THE BIGWelcome to our special anniversary issue- marking 30 years of working in theBlackwater Valley. Looking back through thearchives it quickly became apparent howmuch the landscape has changed during thattime. We hope the pictures featured give youan idea of just how much.

Today the Valley has many areas which arelush and green as a result of all the trees andshrubs planted, whilst the water quality of theriver has vastly improved benefitting all kindsof wildlife. Access to the river has opened upand numerous new recreational facilities havebeen developed.

All of this has been the result of a lot ofplanning, hard work and effort, from a greatmany people. Naturally there have beenproblems during that time, but the plussesfrom all the work more than compensates forthe disappointments.

In this issue we briefly summarisethe story of the Blackwater ValleyCountryside Partnership as well as sharingthe memories of some of the many peopleinvolved.

We hope you enjoy our brief trip downmemory lane.

Our very first newsletter, Ripple,published in 1984, was the predecessorof today's Blackwater Valley News

Blackwate_'ValleyCountryside Partnership

Blackwater Valley Countryside PartnershipAsh Lock Cottage, Government Road, Aldershot GUI I 2PS.Telephone (01252) 331353 www.blackwater-valley.org.uk

Steve Bailey has been part of the Blackwater Valley teamsince 1989.The current Manager, he offers a personal viewof the many changes in this article by Christine Reeves

Just 60 years ago much of the Blackwater Valley was still farmland. Butover the following 30 years it became increasingly used as a 'backyard'of the neighbouring towns. Sewage works, refuse tips, scrapyards,overhead and underground services marred those parts not alreadytransformed by the extensive gravel workings. In short it exhibited allthe worst characteristics of the 'urban fringe'.

Despite this dereliction the Valley still possessed areas ofconsiderable charm. It offered a number of recreational opportunitiesand was a recognisable open gap, which helped to give identity to theurban areas on either side. Recognising this, the County Councilsof Hampshire, Surrey and Berkshire joined forces with seven of thearea's District Councils, to combat the effect of years of neglect. Ajoint strategy was published in 1971 followed by a comprehensivelandscape report in 1976. As a result the Blackwater Valley Project wasestablished in 1979 with the aim of bringing as much of the Valley intorecreational use as possible.

The first ten yearsThe early years saw large-scale improvement schemes such as therestoration of mineral workings, rubbish tips and derelict land. In 1984and 1985 the Countryside Commission and the Sports Council, fundedtwo project officers to inform people of the continuing improvementsand encourage opportunities for active involvement.

From its inception, when it concentrated on a few small schemes,up to 1986 the Project developed into a co-ordinated programmespending over £100,000 a year. In its first seven years the team chalkedup an impressive list of achievements:

• 15 miles of footpath constructed;• 23,000 trees and 50,000 shrubs planted;• Over 250 acres of derelict land restored;• Seven new footbridges built across the river.

They also established a volunteer conservation group, which heldits first task in May 1984. On the recreational side their extensiveprogramme of activities ranged from guided walks, windsurfing, cyclingand canoeing to angling courses and fundays.

Visual changesIn 1989 Steve Bailey was appointed on a six-month temporarycontract. Some 20 years later Steve is still part of the team as thecurrent Manager. He is better placed than most to comment on thechanges. "The Valley was very grotty in places when I first came. One of thefirst jobs the project had undertaken was the preliminary restoration work

to the former Ash Vale Tip - now known as Hollybush Park. When I arrivedthis former landfill site had just been covered with soil so the entire area wasvery open and desolate."

Although Steve has been involved with much of the Valley'stransformation, changes are not always obvious.

"The thing about so much of what we did - and still do - is that you don'tsee change happening, even from year to year, because it all happens sogradually.You remember tree planting sessions that took place at a site manyyears ago, but it's often only when you look at old photographs that yourealise just how much the trees have grown. It then brings home the impactour work has had on the Valley."

"... we created access to the riverand people suddenly became moreaware of their surroundings."

When it was first established the Blackwater Valley Project had avery different role to the one it fulfils today, working with the PlanningDepartments of the various councils who were responsible forrestoring old landfill sites and cleaning up the area.

