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Thanks to your support, Lukeswood community wildspace is ours to enjoy now and for generations to come!
In 2009 our Lukeswood project was one of the winners of the People's Millions competition. This enabled us to fulfil a long-cherished ambition to own our own community woodland. The grant helped us to buy a 4-acre site within the village, which we are developing as a community wildspace. Lukeswood is easily accessible, within walking distance for most villagers. Our aims are:
To improve existing habitats and create new ones, with the aim of establishing a mosaic of different habitats - woodland, open grassy rides, hedgerows, pond, wildflower area.
- Working from a baseline wildlife survey, to monitor changes at Lukeswood and build up a detailed picture of our local patch, so that we can see how our actions are benefiting wildlife.
- To work closely with children and young people, so that they experience the wonderful nature on their doorstep and learn how to interact with it positively.
- To engage the whole community, all sectors, ages and abilities, in our project, to encourage everyone to do their bit for caring for the Suffolk countryside.
- To bring people together, to learn new skills, develop the confidence to pass on skills to others, and foster pride in our local area.
- To celebrate our local distinctiveness - what makes Lukeswood special - to help create the heritage of the future.
We aim to recognise the importance of all wildlife, even relatively common species; bug hunts and ladybird surveys with schoolchildren help lead to a deeper understanding of ecosystems and how we all depend on them. At the same time we try to raise awareness of the rarest habitats and species and how we can protect them. We recently made some important discoveries about the black poplars at Lukeswood which led to a separate project, celebrating these magnificent trees and ensuring that they will continue to be a landmark at Lukeswood into the future.
Tree planting began in 2010. Early in 2011, with the help of children from Elmswell Primary School, we planted the 1683rd tree - fulfilling our pledge to plant one tree for every house in the village. Over the years we plan to plant many more!
We named our wildspace after the Reverend Luke, Rector of Elmswell in the 1860s - a Victorian whizzkid who introduced many changes, including building the village school. We like to think that, were he still here today, he would approve of our plans and would enjoy seeing this new addition to the village develop in the 21st century!