Thread by @BroadmoorLane

When our kids are all grown up, we hope one day they will tell their own children about the beautiful woodland in their neighbourhood and how the community came together to save it #WestbrookWoodland #villagegreen @WeLoveBath @MoreTreesBANES @waspschool @WestonLitter THREAD

The woods are a magical place, with a brook running through it. The dappled sunlight shines through the trees and glints off the clear water @Uhperry #WestbrookWoodland #Bath

Kids would paddle in the brook and some would use rope-swings to bravely cross it. Some kids were so daring they would jump straight across, taking a deep breath before they leapt from one bank to the other. @BathPlayProject #WestbrookWoodland

Because it was an old place, it was not hard to spot the layers of history in the Brook. Sometimes children found old bits of jugs, and the odd pieces of very rusty metal.

Sometimes children would find whole horseshoes in the water, from a time when horseshoes were made by blacksmiths, not machines. These horseshoes were so old they were brittle, and the children would think about the horses from so long ago that came to the Brook to drink.

There was an old map of the neighbourhood @bathnes that shows that once upon a time, in the 1700s, there was a weir in the West Brook in the very place where people these days could go across the water using the historic stonework as ‘stepping stones’. @BathPresTrust #westbrook

We wonder what games children would have played in the West Brook in Georgian times? @BathPresTrust @KirstenTElliott

Once, children found in the Brook a big ammonite fossil. So long before people ever stepped foot here, ammonites enjoyed being in the water here! #WestbrookWoodland #bath #naturalhistory

Because it is such an old and special place, our neighbourhood thought the children would go on playing here forever. #villagegreen #WestbrookWoodland @BathWHS

All the children were shocked when people came one day and put up fencing all around the #WestbrookWoodland and told everyone they weren’t allowed to go there anymore. One man gave out his business card with the word ‘demolition’ on it, and some people got very worried.

The children couldn’t play there anymore, and they missed it. @StephenSumner15 They could see their play spaces beyond the tall fencing, and were very sad they couldn’t get there anymore. #westbrookwoodland

The children thought of all the animals that lived in the woodland, who would now have to come and go around all that fencing.

There were badgers and foxes who would be able to squeeze under the fences, and bats and birds who would be able to swoop down above it. #WestbrookWoodland

There were also tadpoles in the Brook who wouldn’t be bothered much at all.

The children made artwork of all the things they loved in the #WestbrookWoodland. They drew pictures of the trees and the water and all the creatures that made their home there @nicolajharvey

They even included pictures of mushrooms and things they knew lived underground, in the soil beneath the trees. The children had learnt a lot about nature from their times in the wood, and wanted to share their knowledge of it #WestbrookWoodland @MoreTreesBANES @GreenBathNES

Some kids painted, some kids pasted, and some kids wrote down their memories using their best handwriting @waspschool . One girl wrote about how the squirrels in the woods would sometimes get angry and throw nuts down at her, from high up in the trees!

The adults wanted to help the children let everyone know @WeLoveBath how much #WestbrookWoodland meant to them, and how much they wished they could still go on playing there.

Then @bathnes said there would be a public meeting so everyone could talk about the #WestbrookWoodland #villagegreen and how important the woodland is to everyone in the neighbourhood. (3-10 September 2020)

The meeting lasted days, and lots of people spoke. The grown-ups came and shared their memories, and some people showed photos and videos of their times in the #WestbrookWoodland.

There was an Inspector who asked lots of questions, especially about how everyone got in and out of the woods, and exactly how often people came there, and for how long.

People spoke about how beautiful the woods were, and how much they missed going there. One young woman spoke about how she liked the #birdsong in the woods, and how she liked to sit there quietly and meditate

Lots of parents spoke, and some grandparents too. For people of all ages, the woods were a place that made people feel good. It was good to be outdoors in nature. #westbrookwoodland @FieldsInTrust

To be continued... we await the outcome of the TVG19/1 Public Inquiry to decide whether #WestbrookWoodland is recognised as a Village Green. It deserves it! Let’s hope this story is a happy ending @GreenBathNES @BathEcho @BathDemolition

The #publicinquiry for Bath’s #WestbrookWoodland continued last week and finished up on 10 September @B_Moorhouse @Fraser_Osborne @WestonLitter @nicolajharvey @HotKsupport @PaulEaley3 @bathlive @AliRVowles @ba1radio

Now we will tell the next chapter of the story of the woods... #WestbrookWoodland #rewilding #villagegreen #play #wellbeing #nature #worldheritage

On one of the last days of the important meeting, the new owner of the woodland spoke. He had known the land for a very long time, since when he was a child and when all the children from the school nearby would play there @waspschool

He thought things should be different now. He thought it wasn’t right for children to play there. @BathPlayProject @waspschool

The Inspector listened to everyone. She even came to visit the #WestbrookWoodland. She looked at all the new fencing and all the well-worn paths from years of children walking through the woods.

The adults had tried their hardest to explain things to the Inspector. And now the Inspector would need to go away and think very hard. #villagegreen #westbrook #woodland @No5Chambers @bathnes

Everyone would need to wait several weeks for the Inspector’s decision. #WestbrookWoodland #villagegreen @ba1radio @BathEcho @bathlive @AliRVowles @StephenSumner15

Would the fences be taken down so the children could play in the woods again?

Or would the land be left as a wildlife corridor, so only the animals could come and go? #rewilding #WestbrookWoodland @EcojamBath @antinbath

To be continued... we await the outcome for the #WestbrookWoodland #villagegreen #publicinquiry @FieldsInTrust