IF YOU CAN DO A FUNDRAISING EVENT TO HELP US REACH THIS TOTAL PLEASE CALL ALLAN.

THE FELLOWSHIP HAVE PLEDGED TO RAISE £3,000 TO THE CAUSE. VIEW  THEIR FUNDRAISING EFFORTS ON THEIR PAGE.

PLEASE SUPPORT US BY BUYING PLANTS WE HAVE ON SALE AT THE DUN COW PUB. update £63.00 raised

Rainton Meadows Nature Reserve and Visitor Centre is situated adjacent to Rainton Bridge Industrial Estate in Houghton-le-Spring and is Durham Wildlife Trust’s headquarters.

The Visitor Centre at Rainton Meadows offers a shop, café, informative displays, a classroom, conference room and a viewing station where visitors can spend time watching birds feeding in the winter months.There is also a Wildlife Garden with spring and summer meadows and examples of what can be done to attract wildlife to your own garden.

The Nature Reserve is a haven for wildlife and has a variety of habitats including grassland, scrub, mature woodland and ponds. Mute swan, skylark, short-eared owl, brown hare, lapwing and many types of wildfowl are regularly seen at the site.

Within Rainton Meadows is a 4 hectare Site of Specific Scientific Interest known as Joe’s Pond. A haven for bird watching, the hawthorn and willow scrub surrounding the Pond provides shelter for over 140 species of birds. Fox and roe deer can also be seen around the Pond.A series of events are hosted here throughout the year, details of which can be found on our events page, or in the visitor centres.

Rainton Meadows and Joe’s Pond can be found by following the brown signs from the A690 between Durham and Sunderland. By bus, the services 222 and 220 regularly leave Park Lane in Sunderland, or the bus station in Durham and set down at the nearby Mill Inn. There’s a short walk under the A690 continuing until you reach the last roundabout of the industrial estate. The entrance to the Reserve is called Mallard Way.

Contact us on 0191 584 3112 for more details

With thanks to  Mervtheswerve’s Photos from Fliker.

2009 is the 80th Anniversary of 1st Burnmoor Scout Group. As part of this years Summer Camp at Bassenthwaite (22nd to 29th August) a birthday party will be held on the second Saturday. Details of further events to celebrate this landmark will be announced shortly…

Massive thanks to all those who gave up part (or in some cases all) of their Good Friday to help out at the Metro Centre to raise funds for the group.1st Burnmoor took over the charity stall near the cinema, offering face painting for the children (and the GSL), tombola, games, crafts and sweet shop. Well done everyone involved.

The Group would like to say a big thank you to DSGi (Curry’s) who donated £350 as part of their “Switched On Communities” scheme. This money has been used towards a laptop computer which can be used by all Sections. They also donated the same amount to the Group in 2006 and £500 in 2005.

We would also like to thank Howard & Elizabeth, proprietors of Strawberry Hill Farm, who donated a sit-on petrol lawnmower to the Group.

For More infomation Please Visit

1st Burnmoor