Twenty five years of conserving nature at Greenham Common

Way back in 1997, the former RAF Greenham Common (yes, it was an RAF base despite being famous for the American cruise missiles stationed here) closed down and the land was acquired by West Berkshire Council.

The Council employed a project manager to oversee the transition back to civilian use, and two Countryside Rangers to begin managing the site for conservation and public access.

One of the Rangers' duties was to produce an occasional newsletter, Common Issues, which was put through the letterboxes of all the nearby houses to keep people informed about the progress of the project. But it was a part of the job they didn't really enjoy - anyone who has tried to, will know how difficult it can be to constantly find new things to write about.

Then someone had a brilliant idea: they could fill a third of a page with an appeal for local people to get involved as conservation volunteers!

With an initial meeting at the Traveller's Friend (sadly, now closed down), the Greenham and Crookham Conservation Volunteers was started.

Our first practical task was (surprise!) scrub bashing on 21 December 1997. That means we have recently passed our 25th anniversary.

Man holding a cake — Greenham and Crookham Conservation Volunteers Chairman John Parker with their 25th anniversary cake. Photo by Derek Cutt

In that 25 years we have done just over 270 task days, even allowing for some shut-downs during the Covid pandemic.

One member remains from that very first task, but we also have several who have been coming for over 20 years.

For the first few years, our work had to be limited to areas of the common which were outside the base perimeter fence.

Inside it, the Council's civil engineering contractor Raymond Brown Ltd. were removing the roads, runways, underground fuel tanks, buildings, electrical installations and so on. Some of these installations were considered hazardous to the public, so the fence stayed up until 2000.

Machine recycling concrete used in an old runway — Concrete crushing plant recycling the airbase runway at Greenham Common. Photo by Raymond Brown Ltd

The biggest part of our work, outside the bird nesting season, has always been scrub bashing, in an attempt to prevent the open common reverting to secondary woodland.

West Berkshire Council provided brushcutter and chainsaw training. But we are also very grateful to the Greenham Common Trust, AWE and other donors for funding some of that training and some of our tools (for example, we upgraded from council-provided bowsaws to our own (much better!) Silky Fox pruning saws many years ago).

A blacksmith-made volcano kettle was a big feature of our early years, until eventually it started to make the boiling water taste metallic and disgusting. Despite attempts to sort it out, it is now retired.

Donor funding also largely pays for the hosting of our website, which we started in 2005 mainly as a way of recruiting new volunteers.

We had done a joint scrub bash with the Basingstoke conservation volunteers, who told us their own site was their best source of new people. We have also done joint tasks with other groups including the Air Cadets, Scouts, and Rotary Club as well as other local conservation groups.

Nightjar on the ground — Volunteers help to make sure there's habitat for ground nesting birds like nightjar, which come to the common to breed. Photo David Tipling/2020Vision

It's always rewarding working with these groups and being able to tell them a bit about the commons, as well as hosting them for fun day out doing practical work.

The Scouts, in particular, really boost the numbers: our record turnout so far is 32 people, for a scrub bash with them. And in December 2022 we set another record, for the volunteer who had come the longest distance. It was previously Hong Kong (a school friend of a regular volunteer) but is now New Zealand (son of another regular). That record won't be beaten any time soon!

Another "institutional" source of volunteers over the years has been the Duke of Edinburgh's Award Scheme. We've had quite a few DoE candidates join us for a year or so.

But better still, some of their parents have kept coming even after the young people have earned their award and moved on to other things to do with their Sundays.

The big change of recent years was when, in January 2014, BBOWT took a 50 year lease on ten of West Berkshire Council's countryside sites, and their management.

So the GGCV became a BBOWT volunteer group. But, perhaps, a BBOWT group with a difference, because it's a fair bet that we are the only one which is mentioned in an Act of Parliament.

The Greenham and Crookham Commons Act 2002 names us as one of the bodies which appoint members of the Greenham and Crookham Commons Commission. To fulfil that duty, and to give the Commission confidence that our Commissioner has been appointed by due process, we have an AGM with formal elections.

So we have a Chairman, a Secretary and a Treasurer, as well as our appointed member of the Commission. It's not what most conservation volunteers sign up for, but it's got to be done.

People standing around a barbecue in the rain — Some of the Greenham and Crookham Conservation Volunteers at a barbecue during their 25th anniversary task. Photo by Pam Pickett.

It absolutely poured with rain for most of the day of our 25th anniversary event, which was clearing Italian alder on the Sunday before Christmas. But we still built our traditional wooden barbecue over the bonfire, as we do every December.

Amazingly, the food did cook, and the continuous basting with rainwater kept it moist and delicious. BBOWT very kindly presented us with a celebration anniversary cake!

But my personal highlight of the day was actually something that didn't happen. In a marked improvement over the previous December, this time I didn't knock the pan of frying onions into the ashes.

Derek Cutt, BBOWT and Greenham and Crookham Conservation Volunteers

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