Meet the conservation group – the New Friends of Scrase Valley Orchard

Throughout the Low Weald and Downs, woodlands, green spaces, and nature reserves are taken care of by dedicated volunteer groups. One of the most recent conservation groups to be formed is looking after a community orchard on the outskirts of Scrase Valley Nature Reserve in Haywards Heath. The Chair of the New Friends of Scrase Valley Orchard, Sylvia Harris, tells us more:

We set up New Friends of Scrase Valley Orchard about a year ago, so we’re a very new group. The orchard is on the edge of Scrase Valley Nature Reserve and since we’ve begun volunteering, I’m really struck by just how many people don’t realise this community orchard is here. So many people spot us picking the apples and come up to ask if they’re allowed to take one, and we say, ‘yes of course’. We want people to know that it’s here and to share in it.

We have apple and pear trees, and there’s a solitary plum and two blackcurrant bushes.

How did the group come about?

I’m on the Haywards Heath in Bloom Committee and we had some information about Scrase Valley Orchard, and how the previous Friends group had been disbanded in 2019. I spoke with Anna from Bentswood Hub and Karen from Lost Woods, and together we planned a new group to help maintain it. And it just took off from there. We now have the local Scouts groups involved and other youth groups, as well as a team of five or six regular volunteers and casual volunteers too.

What sorts of things do you do during a typical session?

We meet at the Orchard and if the weather isn’t good enough, we hope to meet at Bentswood Hub with other related activities. The types of tasks we’ll do really varies based on the time of the year.

In the Autumn we are of course fruit picking! It was an exceptional year this year, and we’ve had 20 boxes of apples. We’ll be putting bark chippings over the orchard over the next few weeks, and then in Winter we maintain the orchard.  In January we’ll most likely be pruning back the apple trees.

In Spring to Early Summer there is maintenance and our two blackcurrant bushes to harvest, some of the volunteers made jam with them earlier this year. In the Summer there’s more tree maintenance to do, thinning and so on.

What are your future plans?

We’d like to hold picnics in the orchard in future, craft activities, apple pressing for juice and maybe to do a bit of fundraising too. But we’d like people to come regardless of whether they want to fundraise, the orchard belongs to the community.

We’d like more people to get involved and more young people with their families especially. We’ve lost our way with nature and helping at the orchard is a great way to get back to it again.

We’re also applying for grants for equipment that will help us look after the orchard long-term.

How can people get involved?

We meet on alternative months either second Thursday or second Sunday - this gives volunteers who work better options. The best way to find out when we’ll be meeting is to join our Whatsapp group, you can email us to join or find out more about us: nfosvo@gmail.com

We’ll next be meeting at the Scrase Valley Orchard, Woodvale Lane, Haywards Heath RH16 - on Thursday 13 November, 11am – 1pm.  Everyone is welcome. Some people who work from home even join us in their lunchbreaks!

‍