Strathaven Airfield

Strathaven Airfield took the opportunity of the lockdown to do a big tidy - sort out some of those jobs that kept meaning to get done, but didn't.

Their Big Tidy focused on the outdoor environment. They retrieved more than 200 old tyres from the rough ground half a mile to the west of the airfield (and have so far found a home for about 20 of them to local residents who wanted them for landscaping projects).

There is also an old dump at the far end of the runway, in what was once a small quarry. They have cleared out all the metal (and more tyres!) from it, and cleared up old fence posts and other assorted old pieces of metal from the two miles of fence around the airfield ground.

This has also been an opportunity to walk almost every inch of the ground to start documenting the wildlife - from beetles to buzzards - that has made the airfield their home. 

A neighbouring farmer has also put some of his calves on the rough ground (he didn't want to send them to market at the start of lockdown when prices were low) and we go and talk to them most days. They love to get their head scratched!!

Colin and Marta are so thankful to have this wonderful space to live in – as their house is on the airfield. And when the lockdown started they wanted to share it, to give people a safe space.

They opened up our perimeter track - known as the Road to Nowhere because it just stops in the middle of the ground, which was where the road planings and cash ran out! So they put a park bench there and people come every day to sit for a moment and enjoy the tranquillity of such an amazing space.

Colin shares, “For us, it is a win too. For it means that when we look out our house - with its floor-to-ceiling windows - we are re-assured that there is still life out there. That people are surviving. And that there is certainty of a good future, a bright future, if all of us strive together towards it.”