Brent Island
Island Events
Future Events
Saturday 21st September 2024. Island Fun Day
Saturday 2nd March 2024. Working party on The Island.
Past Events
Saturday 2nd December 2023. Christmas stall outside Village Shop.
Saturday 4th November 2023. Working party on The Island.
Thursday 27th July 2023. Bat survey.
Tuesday 11th July 2023. AGM in the Village Hall, Stansbury Room.
Saturday 29th April 2023. Working party on The Island.
Saturday 8th April 2023. Easter Egg trail.
Saturday 21st January 2023. Bramble cutting on The Island.
Saturday 3rd December 2022. Christmas stall outside the Village Shop.
Saturday 22nd October 2022. Working party on The Island.
Tuesday 21st June 2022. AGM in the Village Hall, Stansbury Room
Saturday 30th April 2022. Working party on The Island.
Saturday 16th April 2022 Easter Egg Trail
Saturday 4th December 2021. Christmas Stall outside the Village Shop. 10am to 12.
Saturday 6th November 2021. Working party on The Island. 10am to 12.
Tuesday 12th October 2021. AGM in the Village Hall, Stansbury Room. 7pm.
Saturday 7th December 2019. Christmas stall outside the village store from 10am - 1pm.
Saturday 8th June 2019. We will be celebrating our Silver Jubilee on The Island with a range of activities and things to see.
Saturday 1st December 2018. Christmas stall will be outside the village store from 10am - 1pm.
Monday 29th October 2018. Our autumnal working party met on The Island. Tasks included filling in holes in the Meadow, cutting back brambles, sowing Yellow Rattle seed and digging up tree roots.
Thursday 29th June 2018. Our AGM was held in the village hall with John Walters as our guest speaker.
Saturday 15th April. Our annual Easter Egg Trail was held on The Island.
Tuesday 11th April. Our spring working party met on The Island.
Saturday 2nd December 2017. As usual our Christmas stall was outside the village store.
Saturday 4th November 2017. Our autumn working party met on The Island.
Wednesday 3rd August 2016. Working party. Meet on The Island at 10am. Tasks included spreading gravel, bracken bashing and more!
30th June 2016 Brent Island Trust Annual General Meeting in the Village Hall at 7.30pm. Our Guest Speaker was Lynne Kenderdine, from Devon Wildlife Trust who spoke on the Avon Valley Project.
Saturday 26th March 2016 Brent Island Family Easter Egg Trail. Entry £2 and a chocolate egg for every entrant.
Thursday 11th February 2016 Brent Island Trust Members Management Meeting. All members are invited to attend on the evening of Thursday 11th February in the Stansbury Room at the Village Hall, starting at 7.30pm. It is the Trust’s policy to hold these meetings at regular intervals so members can have a voice on the ways in which we look after The Island..
The Annual Leat Clearing: On 27 May 2016 youngsters from the 1st South Brent Scouts and Dartside Exporers carried out their annual leat clearing exercise in a partially drained leat and had a huge amount of fun in the mud. They were rewarded with Chip-Shop chips and soft drinks.
Aquatic Invertebrate Study on Brent Island
Avon Fishing Association and The Riverfly Project
In 2015 the Avon Fishing Association joined the Riverfly Partnership. The Riverfly Partnership is a network of nearly 100 partner organisations, representing anglers, conservationists, entomologists, scientists, water course managers and relevant authorities, working together to: - protect the water quality of our rivers; - further the understanding of riverfly populations; - and actively conserve riverfly habitats.
The Association is keen to involve local schools, and so A level students from King Edward VI College were asked to help with the July sampling. The Island is not on our sample list but it was thought useful to sample there. We could then compare the Island site, with those on our designated list which are: Kerrydowns, Gara bridge, New Mill bridge and Knapp Mill.
The Island Results
The island produced good numbers of :
• Olive Nymphs, Stonefly Nymphs, Flat Bodied Nymphs, Cased Caddis
• Small numbers of Uncased Caddis
• No Blue Winged Olives, Shrimp or May Fly Nymphs
The species found here are indicative of clean, well oxygenated water. The absence of Shrimp and Mayfly larvae is due to the rocky substrate. Both species prefer sandy or fine pebbly substrate to the river. Blue Winged Olives have not been found in quantity on the Avon, indeed they are declining on southern rivers most probably due to global warming . They are still abundant in the North.