"When / arrived the project was still in the very early stages and becauseeverything was new there was very little actual habitat management workinvolved," recalls Steve. "The paths were new and wide and we wereplanting up the newly created sites, so there was no cutting grass andovergrown vegetation or checking trees to ensure they were safe. Our rolewas primarily to promote the newly developed sites in the Valley to get thelocal population to use them."

Range of activitiesThe team had to be very creative about how they promoted the Valleyand archived leaflets from the time illustrate the range of activities theyorganised. Steve remembers that they did a great deal of work withschools and has fond memories of the fun adventure trails they ran forschoolchildren at Rowhill. But opening up the area had the greatest impact

"Prior to our work access to the river had been mostly across fieldsthrough informal paths and routes, but as we created a new footpathnetwork we also created access to the river and people suddenly becomemore aware of their surroundings."

In 1990 a fully-fledged service was established called the BlackwaterValley Recreation and Countryside Service with a staff of four, includingSteve, who had become Countryside Manager.

Impact of the roadThe new Service now faced a big challenge, construction of theBlackwater Valley Road, the A33 I.This had a tremendous effect on the

Valley

Countryside PartnershipTelephone (01252) 331353

Valley and the nature of the team's work.The new road was to be builtin three sections to connect the A30 and M3 with the A3 I at Runfold.Work on the northern section - from the M3 Frimley interchangeto North Camp - began in March 1992. About a year before that,Hampshire County Council drew up plans to rescue threatenedwildlife. Consultants recommended capturing the small mammals,amphibians and reptiles and moving some to other parts of the Valleyand others to safe compounds.

Over the next two years hundreds of small creatures were removedto safety from the paths of construction vehicles, whilst many plantswere uprooted and re-planted elsewhere.

The road apart, the 1990s was a period of great activity. Spring 1992saw the first edition of the B/oc/cwoter Vaffey News. In June 1993 theteam moved to Ash Lock Cottage and the first Crazy Coot Challengewas held. In November 1993 the National Rivers Authority announcedthat improvements to the river's water quality was a priority. Staffcontinued working closely with local Planning Departments to ensurethe Valley remained a Strategic Gap and that the best recreational andwildlife improvements were carried out. In 1999, after ten years withthe team, Steve Bailey became Service Manager.

New millennium, new nameThe new Millennium brought changes.The Sports Council stopped

funding the sports project officer and funding in general was a problem,resulting in staff numbers decreasing.The Service underwent anothername change becoming the Blackwater Valley Countryside Partnership,reflecting its partnership working with other organisations, like theWildlife Trusts and Environment Agency, as well as its local authoritypartners.Through hard work and careful negotiation the Partnershipestablished a stable funding formula and the team numbers increasedagain as it took on site management work.

Throughout its history a visible public face has always beenimportant and this continued. In 2001 the first issue of theBlackwater Valley Path book appeared. Subsequent publicationsincluded Blackwater Valley Dragonflies (2003), Blackwater ValleyButterflies (2005) and Blackwater Valley Circular Walks (2005).Embracing new technology a new website was launched in 2002.

Over the past three decades the nature and emphasis of the workcarried out by the team has changed from getting people to use theValley to specific site management, which forms the bulk of the currentwork. Steve believes that one of the team's many successes has beento develop and work on projects that have improved the Valley's

biodiversity."Perhaps the biggest change has been

in and alongside the river. In the earlydays the river water was heavily polluted,and supported few fish, but as the teamstarted promoting the path, the riverand the new greenspaces so the publicstarted to get involved."

A volunteer group know as theWater Walkers was established, theywere asked to report any pollutionincidents or problems along the river whenever they saw them.Theraised public awareness no doubt focussed the attention of the newlyformed Environment Agency, discharge standards to the river for wastewater became tougher and pollution incidents decreased. BVCP and itspartner organisations carried out many habitat improvements along theriver, complementing the improved water quality.

"... volunteer groups will provideour legacy for the future."

"The river is much healthier now, the fish numbers have improveddramatically and a major highlight has been Otters returning to the rivercatchment after a 50 year absence."

