Wednesday 19 October 2016

Our final speaker of the year is giving a talk on Butterflies of Staffordshire. 
This is on October 27 th at 7.30 at Etching hill Church Hall. This should be particularly interesting as it is discussing local species of butterflies. Please come along and bring your friends. There is no charge for our meeting and refreshments are provided.


Don't forget to vote for us in Tesco Rugeley between 31 st October and 13 th November each time you buy a 5p bag.

Sunday 16 October 2016


Please vote for us in Tescos Rugeley between October 31st and November 13th. This is
an opportunity to obtain much needed funds to make a lasting difference to the hill.
Tesco has teamed up with Groundwork on its Bags of Help initiative in hundreds of regions across England and Wales. The scheme will see three community groups and projects in each of these regions awarded grants of £12,000, £10,000 and £8,000 – all raised from the 5p bag charge.
Bags of Help offers community groups and projects in each of Tesco’s 416 regions across the UK a share of revenue generated from the 5p charge levied on single-use carrier bags. The public will now vote in store from 31st October to 13 th November on who should receive the £12,000, £10,000 and £8,000 awards. In total, there is over £12.5 million up for grabs across the UK.
See the following site for more information:  Bags of Help website www.tesco.com/bagsofhelp 

The Friends of Etching Hill was formed five years ago after a community litter pick.
Having tidied the area, helped with the maintenance of the hill and had speakers on environmental issues the group now plans to work with the Trustees of the hill in restoring the views by thinning and managing the trees and enabling the return of greater biodiversity on the hill.
This has been a longstanding request from local residents and members of the group, but there has previously been a lack of funding. Tescos Bags of Help scheme offers groups money to manage areas and will provide our opportunity to enable the work to take place. The Friends of Etchinghill  have been selected to participate in this scheme and they will be working closely with the Trustees who have overall responsibility for the management of the hill and also with their advisors such as ecologists. 
Every time you buy a plastic bag in the Rugeley store during the voting period you will be offered a token to put in a box in their  store. You can use this to vote for the Friends of Etching Hill Openview project. The more tokens we have, the more money we will be allocated for this much needed restoration work. With your help we may be able to increase the biodiversity on the hill and restore the spectacular views that have historically been visible from the mount. To see our progress  follow us on Facebook and see our website and blog

The hill 1974 and today