On Sunday SARA volunteers joined forces with the Wye Valley AONB Team and Gwent Wildlife Trust to clear a huge amount of litter and rubbish from an area below the Wye Valley Walk in Chepstow which is part of a nature reserve.

Following a request from the AONB Team, the SARA Rope Rescue Team ran an exercise to rescue a ‘fallen walker’ from The Alcove, close to Chepstow Leisure Centre. As well as taking a stretcher down into the woods they took a rubble sack and roll of heavy duty black sacks, and once the dummy casualty was secured they filled the bags. Gwent Wildlife Trust volunteer warden Harvey Lloyd-Thomas was in attendance and could show the team where rubbish had accumulated.

The SARA team used their ‘Larkin Frame’, donated by Safety Technology in Clytha, to set up a rope system to access the area below the viewpoint.

From there they hauled up two heavy loads of rubbish, including two bicycles, a car tyre, a plastic fence panel and several traffic cones as well as the rubble sack and bin bags full of cans and bottles.

Andrew Blake, Wye Valley AONB Manager, explained, “Piercefield is of international importance for both its wildlife and its cultural heritage.

“The Alcove is one of five Scheduled Monuments making up part of the 18th Century landscapes walkways and viewpoints. “This litter clearance work is a vital activity to keep this outstanding landscape special for current and future generations. A huge thank-you to SARA from the AONB Team for all their hard work”.

Gemma Bode, Head of Nature Recovery at the Gwent Wildlife Trust also passed on a “huge thank you to all the SARA volunteers who helped to clear up so much rubbish. It is really appreciated”.

SARA Beachley Rope Rescue Training Manager Richard Newhouse said “We were happy to be able to collect the rubbish, plus it made a great training exercise.

“For us it was a real task in a new spot, with lots of challenges. We expected it to be a cliff below the viewpoint but it was actually very steep heavily vegetated ground which was very awkward to work on, so we set up a cableway to haul up the rubbish.

“This required good coordination over the radio between the top and bottom ends, and I was very proud of how well the team worked.

‘‘We hope to repeat the concept in a different location later in the 
year”.