There was almost a picnic atmosphere to this year's annual general meeting of the Hayle Park Nature Reserve Trust, which was held under the shade of the trees in the park itself in Tovil in Maidstone.

Last year's event, which included a children's show called Arbor The Tree, attracted more than 100 people, but with no show this year due to Covid 19 restrictions, plus today's sweltering heat, made for a more subdued attendance.

Trust chairman Paul Wilby told the audience that the trust had made two significant steps forward in the past year. It had added a second site to the reserve and it had achieved charity status.

The second site is off Dean Street, Tovil, on a former landfill tip that closed in 1983. The 11-hectare plot has been capped and is currently largely covered in grass, which is being grazed by sheep. The trust has signed a 50-year lease with landowners Maidstone council to look after the site.

The Dean Street park complements the original reserve that stretches from Fieldfare Drive to Hayle Mill Road in Tovil and which has been run by the trust since 2014.

Mr Wilby said that charity status should help with ongoing funding and he was hoping the sites would shortly receive official national recognition as a nature reserve.

During the coming year, the trust hoped to expand the Hayle Park Nature Reserve with two more smaller sections of land, also coming from Maidstone council, including the wood behind Mount Ararat in Tovil.

In the meantime a management plan had been drawn up for the new site, by professional ecologist Sharon Bayne, which included the creation of two fenced paddocks on the land to assist with sheep grazing and pasture rotation.

It is expected the trust will seek to re-name the Dean Street site and may ask the public for suggestions.

It is thought a name that connected to Walnut Tree Farm that historically stood on the site, would be a hot contender.

Meanwhile, Mr Wilby thanked volunteers for the work on the sites. Regular work parties had resumed after the initial Covid shut-down, and volunteers from Tovil and the Valley Conservation Society had been joined by members of the Kent Wildlife Association, whose own work parties had not yet resumed.

The trust comprises three representatives each from Maidstone Borough Council, Tovil Parish Council and the local amenity group, the Valley Conservation Society.

Members of the public can support the trust by becoming a "Friend of Hayle Park" for a minimum donation of £5 a year.

Inquiries to 07949 769276.

You can learn more about the Hayle Park Nature Reserve here.

You can learn more about the Valley Conservation Society here.