After more than 10 years in the job, Jill Madden, ably assisted by Peter, stepped down from co-ordinating the Bitou Busting group due to a move away to the Illawarra to base themselves closer to family.
From the core group of bush regen warriors in the early days, Jill built the numbers up, coercing people, including me, to come along and have fun doing hard labour – quite a salesperson!
Despite Jill’s mentoring and comprehensive files, it was a steep learning curve for me to take over the main organising role for this group. Thankfully Adrienne continued as publicity officer and first aid logistics officer. She continued her great job keeping our activities regularly discussed in the Nota and online. We even headlined on the front page one month, and her article on ‘garden escapees’ was a very good educational piece. Sharon Taylor joined the coordinating trio and her local natives and weed knowledge with photographs was very beneficial to the group, especially me.
Thanks girls, I couldn’t have done it without you. A big thank you also to my Gordon, who stepped up to assist with getting gear and signs on site each month and throwing himself enthusiastically into the task at hand.
Our work on three sites -at the end of The Anchorage, part of The Boulevarde and along Moira Parade has been most effective, with weed invasions being slowed dramatically, if not halted by our travails.
Apart from bitou bush, we removed loads of agave, mother of millions, asparagus fern varieties, morning glory, polygala, easter cassia, flowering Ivy, lantana and one or two other species.
From an average of 18 people per session, we put in almost 200 hours over seven months – a wonderful effort and a great saving and result for MCC and the environment we all love.
Our gratitude goes out to all of you who have contributed throughout the season, and to those who, for whatever reason, have been unable to attend but have cheered and supported from the sidelines.
Looking forward to seeing all of you that are able to make it next year, with a few fresh faces as well.
Trish Blair
From the core group of bush regen warriors in the early days, Jill built the numbers up, coercing people, including me, to come along and have fun doing hard labour – quite a salesperson!
Despite Jill’s mentoring and comprehensive files, it was a steep learning curve for me to take over the main organising role for this group. Thankfully Adrienne continued as publicity officer and first aid logistics officer. She continued her great job keeping our activities regularly discussed in the Nota and online. We even headlined on the front page one month, and her article on ‘garden escapees’ was a very good educational piece. Sharon Taylor joined the coordinating trio and her local natives and weed knowledge with photographs was very beneficial to the group, especially me.
Thanks girls, I couldn’t have done it without you. A big thank you also to my Gordon, who stepped up to assist with getting gear and signs on site each month and throwing himself enthusiastically into the task at hand.
Our work on three sites -at the end of The Anchorage, part of The Boulevarde and along Moira Parade has been most effective, with weed invasions being slowed dramatically, if not halted by our travails.
Apart from bitou bush, we removed loads of agave, mother of millions, asparagus fern varieties, morning glory, polygala, easter cassia, flowering Ivy, lantana and one or two other species.
From an average of 18 people per session, we put in almost 200 hours over seven months – a wonderful effort and a great saving and result for MCC and the environment we all love.
Our gratitude goes out to all of you who have contributed throughout the season, and to those who, for whatever reason, have been unable to attend but have cheered and supported from the sidelines.
Looking forward to seeing all of you that are able to make it next year, with a few fresh faces as well.
Trish Blair
