Monthly Archives: August 2023

Work parties from September

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In order to assist members with planning ahead and hopefully to come along to some of our monthly work parties, we have returned to the previous system of holding them on the same day each month.

From September, they will normally be held on the first Thursday of the month at 10am (and most of them only last for around an hour or so). The first one therefore will be on 7 Sept, meeting at the Community Orchard on Glebelands Recreation ground off Rife Way, and the task here will be to rake off the grass and vegetation around the fruit trees which should have been cut by Arun DC. If any of the apples there are ripe, some of these can be picked as well as a reward for turning up. If you’re able to help for an hour, it would be good to see you and please bring a grass rake or similar if you have one, and wear suitable clothing/ footwear for the job in hand.

As always with any of our outside events, if there is any doubt about the weather conditions on the day, please check our website

Looking ahead, the work parties will move around the various locations across the village that we look after, and the exact location and task will be publicised in advance each month. We’re also looking at individual members possibly take a particular interest in one of our locations and developing a simple plan of what needs doing and when, but more of that to follow later. We’re also grateful to new committee member Pete Coe who is coordinating the work parties alongside me.

David Bettiss – Chairman

Ferring History Group and Ferring Conservation Group – (A Joint Project to clear and make safe the Pill Box on Patterson’s Walk)

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As one of the few remaining Pill Box beach defences along the West Sussex coastline, this strategic structure was erected by the Royal Engineers in 1941 as part of the beach defences known as the coastal crust. Ferring lies in the middle of the West Sussex section of the German invasion plans, code named Operation Sea Lion.

It was felt by both Groups that it would be worthwhile to dry out and make the Pill Box safe inside as it would be of interest to residents and to local school children, especially year six pupils as WW2 is taught as part of the National Curriculum.

The steel entrance door had to be opened and a new lock fitted before the nine inches of water that covered the floor could be removed. As the water could not be pumped out it was tested to ascertain its source and it proved that this was rain water, and had not been flooded by seawater during high tides.

With guidance from Ferring Conservation Group committee member Pete Coe, himself a former officer of the Royal Engineers, a line of volunteers each with a bucket met on Patterson’s Walk on the morning of Friday 28th July. Under Pete Coe’s direction a human chain was formed between the Pill Box along the beach towards the sea and the muddy water was removed and bucketful after bucketful was passed along the line and dispersed along the beach.  Grateful thanks go to West Worthing MP Sir Peter Bottomley and Arun district councillors Mark Turner and Lesley-Anne Lloyd together with the many other volunteers, including one of the youngest members of Ferring Conservation Group, 11 year old Eoin Kearns, whose strength and enthusiasm matched that of any of the adults present.

Once the roof had been properly sealed the next stage of the project was to open up the bricked-up embrasures where the guns were mounted and install either vandal-proof glass or Perspex. This will enable visitors to appreciate the view the soldiers had from inside the Pill Box.

As well as leading the practical work Pete Coe will continue with further research with assistance from Martin Mace the author of Frontline Sussex: Defence Lines of West Sussex 1939-1945 who was also one of the volunteers helping with the practical work on the 28th July.

 

 

The Changing Chalk Partnership – Part 2 (History and Heritage in the South Downs)

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Gary Webster, a Heritage Officer with the National Trust, on his second visit to the Group delivered part 2 of The Changing Chalk Partnership. This time around Gary focused on the human history and archaeology of the downland of East Sussex. He recalled the geology of the Downs, the remnants of the huge chalk dome that covered most of south-east England, and the flints found  in the chalk that served as tools for the Neolithic settlers over 5,000 years ago, enabling them to clear the forests and begin some sort of agriculture. Their ‘causeway enclosures’ are still visible in aerial photographs. The Bronze Age farmers who followed them buried their leaders in great hillocks of soil and chalk, the ‘barrows’ that are to be seen all over the East Sussex Downs.

Gary went on to show the hill forts of the Iron Age, the Roman camps and villas and the early Norman castles, and running quickly thorough the Saxon settlements, the agricultural revolution of the 18th century and the military occupations in both world wars. All these had let their imprint on the landscape. He was leading a project in East Sussex to locate, map, identify, monitor and protect these ancient monuments, using volunteers. This was giving a great deal of enjoyment to the volunteers and making an important contribution to conservation.

Pete Coe gave an update on the work to conserve Ferring’s WW2 Pill Box on the seafront – earlier in the day Ferring’s own ‘Monument Monitors’ formed a human chain along the beach from the Pill Box towards the sea and the volunteers managed to remove 800 litres of rainwater from the floor of this important structure, to enable further work to be done.

Graham Tuppen gave his regular report on local wildlife, highlighting the 19 species of butterflies identified by Ferring Group members on Cissbury Ring for the Big Butterfly Count. Graham also reported on a colony of wall lizards sighted at West Worthing station.

Ed Miller gave the planning report – the Goring Gap now safe from the developers and some good decisions by Arun District Council and the Planning Inspectors on appeal.