On reflection...Despite having worked in the Valley for so many years Steve still has

some unfinished jobs."Perhaps one of my biggest disappointments is the fact we have still not

yet achieved the best route for the riverside footpath.The proposed path route passes through a number of privately owned

sites. Development proposals have been made for all these sites andlandowners have agreed to create the path as part of their planningconditions. Unfortunately the developments have not gone ahead. It's out ofour control but it's disappointing nevertheless."

The one achievement Steve is most proud of is the team's workdeveloping volunteer conservation groups in the Valley.

"As well as our own conservation group, I'm very proud that we'vemanaged to build up volunteer groups at Moor Green Lakes.Tongham Wood,Snaky Lane and the new group at Southwood Woodland. These groups willprovide our legacy for the future."

Tongham Wood past (inset)an4present

Blackwater Valley

Countryside Partnershipwww.blackwater-valley.org.uk

The Valley on My Doorstep

Wow! 30 years of the Blackwater ValleyCountryside Partnership. It doesn't seempossible. Yet the Blackwater Valley hasalways been a part of my life. Growing up inAldershot in the 1960s and 1970s I wouldoften explore the nearby countryside, walkingmy dog or just having fun with my friends.

At that time the Basingstoke Canal was dry— we were warned not to play in the dry bedas there were reputed to be lots of addersnesting there. I never found out how truethat was because my survival instinct keptme well away! Unlike the Canal, however,the Blackwater River always flowed. In factwherever we went the river always seemedto be there and it was a source of greatfascination to young boys.

But I mustn't paint too idyllic a picture. Theriver, which we've since got used to callingthe Blackwater Valley, was a no man's land ofrubbish tips and gravel pits, of breakers' yardsand brambles. It was the forgotten edge ofHampshire, Surrey and Berkshire. The placewhere all those things people don't want nearthem were put

Era of tremendous growthThis was also the era, however, of tremendoushousing growth throughout this area. Theclosest places to Greater London that could bedeveloped were places like ours - just outsidethe Green Belt People could increasingly workin London while living in the 'countryside'.

There was, and still is, a real threat thata new Blackwater Valley city could emerge,created through the gradual development ofthe countryside gaps.

Both of these factors - the dumpingground that the river valley had become,and the threat of rampant urbanisation - ledto a new way of thinking 30 years ago, andthank heavens that people had the foresightto act when they did. The concept of theBlackwater River Valley was born!

Early objectives were to ensure that everycouncil's planning strategy was coordinated sothat we were all pushing in the same directionto achieve what we see today, while on theground the creation of a path along the wholelength of the river seemed an impossibleambition. Yet over the following ten yearsboth of these objectives were substantiallyachieved under the leadership of the firstmanager of the Blackwater Valley Project-John Tickle, now head of Countryside atHampshire County Council.

Popular objectivesThe Partnership was created with everydistrict and county council contributingan agreed share of the costs. It wasn'tlong before all four town councils in theValley decided to add to this with voluntarycontributions to help the Partnership achievetheir extremely popular objectives.

Over those early years a number of formertips were gradually restored, and breakers'yards and gravel pits brought under tightercontrol. People started to enjoy the rivervalley in greater numbers, finding it changingfrom that unattractive, dirty place into atranquil countryside haven. New recreationand sporting facilities appeared and thetoughest obstacles to completing the riversidewalk sorted out one by one.

Later on, an incident wherea number of people developedrashes, after a raft race organisedby the Mr Bumbles pub in Blackwater, ledto an organised campaign to get the waterquality of the river itself sorted out. Duringdry periods the majority of the water in theriver is from the various sewage treatmentworks along the valley, carrying away ourwaste water into the Whitewater, then theLoddon and eventually the Thames.

This campaign, which was led by oursecond manager, Leigh Thornton, was verysuccessful. Many volunteers got involved asWater Walkers. Mostly they were peoplewho already regularly walked along aparticular stretch of the valley, but what theyall did was keep an eye out — for peopledumping rubbish, for major pollution incidentsand for anything else which would harmthe quality of the river. This led to somesuccessful prosecutions of serious polluters.After several years some major works werealso carried out at the Camberley SewageTreatment Works and two other siteswere closed. The result was a dramaticimprovement in water quality!

