Welcome to 2017

We are busy putting together a new programme of events for everyone for 2017 and so far we have a couple of dates for your diaries.

March 4 th we have a litterpick starting at 11.00 at Etchinghill Church Hall. Everyone is welcome and we provide all the equipment and refreshments.

March 23 rd  we have a speaker on dragonflies. This starts at 7.30 pm at Etchinghill Church Hall. Everyone is welcome. There is no charge and refreshments will be served.

We are still waiting for the Tescos Bags of Help money to be sent so that we can start on the project to restore the views and manage the trees.

It is going to be a busy year and we look forward to being part of activities that we share as a group of friends looking after the Hill. There is a fantastic community spirit that brings us all together. We always welcome new people joining us for our events - so just come along!

Dear Friends of Etching Hill,

We are pleased to announce that we have been successful in obtaining a sum of £8,000 from the Tescos bags of help scheme for the project to open up the views on the hill towards Trent Valley and Derbyshire. 

We will be working closely with the Trustees and ecological advisors in managing the trees and restoring heathland habitat over the next 12 months. This follows requests made by members and residents over the past few years. 

We will be removing a number of trees (mainly, but not exclusively self seeded ones) in order to achieve this, however for those who love trees there will still be plenty left.! This will make the remaining trees more manageable. 

When the project is completed we will have a celebration party for everyone.
We have an exciting year ahead and we look forward to your continued support.

Due to project planning work there may be some delays in getting the programme for the year published as we will need to liaise with contractors and ensure litter picks do not clash with other work - but we will be in touch as soon as we can put out dates. We will have a range of speakers for the year ahead too.

In the meantime we would like to thank all our supporters and wish you all a very Happy Christmas and New Year.
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Our final speaker of the year is giving a talk on Butterflies of Staffordshire. 
This is on October 27 th at 7.30 at Etching hill Church Hall. This should be particularly interesting as it is discussing local species of butterflies. Please come along and bring your friends. There is no charge for our meeting and refreshments are provided.


Don't forget to vote for us in Tesco Rugeley between 31 st October and 13 th November each time you buy a 5p bag.

Please vote for us in Tescos Rugeley between October 31st and November 13th. This is

an opportunity to obtain much needed funds to make a lasting difference to the hill.

Tesco has teamed up with Groundwork on its Bags of Help initiative in hundreds of regions across England and Wales. The scheme will see three community groups and projects in each of these regions awarded grants of £12,000, £10,000 and £8,000 – all raised from the 5p bag charge.

Bags of Help offers community groups and projects in each of Tesco’s 416 regions across the UK a share of revenue generated from the 5p charge levied on single-use carrier bags. The public will now vote in store from 31st October to 13 th November on who should receive the £12,000, £10,000 and £8,000 awards. In total, there is over £12.5 million up for grabs across the UK.

See the following site for more information:  Bags of Help website www.tesco.com/bagsofhelp 

The Friends of Etching Hill was formed five years ago after a community litter pick.

Having tidied the area, helped with the maintenance of the hill and had speakers on environmental issues the group now plans to work with the Trustees of the hill in restoring the views by thinning and managing the trees and enabling the return of greater biodiversity on the hill.

This has been a longstanding request from local residents and members of the group, but there has previously been a lack of funding. Tescos Bags of Help scheme offers groups money to manage areas and will provide our opportunity to enable the work to take place. The Friends of Etchinghill  have been selected to participate in this scheme and they will be working closely with the Trustees who have overall responsibility for the management of the hill and also with their advisors such as ecologists. 

Every time you buy a plastic bag in the Rugeley store during the voting period you will be offered a token to put in a box in their  store. You can use this to vote for the Friends of Etching Hill Openview project. The more tokens we have, the more money we will be allocated for this much needed restoration work. With your help we may be able to increase the biodiversity on the hill and restore the spectacular views that have historically been visible from the mount. To see our progress  follow us on Facebook and see our website and blog

The hill 1974 and today

Revised voting dates for our Tesco project

Don't rush off to vote for our project just yet- we have had an email from Tescos this week saying they have altered the voting dates.

The new dates to vote for the Friends of Etching Hill Openview project are:

October 31st to November 13 th

Great news everyone. Our Tesco bid has been successful! 

 This means that every time you buy a plastic bag in Tescos 

between 26th September 2016 - 9th October 2016 

you will be able to ask for a token which you can put into the box to vote for our project. At the end of the period of voting the group with the greatest number of tokens gets the largest sum of money. We are guaranteed a sum of money but with the your votes we can increase this.

Look for the Friends of Etching Hill project title "Openview" as we will be working with the Trustees to open up the views from the hill, manage the trees and encourage greater biodiversity. This is an opportunity to make a significant difference to the hill.

We need your votes for the Friends of Etching Hill Openview project 

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Votes mean money! This is our one big chance to make the changes you have been asking for! 

Don't forget we have a quiz night on September 29th 7.30 pm at Etchinghill Church Hall. You are guaranteed to get some of the answers as there is something for everyone. Come alone and make some new friends or come with a team. We look forward to seeing you. £1 per person to enter all proceeds will go to the church on this occasion as they have supported our group.

September update of events to look forward to

If the weather is kind to us we will have our autumnal litter pick and path clearance on

Saturday 10 th September. Meet at Etching Hill Church Hall at 11.00 as usual. There will be refreshments provided as well as all equipment.

Don't forget the quiz night on September 29 th  at 7.30 at Etching Hill Church Hall. We ran this event last year and had a lot of fun. We raised money for the church as they have supported our group. Come along and join in - everyone is welcome. There will be lots of fun questions so you don't have to be a regular quiz goer to enjoy this evening! Come with a team of four or come alone and make some new friends as you join a team. At only £1 per person - which includes refreshments this is a great night out.

We look forward to seeing you.

We are still awaiting news on our the bid that we put in to Tescos bags of help scheme. Fingers crossed as the money will make a big difference to the work that we can do on the hill. We will let you know when we hear the outcome of this.