The report can be downloaded from here.
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20th June 2015 South Brent Carnival. Brent Island's "Treasure Hunt" game proved to be
popular at the South Brent Carnival. Despite a few showers the turn-out was excellent and
great fun was had by all. We raised funds to help maintain and protect the Island and its habitat
and also recruited new membersto Brent Island.
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May 2015 Wild Food Forage with South Brent Guides Guides. A sunny evening in May, the South Brent Guides gathered at Brent Island to forage wild food with leader Liz Turner from Trees for Health. They set out keen to learn about which plants are a tasty snack and which ones to avoid, plus tips on picking safely away from contamination. They also learnt to pick only if plants are plentiful.
Brent Island was the perfect location, as it is rich in biodiversity, both in the wooded and open areas. We started with learning how to pick nettles without gloves, for the brave but how also stinging can improve circulation and was used by the Roman Army for this! We dug up and sampled Herb Bennet (or Wood Avens) roots, getting hints of the clove flavour and moved onto Herb Robert, named after Saint Robert, a French Monk 1000 years ago. He used the plant to cure people of diseases, as it has many uses and is high in vitamins and minerals.
We also picked and sampled pink purslane, wild garlic, cleavers, hairy bittercress and ground ivy. Then we cooked nettle fritters over our storm kettle. Well done to the Guides for trying so many different flavours!
Caution: always ensure correct identification and usage when harvesting wild food
More information: trees for health
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5th April 2015 Brent Island Family Easter EggTrail. 57 easter eggs were collected by youngsters during the Family Easter Egg Trail. Enthusiastic comments seems to demand other similar events to take place on the Island! Song Thrush and Small Tortoiseshell butterfly seen by Paul Edginton during the Brent Island Family Easter Egg Trail.
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11th July 2015 Brent Island at St Petroc's church fete.
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21st June 2015 Annual General Meeting with guest speaker Scott West who is Project Manager for Westcountry Rivers Trust.
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20th June 2015 Brent Island's "Treasure Hunt" game proved to be popular at the South Brent Carnival. Despite a few showers the turn-out was excellent and great fun was had by all. We raised funds to help maintain and protect the Island and its habitat and also recruited new members to Brent Island.
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March 2015 Brent Island linhay display was refurbished
Milestones in the Island's History
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2014 Island Trust 20th Anniversary Celebration Fair Saturday 7th June from 2pm – 5 pm. Barbecue, Music, Local Celebrities and Stall
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2014 Reconstruction of the fish ladder
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2010 Planting of small orchard of native apple trees in memory of our late Secretary Don Stansbury and others
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2004 Celebration party on the Island to mark 10th anniversary of purchase
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2003 Weir rebuilt by South West Highways using pumped concrete at a cost of £41,415; grants of £17,024 from Heritage Lottery Fund, £13,000 Environment Agency, £5,000 Awards for All, £1,500 South Brent Parish Council, £1,000 Dartmoor National Park Authority
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2000 Night of 31st December/1st January 2001 – weir washed away by storm which raised the river to record flood levels
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1997 Derelict Linhay rebuilt by Alan Lake and reopened. Cost: £17,325; grants of £13,813 from Heritage Lottery Fund, £2,000 Dartmoor Trust, £500 English China Clays, and £500 from the Spurr family
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1996 Winners of the Assn of National Parks Authorities award for community projects in Southern England and Wales, Runners Up in national awards to multi-million pound Wensleydale Creamery revival
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1995 Winners of Dartmoor National Park Authority’s Edward Morshead Award ‘for community projects which contribute to the quality of the landscape’, for purchase of the Island and restoration of the weir
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1995 Weir stabilised and rebuilt using compacted lose stone, and 14 4-ton boulders donated by English China Clays. Cost: £4,317; grants of £2,000 from Rural Action and £1,000 from Dartmoor National Park
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1994 Granted charitable status and became the Brent Island Trust