Gas volunteers power into work Community effort welcomed by Friends of Calder
Blantyre environmental group Friends of the Calder were delighted to welcome over 20 employees from SGN (Scotland Gas Networks) to the Milheugh area recently.
Blantyre Community Councill member and SGN employee, James Devine took the proposal to his manager, Gary Connor, about possible volunteer work that could be carried out to support Friends of the Calder in his local community.
After many months of planning, Gary, the company operations manager, had made all the arrangements for the volunteers from SGN to go along and get stuck in.
Along with the South Lanarkshire Council Countryside Rangers, they turned up at 8am on the day with their vans, diggers, tools and bags of energy, which was a good job as the local environmental group had set them a fair list of tasks to keep them busy!
The works carried out included clearing away the snowberry which was taking over at the Falls area, cutting back all the growth hiding the old Milheugh House outbuilding ruin, removing a log which had been blocking Milheugh bridge as well as clearing away an area at Pech Brae, an rear blighted by anti-social behaviour and that has saw a beautiful old tree consistently set on fire.
Friends of the Calder spokeswoman, Susan Lindner, said this week: “By clearing out, they have opened the area up to make it much more inviting to all that use the area. Friends of the Calder are delighted at the difference they have made to the area for their community.
“The work that SGN carried out will complement the programme of path improvements that will take place over the coming months from Greenhall Park to Milheugh. So, there has been, and will be more, time, energy and enthusiasm spent in these beautiful greenspaces for the whole community to enjoy.”