GIG Review 2023

The small network of volunteers that masquerades as the ‘group’ Dunnington GIG has had a busy year. We began with an action-packed ‘Wild Year Planner’ (revealed within windows of our ‘Advent Calendar of Adventures – for Wild Times and Memory Making’). While the deciduous cemetery hedge planted in 2020 was resting, we gave it some TLC and replaced casualties (roe deer, we’re looking at you). GIG also teamed-up with Treemendous York to help Dunnington Explorer Scouts get some biodiversity-boosting trees in the ground at Grimston Court Care Home.In the spring, we focused on powering-up our pollinators by joining Dunnington Library for planting and crafting at a Sunflowers Event and donating plants for their sale, and creating No Mow May signs for sale at the Church. Then to help our residents enjoy our wildlife, lists of local walks were created; ‘Nature Walks with Wildflowers’ and ‘Local Tree Trails and Walks with Woods’.On the recycling front, we helped MyHealth to establish calpol syringe recycling and we collected 46.8kg of blister packs at the church and pharmacy (though sadly an end to funding meant we had to stop). Filed under ‘boring but important’, GIG collated details on ‘Local Opportunities to Reuse/Repair/Repurpose’, ‘Local Opportunities to Recycle’ and ‘Eco Opportunities for Educational Settings’. For more information on the latter see https://yorkshirebylines.co.uk/news/environment/eco-opportunities-for-your-communitys-schools-nurseries/?fbclid=IwAR3L9BymywDClpiexJIet4rZYelHW48aQjMsM6opTq84PaSlgF2lxc8xMeI .During National Tree Week we ran our third Garden Trees Scheme through which we facilitated the planting of another 84 wildlife-friendly trees in our area, taking our total for GTS trees to 229! Past punters have generously donated beyond costs, and I’m delighted to report that the saved ‘leftovers’ from ’21 and ’22 have been spent on a beautiful pear tree to join the other blossom trees at Manor Drive! We will add this year’s leftovers to the remaining savings to fund another tree in the future.GIG’s final fling for the year involved assisting Dunnington Cubs and Treemendous York to plant 350 trees at the University of York’s campus.All the above resources are still available on our FB page (https://www.facebook.com/DunningtonGIG) and can be found using the search box at the top right. If you’d like to hear about GIG’s future activities, please click ‘Like’ and Follow.Juliet Pearce