Meetings and Work Parties – Clee View Bridleways Group

Meeting Minutes – 23rd July 2025

Present:

John (Chairman), Chris, Jo, Sally, Paula, Pete, Louise, Clare, Ted, Gill, Becky, Matilda, Alison.

Report on recent work:

Keepers Cottage (R) – Clearance work with mower (thanks Ted and John)

Winderdyne (A) – Clearance work with mower (thanks Ted and John)

Hill Houses to the Firs (M) – 2hrs clearance work (thanks Ewald)

Mower serviced (no cost, many thanks to Arthur)

Review:

Keepers Cottage (R) – Overhanging branch near brook crossing by broken gate. Passable with care. Will need chainsaw. ACTION: Clare will ask Olwen/James if they could look at this as it is easier to get to from them

Winderdyne (A) – Low branch Hinton end. Needs chain saw. ACTION: Ted and John will look at this.

Cleeton Court to High Lane (N) – Very overgrown. Penny did some clearance work earlier in year but probably needs more work. Also concern over slippy surface on bridge. ACTION: Sal, Paula to walk route and report back on work needed.

Cleeton Gate – Broken gate post by cattle grid. Council job.

Whithies Bank to Crammer Gutter (F) – Fallen log on ground and hole (bottom end of route). Awkward gate tied with string. Possible work party.

Detton – Prescott (C) – Could do with some clearance at Prescott end but not a priority. Detton end is good, has been cleared by hedge cutter.

Catherton Common (K) – Crossing at 3 springs can be difficult in winter. Need to look at this to see how it could be improved.

Catherton Common back of The Mounts (J) – Needs some tree branches and gorse cutting back. Also tree on route 3 Springs to The Dingle. ACTION: Chris to look at this.

Neen Savage to Cleobury (S) – This has been cleared by farmer and is much better to use.

Factory Lane (D) – Is good to use but need to take care with the river crossing and Donkey in field by narrow path.

Council Byways Support – We have heard nothing since last Autumn when we were told there were major changes and they would let us know. We did get our annual grant (£150). ACTION: Chris to phone Council Byways and let them know there are issues in our area that need work and we will get back to them after our next meeting.

BHS Funding

ACTION: Alison to check if there is any funding still available for bridleways via her contact with Worcester Bridleways Group.

Tol Routes near Detton – Working well and hope it will be available again next year. Anyone interested can contact Clare for more info.

Bank Account – Clare and Chris have been working to open a free account with Nat West (Lloyds are now charging £4.25/mth). This is proving very time consuming but hopefully we will be able to close our Lloyds account and move the money (approx. £1000) soon. Thanks to Clare for sorting this.

Next Meeting

We will arrange a meeting later in summer to arrange work parties etc. (will hopefully have feedback from council on what they can do)

Important – Venue Change – Meeting Wed 23rd July, 7:30pm

The meeting will now be held at Clare Ratcliff’s house, Shunesley Farm, DY14 8LN

Meeting Wednesday 23rd July – Location

The meeting of the Clee View Bridleways group will be held at The Rabbit House, Hill Houses, DY14 0JB starting at 7:30pm. All welcome. Thank you Debbie and Colin for hosting.

Please let me know if you are able to attend and email me if you need directions.

Thanks

Chris

Meeting Wed 23rd July 2025

Meeting on Wednesday 23rd July evening. Hopefully this is suitable. If you cannot make it then please email me if there are any issues/routes that you think we need to be looking at.

Location and time to be confirmed.

Sorry about the problems trying to sort out a date.

Meeting – Will try to arrange later in July

Looks like quite a few people cannot make the suggested dates so we will hold off for the time being and try to arrange something for later in July.

New dates for meeting

Proposed dates for our meeting are Wed 25th, Thur 26th June, Tue 1st, Wed 2nd July. (July 1st seems most suitable at moment)

Please let me know ASAP if you have any preferences.

PS: Note for your diary, we are opening our garden for the NGS on Sunday 6th July if you can come along and support this wonderful charity. https://findagarden.ngs.org.uk/garden/35862/upper-marshes

Many thanks

Chris

Meeting 24th June to be re-arranged

Sorry, but we need to change the date for the meeting planned for 24th. Will let you know new date soon.

Meeting 24th June 2025

We will have a meeting to discuss plans etc. on Tuesday 24th June at The Rabbit House, Hill Houses starting at 7:30pm.

Please contact me to let me know if you are able to attend and I can give you directions.

Thanks, Chris

Meeting?

We would like to have a meeting before the summer holiday season to discuss plans etc. We can also discuss having a meal/get together as we did not do anything after Christmas.

How about either a Tuesday or Thursday evening in the next few weeks?

Please let me know if you have any preference for day or date and also if you would be happy to host the meeting.

Thanks

Chris

Update and Work Parties

Many thanks to John and Ted who have cleared Route A (Hinton- Winterdyne) with the mower and this is now much easier to use. It does now need a work party to cut back the overhanging branches.

Chris has cleared some of the overhanging branches on Route F.

We are still waiting for the council to come back to us regarding a number of issues we have raised with them. We will keep chasing them.

We will arrange work parties in the next couple of weeks to clear the overhanging branches on Route A (Hinton – Winterdyne) and also to clear brambles and overhanging branches on Route M (Walters Lane – Hill Houses). Routes J and K (Back of the Mounts and across the common) would also benefit from some clearance work.

Please let John or Chris know if you do any bridleway clearance work as we can book the hours to show the council the work we are doing on their behalf!