Austerfield
The 100 acre nature reserve behind the centre was donated in 2000 by Hanson Aggregates. It is managed by The Mosaic Trust so the varied habitats can be protected for wildlife, and the site maintained for future generations to enjoy. During the 50 years of quarrying activity much of the area has regenerated into heathland.
Alongside the untouched woodlands this offers a superb, safe area to study the natural environment.
In 2015 we received a grant of £50,000 from Wren (now FCC Environmental) to refurbish most of the old school house. This became the William Bradford Room - a warm, welcoming community space. Unfortunately some unexpected structural problems cost an additional £15,000 of our reserves to remedy. Hence further renovation plans had to be deferred as grant money for such work proved elusive. See what changes we made here!
However, early in 2016, an ambitious project of low-cost refurbishment work started thanks to a local retired teacher. His excellent design and woodworking skills prolonged the life of some of our old buildings & also provided us with a traverse wall and bird hide. This work was supported by several groups of volunteers – from the Green Tree Pub in Hatfield, students from the National Citizenship Scheme, plus a few pupils as part of their Duke of Edinburgh Award.
In July 2017 we installed our new £120k residential building after months of fund raising and hard work! Attaching some refurbished portakabin modules to an existing classroom gave us two new dorms. In addition The Jarratt Building encompasses several wet rooms (complete with flushing toilets for those who remember the old ones!), teachers bedrooms and a cosy communal area. It has received lots of positive feedback from visitors and given the site a much more modern look!
We don't believe in standing still and are always looking for ways to improve our facilities. Unfortunately the recent pandemic cut our income to 10% of normal for more than a year. With staff on furlough, volunteers' time was spent tidying and deep cleaning the site in preparation to receive visitors once more.
We finally managed to reopen safely with some limited outdoor community events, finally welcoming schools back in mid 2021. This allowed us to start to rebuild our savings.
Early in 2023 we began a major project to refurbish our very popular animal house. The tired old room needed stripping out and has been given a full makeover, new insulation, ceiling and flooring. In addition by converting the adjacent old boiler house we managed to include a disabled toilet and wash basin. Some clever boxing-in of the old porch gave us a big enough area to rehouse the animals in their own space, so freeing up the room as a bright and airy multi-purpose facility. Externally two ramps, new doors, soffits and security lighting were installed with some replacement cladding where needed. We are delighted with the end results and so are our customers!
Following an investment in fencing we extended the perimeter of our site to provide a new camp site which opened in May 2023. Unfortunately unwelcome visitors stole three of our large tepee tents leaving us short of equipment to house bigger groups. Following a successful Just Giving appeal and some very generous private and corporate donations, we have been able to replace the lost tents. The camp has been moved back onto the main site as a temporary measure. We would like to thank all our amazing supporters!
