On display in the Reading Room on 7th September were large illustrated plans of the Forbes Field project that had just earned a formal offer of funding from the Cranborne Chase AONB amounting to more than £12,000.  Heirs of Diana Forbes, her nieces Suzanne Keene and Elizabeth Forbes, were shown not only the plans but also the relevant areas of the Field itself.  They were very pleased with everything.  Some twenty others visited the display and left only favourable comments.  So, by the time the Parish Council met that evening nothing had arisen but positive feeling towards the project, which had been submitted in detail, carefully costed, and already enjoyed the support of a great many people in the village who together have generously pledged more than £10,000.  With more than £4,000 already available to the Parish Council for the Field from the original bequest and subsequent rental income, it was clear that the money would be there to do what was proposed. Following detailed presentations by Mungo Melvin (Chair) and Johan Denekamp (Treasurer), our Parish Council approved the project!

With the Parish Council behind it the Forbes Field Working Group became the Forbes Field Management Group, faced with a number of tasks to be addressed in the short term and before the end of March next year.  These include administrative arrangements to do with banking, insurance, control of risk, and publicity (including the forthcoming website) as well as physical measures, not least to make the field safe. Barbed wire and decrepit fencing need to be removed, gates and an access ramp installed, drainage improved, overhanging trees lopped, crab apple trees pruned, invasive thorn cut back and some boundaries re-fenced.  Setting out of the Field and some preparation of planting areas will be needed. On current plans, planting will start before the end of this Platinum Jubilee year. This will be not only for the community orchard but also to create a special group of seven trees, among them rowans (favourites of Diana Forbes), marking the seven decades of the late Queen’s reign. The work needed will be carried out with the help of available people who have made the appropriate pledge. 

Our rate of progress in the coming months will largely depend on the amount of volunteer labour that comes forward. To coordinate this effort we are setting up the Friends of Forbes Field, with ‘Field Days’ planned for the Saturdays of 12 November and 3 December. Please note these dates and put your names forward to Neil Pattenden, for which many thanks in anticipation.

All is now set fair for a Forbes Field that people and nature will love, as Diana Forbes wished.