Clitheroe Young Farmers try their hands at the historic art of dry stone walling

The clubs’ trustees were keen for members to rediscover and engage with the traditional heritage on their doorstep and the Pendle Hill Fund was a good opportunity to enable this to happen.

Eight members received two days' dry stone walling training at Sabden, run by Alan Rhodes, a Dry Stone Walling Association Master Craftsman.

Kayleigh Smithson, who took part in the wall training, said: “I have had a really good two days training and now feel confident enough to help my granddad repair our own walls”

Five senior members received two days hedge laying training from Dave Padley, in the Lancashire and Westmorland style of hedge laying to achieve a LANTRA certificate and an additional introduction to hedgerow laying was run in March 2020 for other members.

Club chairman, Tom Chew, said, “I was really keen to learn new skills and I now feel confident enough to enter local competitions."

The fund has provided equipment for members to enter local competitions and this resulted in one member, Robert Redmayne winning his class at the Bowland Hedge Laying

Competition in February at Slaidburn.

Clitheroe Young Farmers Club had hoped to host an open meeting on traditional boundary restoration in May, where members and guests would learn about the traditional skills and participants of the training would receive their certificates, but this was postponed due to COVID-19 restrictions.

This project received funding from the Pendle Hill Landscape Partnership and Pendle Hill Fund, a community grants scheme which aims to support small scale landscape and heritage activity developed in the PHLP area.

The fund opened again for applications on August 3rd and all application enquiries should be sent to the community engagement officer: [email protected] or call

01200 420420.

The Pendle Hill Fund and wider Pendle Hill Landscape Partnership is supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund.