‘Store’s staff were always so supportive’
Charity’s thanks to store workers
A charity who run a local beauty spot have thanked former staff of Sainsbury’s Olympia for their support over the years.
The store in the town centre closed its doors in January but the staff were dedicated supporters of the Friends of Langlands Moss (FOLM), providing donations, opportunities for the charity to do bag packing in-store and many giving up their own time to volunteer at the reserve.
Now the charity want to highlight all their good work which has helped with the restoration of the Moss, particularly after two fires in two years – 2016 and 2017 – ravaged it.
Susan Miller, from FOLM, said: “We were really sad to see the store close.
“It and its staff have been invaluable to us with many of its staff having volunteered for years with us, whether its helping lay paths or even litter picking, we can’t thank them enough.
“They also supplied the funds which allowed us to build a woodland bridge to help folk navigate the Moss after the second fire destroyed the boardwalk and they also helped lay the Horseshoe Walk and other paths.
“Without them it possibly wouldn’t have happened as we would have had to source the funds elsewhere.
“The closure of the Olympia store is a big loss to us both in financial donations and in man power depending on who continues to volunteer.
“For example donations included £454 from their 150 days of celebration collection and a £150 voucher.”
As part of restoring a peat bog, a fir tree plantation has been removed and tenders are out currently for building replacement boardwalk and should be in place late spring, early summer.
FOLM managed to raise more than £5000 towards replacing it through appeals and also secured grants from various bodies including the Land Trust and South Lanarkshire Council.
There is also re-wilding of the whole area and the on-going renovation of the existing bog.
And surveys are taking place of current and new paths to encourage good walking routes and future improvements for all the local community to benefit from are being considered.
“Members of FOLM have been visiting other country parks and nature parks to get ideas of what we could put in place to benefit the wider community.
“We are also delighted that the boardwalk tenders are out and it should be back in place soon.
“The new boardwalk will not only make the Moss more accessible to people than before, there will be fire breaks to try, as much as possible, to stop the same thing happening again.
“Our overall aim is to make the Moss the best in can be and make it as accessible to as many people as possible.
“It’s not only good for exercise, it’s good for mental health too.
“Many people have only just discovered us when they have been getting their exercise during lockdown.
“We have had more people visiting and I know folk might look and see the trees gone at the minute but it’s all for the best going forward. It will allow the Moss to re-wild itself and return it to a more natural setting.
“The driving force behind all of this is our convenor Maureen Potter. Her efforts have been amazing.”