Most southerly island in Wales seeks volunteers
The Flat Holm society is currently seeking volunteers to help with the day – to – day running of the charity. Flat Holm is a Welsh island lying in the Bristol Channel approximately 6 km (4 mi) from Lavernock Point in the Vale of Glamorgan and it includes the most southerly point of Wales.
The island has a long history of occupation, dating at least from the Bronze Age. A sanatorium for cholera patients was built in 1896 as the isolation hospital for the port of Cardiff. Guglielmo Marconi transmitted the first wireless signals over open sea from Flat Holm to Lavernock. Because of its strategic position on the approaches to Bristol and Cardiff a series of gun emplacements, known as Flat Holm Battery, were built in the 1860s as part of a line of defences, known as Palmerston Forts. On the outbreak of World War II, the island was used once again in the defence of the Bristol Channel.
Today the Island is a Local Nature Reserve and a Site of Special Scientific Interest because of rare plants such as rock sea-lavender and wild leek. The island also has significant breeding colonies of lesser black-backed gulls, herring gulls and great black-backed gulls. It is also home to slowworms with larger than usual blue markings.
The Flat Holm Society work alongside Cardiff Council's Flat Holm Project Team to protect the island’s flora, fauna and historical features.
The society is currently looking for volunteers who can spare a few hours a month to help with the running of the charity and would enjoy volunteering. The society is particularly keen to hear from people who might be interested in volunteering in the following areas:
· Treasurer
· Administrative tasks such as membership, minute taking and correspondence
· Organising volunteer trips out to Flat Holm
· Grants and fund raising
· Organising events
Full training and support will be given
If you would like to find out more about any of these volunteer roles, please email: flatholmsociety@gmail.com or take a look on the Flat Holm Society website: flatholmsociety.org.uk/
About the Charity:
The Flat Holm Society is a small voluntary lead organisation that raises funds to help protect the island and its flora, fauna and maintain its many historical features. As well as raising funds the Flat Holm Society provide hands on help in the form of volunteers.
Who We Are
The Flat Holm Society is a charity that helps protect the wildlife, and historic environment, of Flat Holm Island, a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) located five miles off the coast of Cardiff in the Bristol Channel.
Several rare species of plant are found on the island including the Wild Leek, which is only found in five places in the UK, and the Wild Peony. During Spring and Summer the island is also home to a significant breeding colony of Lesser Black-backed Gulls. Historical features on the island include the remains of a cholera hospital and Victorian and WWII gun batteries.
The day to day running and management of the island is undertaken by the Flat Holm Project. The society supports the work of the project by raising funds and providing volunteers.
The island is accessible by boat and from March to October there is a regular schedule of day trips run from Cardiff Bay .
Our Aims
The aims of the Society are to secure and promote the conservation, development and improvement of Flat Holm and its features of general public amenity or historic, ecological or public interest, provided that the works of the Society relate to land over which public access is assured and are in accord with any statutes, legal conditions or bye-laws which apply.