LOOKING BACK, LOOKING iHaving completed 30 years as an officer atGuildford Borough Council in a number ofdifferent posts and having spent the majorityof these years as the Council's officerrepresentative with the Blackwater Valley,I must be one of the longest continuousserving reps.

Over these years I have seen the BVCPtake ideas and proposed actions for separatepieces of land owned by different authorities,organisations and individuals and turn theminto an area that is recognised and used bythousands of people.This could, in my view, onlyhave been achieved by working in partnershipand jointly engaging an extremely dedicated

team to ensure things actually happened.The team has obviously changed over the

last 30 years but the number of managershas been relatively few and even these arestill involved with the Blackwater Valley indifferent ways. I'm sure this bears testimonyto the love of the area that these managersand their equally loyal staff clearly show inall they do. I must be careful at this point asI don't want this to start sounding like anOscar acceptance speech, but I really do feelthis to be true.

There have also been many challenges overthis period, one of the most major being theconstruction of the Blackwater Valley Road.

Telephone (01252) 331353Countryside Partnership

Special memoriesTwo particular incidents sum up this wholetransformation for me. The first was whenI suggested in the 1990s to my father, whostill lived at the family home in North Townin Aldershot, that we take the dog for awalk along the river valley. He had spentmany years avoiding the Blackwater River,remembering how awful the valley had been.He was astonished at how much things hadchanged and absolutely delighted!

The second was when we had a familyfriend from Japan staying with us Her name isAi and she was very keen to see all the sights- London,Windsor,Winchester, Stonehenge,The Cotswolds. But one morning she had acouple of hours to spare, so I suggested wego out and get some fresh air along the RiverBlackwater. She wasn't overly impressed withthis idea, but she agreed that she hadn't seenmuch of the English countryside close up, sooff we went.

We parked at Horseshoe Lake andwalked along the river path. It was a warmsummer's day and within a few minutes a pairof swans swam by. Then a gaggle of ducksappeared around the next bend, while somecormorants perched in the trees at MoorGreen Lakes. Then we were particularly luckyto see a heron in the distance, waiting tocatch a fish from the river. Ai was absolutelyenchanted! It was time to return, but she saidthat if she had another gap in her schedule

she'd like to explore the Blackwater Valleymore. It had clearly made an impression!

In recent years funding of the Partnershiphas been a constant worry. Funding pressuresfaced by our constituent councils, combined, ithas to be said, with a degree of complacencyabout the Blackwater Valley, has led to somechallenging problems, which still face us.There is a real danger that the great progressthat's been made could be lost, but there'salso a widespread appreciation of just howmuch has been achieved and a determinationto make sure that we don't only maintainthat but go on to face new challenges, suchas developing more leisure and recreationalfacilities; enabling better access to the valley,particularly for people with disabilities; fightingthe regular threats from developers, who'dbuild on every blade of grass if they could, andlooking after the path and the other facilitiesthat we now have.

Enthusiasm and dedicationWe have always been blessed with particularlyenthusiastic and dedicated staff and now isno exception. We have a great team, ledby the dynamic duo of Steve Bailey and SueDent, who are steering us through thesedifficult times brilliantly. We have also beenblessed over the years with an astonishingarmy of volunteers, who do tremendous workthroughout the valley every week of the year.Without them many of the tasks just wouldnot get done and the Valley would be muchthe poorer place for that. Another group ofvolunteers has formed the Blackwater ValleyCountryside Trust, led by Dave Pilkington,

which seeks funding to tackle a different rangeof projects that would not otherwise happen.

I know that my predecessor as chair ofthe Partnership, former County CouncillorDudley Keep, shared my enthusiasm for theBlackwater Valley. We are both very awareof how the Blackwater Valley has embeddeditself in the hearts of many over the past 30years - leading to this enormous volume ofvoluntary involvement.

