We are thrilled that the newly installed galvanised steel archway that has been populated with logs is now complete, pending explanatory signage. It has been incredibly well received by the community, situated at the Westway entrance to the Rowlands Dell NHS Health and Wellness Project undertaken by the Friends of Maghull & District (FOMD) in partnership with our Co-op charity partners and with permission from the NHS landowners.

Rationale.

The archway is not only a beautiful welcoming bug friendly entrance to Maghull’s biggest green transformation project but has been created to raise awareness of the profoundly misunderstood ‘Overarching’ term of Neurodiversity (e.g. ADHD, Autism ADD, dyslexia and dyscalculia, dyspraxia etc) something we also felt passionately about after the sad loss of Matthew Lock, who had been one of our friends and volunteered on many projects. The imminent signage will have a small explanation and redirect readers with a QR code to a webpage to briefly explain the conditions and signpost to contemporary online resources.

Grateful Thanks.

We are immensely grateful to everyone listed below who helped to make this stunning archway a reality:

  • FOMD volunteers for organising, preparing and installing the archway.
  • The Co-op store on Deyes Lane who partnered with FOMD over one year to support their customers with match funding of a couple of pennies in each pound of purchased goods between October 2023 and October 2024, to enable FOMD to pay for the 8×8 feet galvanised steel archway.
  • Challenge Forge for their super friendly and creatively skilful manufacturing and installation skills (pictured)
  • Saxon Tree Services for preparing the area by removing and tidying a huge amount of tenacious fence Ivy and countless time-consuming donations of small/medium diameter branches.
  • Sandra and Mike (local residents) who donated a variety of medium and small branches.
  • Alex (local resident) who provided countless small and medium logs.
  • Anonymous tree surgeons from Preston who were employed by a housing association and provided the large majority of medium logs.
  • Richards Tree Surgeons who provided some of the incredibly heavy base logs following some crucial tree surgery at Northway Primary School.
  • Frank’s friend John who kindly spent almost 3 days trimming and cutting down to size most of the logs we had collected over several months. Incongruously, he is a chiropodist who just happens to have a couple of chainsaws and an abundance of community spirit.
  • Thank you to our incredibly kind community for the positive feedback from drivers and pedestrians throughout the three-day installation whilst we almost died of exhaust fumes at the neighbouring stop start traffic lights!

Donations can be made at:

This week (6.5.25) we launched a donation appeal to raise £15,000 to create a final pathway and planting, at our beautiful green Rowlands Dell transformation project, adjacent to the Hare & Hounds pub. We have raised £300 in our first week so far.

Your kind donation will help us complete a circular path at the lower section, including steps and a stunning area of shade loving plants, that will be undertaken together with our partners The Conservation Volunteers (TCV), before the end of 2025.

Background to Rowlands Dell.

This beautiful haven for wildlife has unbelievably been treated as an open tip for decades, where every inch has revealed a variety of pollutants harmful to wildlife. In our three-stage plan, stage I has resulted in Maghull’s biggest ever 46-week cleanup in which FOMD have removed 266 bin bags of litter and 25 tons of debris. In the two months of Stage II, that was completed in November, with our NHS landowner partners (expertly installed by subcontractors – PR England Landscapers) using a health and wellness grant fund (representing Maghull’s largest green investment) have installed an amazing legacy array of hard landscaping installations to provide accessibility for the whole community (accessible path, viewing/picnic area, sunken garden, bins, 10,000 bulbs and planting at small junction points, bug and bird boxes, and a dry waterfall feature). We are now engaging in stage three to repopulate Rowlands Dell with woodland planting and need your help.

With huge thanks,

FOMD

Together Making Maghull a Better Place to Live.

 More information. www.fomd.co.uk

Contact: admin@fomd.co.uk

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