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Page 36 Dorset View March 2024
Join HHO in bid to reopen popular outdoor education centre
A campaign to reopen Hengistbury Head Outdoor Education Centre at Christchurch Harbour is underway.
A Charitable Community Benefits Society, Hengistbury Head Outdoors (HHO) is aiming to take over the Centre, which has remained closed since the COVID-19 pandemic.
A director of HHO, Bill Howlett, explains about the history of the centre: “It was set up in 1964 as the Marine Training Centre. Its name was changed in the 1980s to Hengistbury Head Outdoor Education Centre (HHOEC).
“Since 2009 it was operated by Brockenhurst College. In its last full year of operation, 75 schools used HHOEC, which handled over 10,000 school sessions and 5,000 public sessions (adults and young people).
“Then Covid happened and in 2021 BCP took back ownership of the centre and following a survey, the main building was deemed unsafe for public use. It has not been open since March 2020 although existing user groups have limited site access.”
HHO is registered as a charitable Community Benefit Society. It was set up in late 2023 by local watersports groups and enthusiasts who live locally and use the Centre and Christchurch Harbour for recreation and education all year round.
Their aim is to take over the HHOEC and run it as a facility for the community, gifted to the community by BCP Council through the Community Asset Transfer (CAT) process.
A BCP Council spokesperson said: “We are having ongoing discussions with the Hengistbury Head Outdoors group regarding ideas on how the site might be managed by the community in the future.”
Mark Merritt said: “As a CBS we will issue membership of the society through member shares which will entitle an individual to become a lifetime member and have a single vote at our members’ meetings and AGM. In this way we are clearly answerable to the community and the objectives of the CBS.”
Simon Pitman, also a director of HHO, said: “Our mission is to sympathetically rejuvenate the site, creating a sustainable, innovative yet tranquil space for everyone to participate in many forms of outdoor (water and land) activity.
“We are also taking this time to reach out to the existing, previous and new providers to fully understand their requirements and potential usage of the Centre.”
Mark Merritt added that HHO will be fundraising to help with the cost of negotiating a contract with BCP. He pointed out the directors are acting in a voluntary capacity.
If you would like to become a member and help bring the centre back to a viable future, or you feel can assist HHO with grants, funding, donations, and discussing potential future commercial arrangements with schools, wider education, and training providers, please visit: www.hengistbury.org
Facebook: @Hengistbury Head Outdoors
Instagram: @Hengistbury_ Head_Outdoors
To join the supporters mailing list www.hengistbury.org/ contact-us/ Membership
Member shares: www.hengistbury.org/shares/
Sowing time
By Plants Direct
As we move into March after an extremely wet start to the year, we now hopefully can start to plant and sow vegetables, fruit, and flowers, for the coming spring and summer.
Vegetable gardens and allotments can be prepared for potatoes, onions, hardy vegetable sowings and planting.
Gardeners can now start sowing seeds of annual flowers and vegetables.
Sow seeds in protected greenhouse tunnels with minimum 10°ϲ and prick out and pot on for planting after frosts have gone. Tomatoes, cucumbers, beans, herbs, and many flowering plants can be sown. Use good clean sterile compost, trays and pots.
There is still time to finish pruning of trees, shrubs, and roses. Trim back perennials and grasses, top dressing and feeding for the growing season ahead. Planting of bare root trees, hedging and roses can still be carried out for quick establishment and growth.
New beds, borders, hedges, planters and pots can all now be prepared for new planting of trees, shrubs, perennials, roses and herbs.
Add compost to improve soil and soil structure prior to planting, add organic fertiliser and feeds to help good root development and strong growth.
A visit to your local nursery or garden centre will inspire you as there will be huge selections of flowering, evergreen scented trees, shrubs, climbers, perennials, available now. Advice readily available to help select your ideal plants for the season ahead.
Lawns and grass areas can be raked and aerated. Apply top dressing to improve surface drainage. Over-seeding or new lawns can now be sown for the year ahead.
Remember all the work carried out in the early spring will repay you with a colourful vibrant and abundant garden for the months ahead.