The future...The future will clearly involve an increasedrole for the Valley in local lives as thepressures on the Thames Basin Heathlands,which are the habitats of three rare species ofground-nesting birds - the Dartford Warbler,the Nightjar and the Woodlark — mean thatalternative places are sought for people toenjoy the countryside and walk their dogs.The challenge will be to make sure that theBlackwater Valley can meet this need whilecontinuing to improve and provide that vitalhaven which we can all retreat to from timeto time.

The record of the past 30 years shows thatthis can be done, and that there is widespreadsupport and affection for the BlackwaterValley. We must go forward, therefore, withoptimism that what has been achieved so faris just the start. The best is yet to come!

Adrian CollettChair, Blackwater Valley Countryside

Partnership Members' Group

1 FORWARDAgain, as the Partnership was in place withsuch a knowledgeable team, I'm sure thishelped to ensure that a number of benefitsfor nature conservation and recreation wereachieved from what could have been anextremely damaging project. A number ofsites were enhanced for flora and fauna asmitigation measures, new connecting foot/cyclepaths were constructed and even an artificialbat cave built. However, one of the mostnoticeable things to show the value and statusof the Partnership was when the coot logowas placed on bridges over the new road.

Another important plus for the Valleyhas been the work by the Partnership Team

The Coot

with private landowners, especially regardingmineral extraction sites.Without the trustand rapport built up over the years the fullrange of benefits for site restoration maynot have been achieved.This partnership alsoextends to site maintenance.

There are many other important aspects Icould mention such as volunteer working andpublicity through website and other forms ofcommunication, but I have probably alreadywritten too much...

Even though a huge amount has alreadybeen achieved for the Valley, there are stillmany more worthwhile things that can bedone and challenges to overcome. As thecurrent Chair of the Officers' Group I wouldjust like to encourage all those involved withthe Partnership to think back for themselveson how valuable the BVCP has been and todo all they can to ensure it continues.

Mike BeckwithChair, Blackwater Valley Countryside

Partnership Officers' Group

Blackwater Valley

Countryside Partnershipwww.blackwater-valley.org.uk

THE RIVER BLACKWATER... naturally by design

When a section of the BlackwaterRiver through Hawley Meadow hadto be constructed to make way forthe new road everything was not assimple as it seemed.

At one time nature's design would have beenreplaced with an 'improved' straight and deepchannel, but these have proved devastating forwildlife and hopeless at preventing flooding sothat more recently river engineers have turnedback to nature for inspiration. The NationalRivers Authority (NRA) and the Science andEngineering Research Council (SERC) havejointly sponsored research by a team led byProfessor Robert Sellin, of Bristol University, tocome up with a design for the new section ofthe Blackwater River.

River flooding in Britain causes millions ofpounds worth of damage every year so thereis quite an incentive to come up with a designthat will help reduce the problem. The SERCFlood Channel Facility (FCF) at HRWallingfordLtd has formed the focus for river hydraulicsresearch in Britain since 1985 and it has nowbeen used to come up with a solution for theBlackwater.

In its natural state a river normallyconstructs for itself a channel capable ofcarrying a flood flow that reaches the top ofthe river bank about once a year.Anythingmore than this flow will result in floodingof the surrounding area.This is a naturalprocess which, while providing fertile landfor agriculture and good deposits for mineralextraction, is not compatible with the morerecent trend in the Valley for residential andcommercial development.

Where there is significant developments inthe floodplain, river engineers are required toprovide a channel that floods only once every50 years.The result is an oversized channelrequiring continuous maintenance to ensure

it remains free of silt and does the job it'sdesigned for.

To get round this problem engineers havefollowed the lead given by nature and adopteda two-stage channel design. In this case theriver is 'allowed to do its natural thing' within anarrowed and deepened floodplain.

The inner river channel probably floods onceevery six months instead of 50 years but thewater is contained within the new floodplain.The advantages are that a whole range ofenvironmental objectives can be met at thesame time, the river retains its natural shape(which is largely self-maintaining) and its valueto wildlife.The problem is that the naturaldesign is hard to recreate because of thecomplicated hydraulics involved.

This is where the Flood Channel Facilitycomes into its own.The facility is large enoughfor an undistorted model scale of one-fifthnatural size to be constructed, which is rare ina river models, and minimises the uncertaintyof scale effects.

