Background Information
The Kippax Community Environment Forum is a voluntary organisation, made up of Kippax & District residents, who wish to improve Kippax - our local environment. We don't benefit financially from any of the work we do. We are funded form Charities etc. to bring about improvements in the village.
We are part of the KCEF. We call ourselves KIDS - Kippax Integrated Design Statement. There are six members at present but we would like more members. We obtained initial funding from the local CIT.

What we are aiming to do
We want to produce a document about Kippax, which describes Kippax past and present, and expresses what the whole community of Kippax is. The document will give ideas for Kippax in the future. This is called a Village Design Statement.
After its publication, copies of this document will be available for the public to consult in the library.

Why
The Village Design Statement will inform anyone wanting to change the environment in any way (e.g. any new building or alterations) of the views of the community of Kippax. We want the Design Statement to be approved and adopted by Leeds City Council, as a Supplementary Planning guide. You can influence the shape of Kippax in the future, by completing the questionnaire, which will ensure that your views will be represented.

When
We started this project in February this year, and it is set to run for approximately two years.

DATES

17 - 31 MAY - Exhibition in Kippax Library of photographs of Kippax, old & new, plus impressions of two Leeds Metropolitan University exchange students (from USA)

6 JUNE - The whole of Kippax Community are invited to express their views of Kippax by completing the questionnaire, which will be delivered to their house. There is to be a Prize Draw etc..

5 JULY - A village Workshop will be held at Ash Tree School, Gibson Lane. From 10am - 3pm. Please bring your own lunch, light refreshments will be available for those who join in. you may like to pay a visit and see what is going on. There will be a chance to observe a group working and view work on display. We will be looking closely at some areas in Kippax.

3 - 17 NOVEMBER - Exhibition at Kippax Library - What you said about Kippax in the June 2003 questionnaire. Come along and air your views, view the findings of the questionnaire and see the results of the mapping survey which we undertook.

© Edgar Pickles May 2003

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GLOW -WORM SURVEY JUNE 2003

When Emma Trickett came to Kippax Community Environment Forum to ask for help with a glow-worm survey, she was greeted with laughter, as this has always been a euphemism for taking a young lady somewhere quiet. However on Monday 16th June, a small group led by Emma (Community Officer for People Wildlife Together Project) and Jim Wardill (Regional Education & Youth Officer), and several interested local people, met in the Leisure Centre car park at 10.15pm to see if the stories of glow-worms on Billywood were true. There have been these stories for many years, so we are told, Billywood or Townclose Hills to give it its proper name is an SSSI, and its limestone with short grass (in parts) is ideally suited as a habitat for glow-worms.
We soon realised that it was not dark enough, but after 11pm the first glow-worm (ampyris noctifuca) was found, to much excitement among the group, exactly in the sort of conditions described. The glow-worm is not a worm but a beetle, only the last segments of the abdomen on the female glow, to attract a mate, with a greenish light.
After some hunting around by torchlight, a total of 24 were found, including a breeding pair. The following week the exercise was repeated but only 14 were found on this occasion, which was reported in the Yorkshire Evening Post.
The best time of year to find them is June/July but they can be found from May to September, on dark, warm moonless nights. We were surprised that the background light did not stop them showing or perhaps there should be many more and their national distribution is due to this as well as other factors, such as pesticides, disturbance etc.
This was an important discovery, as glow-worms are only known to exist on one other site in West Yorkshire.

© Edgar Pickles 2nd July 2003
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