Huddersfield Daily Examiner (14/Jan/2014) – Wood Trail is on Track

Wood Trail is on Track

Pupils create nature walk on old rail line

Huddersfield school pupils are helping a special community project take shape and learning about local heritage as they go. The students are working with Friends of Beaumont Park on a lottery-funded scheme to research local railway history and manage nearby woodland. The scheme received £49,900 from the Heritage Lottery Fund in 2012 and is supported by Kirklees Council, which owns the site.

It has seen youngsters from five of the area’s schools help clear the old Meltham branch railway line to create a heritage walking trail. They have also designed information boards and created wood carvings for benches near the trail’s entrance, which were put in place yesterday.

Teachers have been trained in Forest School techniques to help them use open space to encourage interactive play, health, recreation and personal development.

Everyone involved in the scheme has been learning about nature and the importance of effective woodland management. Schools taking part in the community project include Moor End Academy and South Crosland Junior School. The scheme is scheduled for completion in 2015 and will also see the creation of an attractive open space for local people to enjoy, as well as a series of nature talKs, leaflets, signposts and trail markings. Meltham branch railway line closed in 1965 and the new heritage walking trail follows its original track bed.

Peter Turner, of the Friends of Beaumont Park, said: “As well as local schools, Kirklees Council, as owners of the site, actively support the project through help from various departments.

“Volunteers for the Friends group will work with them and Environmental Alliance to create an attractive open space for all the community to use. “It is money from the Heritage Lottery Fund which has made this project possible and the Friends of Beaumont Park are extremely grateful to them”.