birdsong walk when we saw or heard twenty five species of birds including a willow warbler.
  

We are grateful to David and Steve for leading these walks. I know from the messages I receive after these events that people really enjoy them.

Grants

We received two grants this year:

• In August, Alwoodley Parish Council gave us a grant to enable us to purchase a tree popper, a fantastic tool for removing saplings from Adel Moor and Adel Bog.
  
• In March this year, Alwoodley 203 gave us a grant to purchase four top of the range nest boxes.

We are very grateful to the Parish Council and Alwoodley 2030 for their generosity.

And Finally…

Thanks are due to our committee and volunteers for all the work that they have done over the last year. We are looking forward to another year of fun, laughter and friendship.

And thank you again to David Preston and Steve Joul for leading events over the last year, and to Leeds City Council Ranger, Rachel Todner, who mowed the cricket meadow and taught us to how to use a scythe.

About Friends of Adel Woods

Friends of Adel Woods were formed in 2009 to help maintain Adel Woods and encourage people to enjoy them. We meet one morning a month to carry out various jobs or ”work parties”, and we also put on educational events.  We are a very friendly group and welcome new members who want to help preserve our special woods, enjoy fresh air and exercise in the woods and make new friends. If you would like to take part in our activities, just come along to one of our work parties or get in touch by leaving a comment on this website.