Who can join?
Membership is open to anyone who has an interest in conserving, enhancing or learning more about species rich hay meadows. Although the group focuses on the area either side of the Shropshire/Powys border, a number of our members live outside that area and we would welcome more such members. Membership is also open to organisations and companies who own or manage land and meadows they may wish to enhance. The National Trust (through the Stepping Stones project) and Natural England are associate members of the group.
Benefits of membership
• Advice on the management of your meadow(s) or other grassland, from lawns to fields, to increase plant diversity.
• Access to the small-scale hay making machinery owned by the group and the services of the group’s contractors. This service may be limited to members residing inside the core area.
• A walk over survey of your meadow(s)/grassland by the group’s botanists who will provide you with a list of all the identified species.
• Opportunity for your lawn or meadow(s) to be naturally enhanced through the application of locally sourced green hay or collected seed.
• Advice on selling hay and for those with species rich hay the potential to participate through the group in selling green hay for regional conservation/restoration projects.
• Visits to species rich meadows during the summer.
• Opportunities to participate in workshops and training organised by the group, e.g. scything workshops, meadow management workshop, plant identification training.
• Opportunities to meet other MMG members who are meadow managers or owners.
• Talks given by guest speakers. These are free to members but a small charge is made for non-members..
Cost of membership
Annual membership subscription is currently £20. Subscriptions are due after the AGM, which is held in May. New members who join on or after 1st January will not have to renew their subscription until the second AGM after joining.
Current membership
The group currently has about 150 members (March 2022). Membership is increasing as the group becomes better known and resourced, and as improvements can be seen in members' lawns and fields.
Membership Secretary
Siobhan Reedy
If you wish to become a member please complete the MMG membership form and return it to the address given in the form
Meadow Group Audit
One of the aims of the MMG is to establish a database of meadows in the area. We therefore ask all our members to complete a short questionnaire on the number and size of meadows they manage, the topography, access issues, their current usage (are they used for grazing animals, are they cut for hay etc?) as well as information about the diversity of plant species. This information then allows us to plan our programme of support to members during the hay making season. The main activities are hay making and transferring green hay from donor sites to new receptor sites (see the Green Hay page on this website for more information) which require careful planning and management in what can often be a fairly tight timescale! We also offer meadow surveys to members (see the page on Meadow Surveys) and these responses help us plan our programme accordingly.
A copy of the Audit Questionnaire is available by clicking on this link. You may find this useful if you are considering becoming a member of the group or you are an existing member who needs to update their original audit return.
Completed or updated questionnaires should be sent to mmgmembership@gmail.com
Data Protection
In order to fully comply with the government's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) we need to understand, and keep a record of, your consent on a number of matters. We have developed a Data Protection Statement in line with the GDPR as well as a Data Protection Consent form which we ask members to complete when they join the MMG. Both of these forms can be downloaded by clicking on the links here. If you have not already completed this form then you can do this now and return to Siobhan Reedy at mmgmembership@gmail.com
