11 Jun 2025
Over the past few months, volunteer members of community group The Friends of Jersey Lane (FoJL) have – in common with the lane’s flora and fauna – been busying themselves with a steady growth in activity.
In liaison with Herts county council’s Countryside Management Service and highways department, FoJL continues to seek ways to maintain and improve the lane between Marshalswick and Sandridge for both users and wildlife.
There has been notable success in planting and maintaining three lengths of new hedgerow, tidying up sections of the lane where needed and formulating a ‘Jersey Lane Code’ aimed at enabling co-operation for the mutual benefit of all its users and local residents.
The Code has now been published on the organisation’s website at www.friendsofjerseylane.org.uk.
FoJL, which is wholly reliant on grant funding to carry out its work, has recently benefitted from the purchase of a heavy-duty brushcutter, courtesy of a Sandridge Parish Council grant. This means that it is now able to supplement HCC’s twice-yearly cutting back of vegetation, keeping brambles, for example, in check.
Always on the lookout for additional funding sources, FoJL is now signed up to SADC’s Community Lottery, which assists local good causes, with 50p from the sale of each £1 ticket in the name of FoJL goes into its funds.
Further details regarding the purchase of Lottery tickets will be published on the FoJL website in due course.
Ideas for the use of future funding include the installation of fire-resistant, recycled plastic benches and additional hedgelaying.
Keen to work in co-operation with other community organisations, FoJL has drawn up proposals to enlist the help of a local Scout group and is in the process of discussing with them a number of possible projects.
Recent activities have also included a litter pick carried out by a pleasing number of willing volunteers and wildflower seeding at suitable locations to encourage butterflies. As the latter has proved only partially successful, further sowings are planned for the autumn.
FoJL members also had the pleasure of going on a very informative tree walk in the lane, led by tree warden, Kate Bretherton.
A walking ‘meeting’ also took place involving FoJL committee representatives, and HCC land management and footpaths officers. During the walk they discussed the pros and cons of cutting back the growth of ivy which, although beneficial for biodiversity, can exercise a destructive effect upon dead and diseased trees.
They considered, and subsequently arranged for, the provision of a quantity of mulch for spreading around areas of hedge and tree-planting in order to conserve moisture, as well as the making of ‘eco-piles’ formed by cutting up into smaller pieces of previously trimmed tree branches and hedge growth.
There was also some discussion around the problems caused by the dumping of unsightly green waste on the margins of the lane.
Accordingly, FoJL will soon be carrying out a leaflet drop to inform residents living adjacent to the lane that unwanted vegetation has been removed and requesting that householders dispose of their garden waste in the proper manner.
FoJL is always delighted to welcome new members willing to participate in its activities and further information can be found on the ‘Volunteers Page’ section of the website. Anyone with queries, comments or suggestions can contact FoJL via friendsofjerseylane@gmail.com
If you would like to support the work of FoJL through the purchase of SADC lottery tickets, go to:
https://www.stalbansdistrictlottery.co.uk/support/friends-of-jersey-lane
