LEADER+ Investment in Reed and Sedge Cutting pays-off, as industry shows signs of revival

The Broads reed and sedge cutting industry in Norfolk is showing signs of a revival just two years after it was backed by the Broads Authority's Sustainable Development Fund and the LEADER+ Broads and Rivers fund.

Two new reed and sedge cutters have taken up the trade, reed beds are being restored, and reed is being cut commercially on some sites for the first time in many years.

The Broads Authority's SDF fund, which is paid by the Government to National Parks, has given a total of £67,400 over the last 21/2 years to help revive the declining reed and sedge harvesting industry in the Broads over a five year period. The Broads and Rivers LEADER + programme provided an additional £57,000.

The money has enabled 36 year-old Billy Burgess, who was twice made redundant after factory and shipyard closures in Great Yarmouth, to start a new life as a reed and sedge cutter.

Billy, of Ormesby St Margaret, was a welder with Omni-Pac UK Ltd when the entire workforce was laid off in October 2003. He and several colleagues joined the Broads Authority Conservation Volunteers and assisted with the restoration of old reedbeds. When the factory finally closed in June last year Billy decided on a change of career and became a self employed reedcutter.

Billy joined the Broads Reed and Sedge Cutters Association, formed two years ago to manage the rejuvenation project, and uses equipment bought through the Association using SDF and LEADER+ funding.

Members pay for the use of machinery over five to 10 years depending on the type of machine. The payments are accumulated and will be used to fund replacement machinery, so ensuring reed cutters are self sufficient with a sustainable future in the Broads.

Association funding has contributed to chainsaw and pesticide use training for Billy and the Norfolk Wildlife Trust provided free brushcutter training. This will enable him to take on contracting work during the lean periods between the reed and sedge cutting seasons from October to January and during April.

"I wouldn't be here without this funding because I couldn't afford to establish a business myself," said Billy, who is married with two children. " With the lack of work in Yarmouth I decided it was time to bale out and find a totally different challenge. After breathing in fumes as a welder I love the beauty and wildlife of the Broads and the fresh air. The Broads Authority and LEADER+ have given me a fresh start."

The Broads Authority is also working with the Association to identify reed and sedge beds for restoration for future commercial management. Billy, along with other Association members, has been funded by the Broads Authority to carry out reed bed restoration - cutting reed and burning it to encourage future crops. This winter, as a result of restoration work, Billy harvested his first crop of commercial reed from a Horning reed bed where commercial cutting ceased many years ago.

"I only cut 339 bundles but I'm hoping to double that next year with the ongoing restoration programme," he said. Norfolk Wildlife Trust has also permitted Billy to harvest reed at Hickling Broad National Nature Reserve until the end of the cutting season. All of Billy's reed is sold for thatching.

Richard Starling, Chairman of the Broads Reed and Sedge Cutters Association which now has a membership of 16 with an average age of 50, said the industry was already picking up.

"Thanks to the dry weather and relatively low water levels in the Broads during December through to mid February reed harvesting this winter has progressed well. The Broads Authority is helping us to solve the problems of access to some sites and the co-operation of landowners, in particular, the Norfolk WildlifeTrust, has helped to make the industry more sustainable. The Broads Authority's Sustainable Development Fund together with the Broads and Rivers LEADER+ programme was a lifeline."

The youngest membey of the Broads Reed and Sedge Cutters Association is twenty five year old Stephen Mace from St Olaves. A fourth generation reed cutter, he went into partnership with his brother Paul after taking voluntary redundancy from Lotus cars to work in an outdoor environment.

"I could see that the industry had a brighter future than it has had for several years," he said.

The brothers cut the reed fringes of the wild Haddiscoe Island, surrounded by the Rivers Yare, Waveney and Haddiscoe Cut, alongside their 74 year old grandfather, Bob, who has been a marshman on the island for the last 55 years.

Bob Mace, whose father and father-in-law were both reed cutters, was awarded a long service award at the Royal Norfolk Show in 2003, for his work on the Island. Several years previously, he was awarded the British Empire Medal for his part in discovering copper deficiency in cattle that grazed on the Island. The Mace brothers' father, Brian, is also a marshman on the island.

Paul Mace, 32, took up reed cutting after doing a career u-turn. With a business degree under his belt, he was running a team of 14 in the accounts department of Jewsons at Cringleford. He chose redundancy when the company relocated to Huddersfield, and after travelling, made the decision four years ago to return to his roots and work in the great outdoors.

Paul is able to use his business skills as the Broads Reed and Sedge Cutters Association's treasurer and secretary alongside a role in project management. He is writing the text for the Association's new website, and does some accounting for the other reed cutters. He says the drop in salary is worth every penny for a more rewarding quality of life.

"I enjoy the peace and tranquillity of working in the Broads and I do not miss the stresses involved with deadlines, sitting in traffic and a city job, although reedcutting inevitably has its own pressures caused mostly by the weather. We work seven days a week through the cutting season from December to the end of March when the weather is good, and only have a short break for lunch. But you can't put a price on enjoying your work as long as you can pay the bills. Having a lot more disposable income isn't the be all and end all of life."

For further information contact: Hilary Franzen, Broads Authority Press Officer, hilary.franzen@broads-authority.gov.uk

Pictures - BA Library / Leader+ (Illustrative of similar equipment)