July has been a busy month in Ewhurst with various events taking place including the Big Day/Night Out, the Horticultural Show, and, of course, the LEAP Clear Out Day on the 6th July. Again, this was a great success with a wide variety of items, from toys/books and small pieces of furniture to gardening tools, being brought along and taken away plus the added attraction of bacon butties sold by the Youth Club in aid of the new Playground. The smart new LEAP banner was also on display and everyone, dogs and children included, seemed to be having a really good time.

This year, Lesley Wood from the Horticultural Society organised a Plant Swap, which proved so popular that we hope this might become a permanent feature of future Clear Out Days.

LEAP has recently taken on the responsibility of helping the SCC with footpath clearance and waymarking around Ewhurst. An interesting and informative training session was held in June when were each issued with a basic kit containing sufficient tools necessary to trim back a footpath (e.g., secateurs, small saw, waymarkers, etc).

The training session was followed on the following Saturday by a working party to clear vegetation and do some waymarking on Footpaths 70, 71 and 75 around Buildings Wood. This took place under the leadership of SCC Rights of Way Officer, Nicky Scott, and was great fun as well as being constructive. We avoided treading on the wild orchids which grow in the area. We expect most working parties to last a couple of hours or so and be held on Saturday mornings. We are hoping that Leadership training for volunteers wishing to take on that role will be provided soon, possibly in August. If more advanced equipment is needed for clearing an area, specialist training will be given and a Leader + First Aider would accompany any group undertaking these more arduous tasks.

Additional volunteers would be extremely welcome, so please let us know if you think you would enjoy such an activity.