The design criteria for the new section ofthe River Blackwater included the provisionof a good habitat for suitable plant and animalspecies (especially fish and birds) and a rivercorridor that enhances the visual environmentand is accessible for compatible leisure uses.

Wi th the model it was possible to try outthe effect of various design features on theriver flow, such as shallow depressions in theriver bed intended to provide pools for fish attimes of low flow.

The floodplain area has also been designedto provide a firm dry surface at a higher levelfor maintenance vehicles while, at the sametime, encouraging the development of marshconditions on the margin of the inner channel.

Now that the new section has beenconstructed the work is not over. For thenext four years the river will be monitoredand the results of tests will be compared withthose from the model to see how accurate thepredictions were. If the exercise is a successthe River Blackwater will be leading the way in'natural' river engineering.

This article first appeared in theScience & Engineering Council's 1994

Summer Bulletin.

From August 1991 to August 1999 I wasManager of what was then the BlackwaterValley Recreation and CountrysideManagement Service.The Service was setup to build on the work of the originalBlackwater Valley Project as a permanentbody to promote the Valley and continuea programme of enhancements, events andopportunities.

I came to the Valley from working in KingsCross for London Wildlife Trust, so the bigopen spaces were really exciting! I recall atinterview being taken up to Moor GreenLakes (which was still being worked) andthinking wow!

The Team at the time consisted of myself,dry witted Yorkshireman Alan Williams(Sports and Recreation Manager), passionateand dedicated Tim Morton (PromotionsManager), super efficient Jackie Steele(Information), massively enthusiastic SueTullett (Ranger) and the one and only SteveBailey as Countryside Manager.

We were based in a Portakabin withinRushmoor's Council Depot on what is nowSycamore Park, A salubrious setting to saythe least, where windsurfer and bat boxrubbed shoulders with bin lorry and gritter.

PlanningA lot of the work was around planning andforward thinking, development of wildlifehabitat, running sports promotional eventsand activities, marketing and promotion ofwhat the Valley has to offer and - of course- work on the Blackwater Valley Road. Workwas due to start on this imminently and alot of time went into mitigation measuresincluding snake and lizard rescues. Suewas taken on full time to carry out thiswork and then continue as Wildlife Liaisonthroughout the road construction. A lot ofheavy landscaping had taken place in theValley around Hollybush Park through toFrimley Hatches (much of which disappearedunder the Road) where old tips had beencapped off and landscaped and some of thelakes brought in to alternative use. Futureworks were already being negotiated aroundproposed gravel extraction in the northand south of the Valley. I recall how in 1991,

. Blackwater ValleyCountryside Partnership

Telephone (01252) 331353

THE BIG

talking about projects due to complete in 2001seemed so far away...

We produced regular newsletters (in thepre-internet days) and tried to make thesewith popular appeal to reach the great non-initiated.We adopted Sunday Sport styleheadlines including 'Inch High Alien Choked myGoldfish' and 'Army Finds Tank in River'. Wecertainly got good feedback from this approachand I like to think it worked.

On the moveIn around 1994 the Team moved to Ash LockCottages, vacated by the Canal Authorityas the new Canal Visitor Centre opened. Itwas attractive, plenty of space, rustic and allthose things... but boy was it cold in winter.However it was ours and has been the actualand spiritual base for the Team ever since. Itbecame very much a home for our volunteerstoo. I am sure their superb efforts will beamply praised elsewhere, but I recall somewonderful people being involved - HughWarren, Eric Hood, Gill Alexander, Edie Crippswho did the newspaper clippings, Greg Nuthall,Terry Sadler, Gabby McGarvey and her threeyoung daughters and of course dear old GerryStanley, the namesake of Gerry's Copse.

Some staff came and went. RoselyneSkeffington arrived as Visitor PromotionsManager,Tony Anderson joined up as Ranger,and then additionally Amanda Simpson, ascontract work on the BV road developed.

For a brief time we had our own VisitorCentre at Frimley Business Park.This was a

well meant bit of Planning gain, but in the end,'we was robbed1 as they say (but I didn't, ofcourse).

Creating new habitatsOur work in the Valley continued to develop,and whilst every year the budget got cut,we seemed to keep moving forward. Wewere instrumental in getting Horseshoe LakeWatersports Centre up and running, alongwith the complex of lakes around Moor Greenand Blackwater Valley Leisure. Hawley Meadowwas taken on board and a conservationmanagement plan put in place. Fabulous newhabitats were created in Lakeside Park andsurrounds, we got a new surfaced path allalong the relief road, new sections of footpaththroughout the Valley, recorded new speciesappearing for the first time, or re-appearingafter many years.... the list goes on and on, withmuch of the work being innovative and leadingedge, nationally.

We also held big events such as the KiteFestival at Aldershot Park and the Crazy CootChallenge triathlon using the BV Path, Canaland Ash Ranges.These were great fun, good forraising the profile and for getting people outand about.

Continuing involvementI moved on from the Valley - not far - to theBasingstoke Canal, then on to Kent CountyCouncil for a few years. But the draw of theValley was too much! I am now back locally asGreen Space Manager at Surrey Heath, so I'm

really pleased to continuemy involvement.

But the best thing isgoing out with my threechildren to Horseshoe Lake sailing, MoorGreen with binoculars, biking along a bit ofBV footpath or admiring the cowslips alongthe side of the Relief Road and telling them'we did that '.

Leigh ThorntonManager of the Blackwater Valley

Countryside Partnership 1991 - 1999

Countryside Partnershipwww.blackwater-valley.org.uk

"...the Blackwater Valley has embedded itself in the hearts ofmany over the past 30 years ..."

WANTED!Can you remember what the BlackwaterValley was like 30 or even 50 years ago? Doyou have any pictures of what the Valleylooked like before the road was built? If youhave lived in the area all your life perhaps youhave a personal memory of visiting the river

Your pictures and memoriesor seeing some wildlife. Whatever it is wewould like to hear from you.

As part of our 30th anniversary celebrationswe would like to build up an archive ofwritten, visual and verbal memories. If you canhelp please send them to us at the address

Moor Green Lakes in the 1980s

below marking your envelope 'Memories' orring Christine Reeves on 01252 331353.

Councillors and planners usually get a badpress. So what a pleasure to be celebratingthe 30th birthday of an outstanding project thatwas started back in 1979, due to the vision andforesight of our local councillors and planners.

Thanks to the commitment and hardwork of all those involved, including many,many local volunteers, the Valley has beentransformed.Those who knew it in the 60s

and 70s will remember it as a blot on thelandscape. Littered with old gravel workingsand shabby backyard industries, it was agraveyard for old cars and seemed to bethe place where everyone went to tip theirrubbish.There was little or no public accessand most people locally were ashamed of it.And they were right to be.

What a transformation. It is now an area

THE BIG

to be proud of. We have ariverside path, more than20 miles long, countryparks, nature reserves and

a host of leisure facilities.

Thousands of local peopleenjoy these every year. Itis an area for quiet strolls

and contemplation, vigorous exercise, schoolprojects and nature conservation.The Valleyreally is the green lung for the busy urban

area around it.This success reflects the hard work of

the project team. It is invidious to pick outindividuals, but those I have worked with closelyincluded a succession of inspirational anddedicated managers, such as John Tickle , LisaCreaye, Leigh Thornton and Steve Bailey.Theyhave been supported by many others.We mustnot forget the massive contribution of scoresof local volunteers, all of whom have given theirtime to help create the Blackwater Valley thatwe love, enjoy and are rightly proud of.

John EdwardsDirector of Community and Environment

Rushmoor Borough Council

John Edwards joined Rushmoor Borough Councilin 1987 as Head of Planning Policy. His jobinvolved overseeing the Blackwater Valley Projectwhen it was first set up and John Tickle, the firstproject manager, reported to him.

Blackwater ValleyCountryside Partnership

The Blackwater Valley Countryside Partnership comprises Hampshire County Council, Surrey County Council, and

the District, Borough and Town Councils of Blackwater & Hawley, Farnham, Guildford, Hart, Rushmoor,

Sandhurst, Surrey Heath,Waverley,Wokingham andYateley.