Friends of Brandy Hole Copse
Find information on Working Parties, and how to volunteer to help,
on our Volunteer at Brandy Hole Copse page.
If you're new to Chichester, or just visiting, map and access point information can be found here.
Contacts, including in an Emergency
If you encounter something happening in the Copse which you consider likely to cause serious injury to a person or serious risk of damage to the Copse, always dial 999.
Please also make Chichester District Council aware: ‘phone 01243 785166 between 9-4 Monday-Friday (excluding Bank Holidays). Outside these hours the Emergency ‘phone number for CDC is 01243 785339 (see Useful contacts for emergencies - Chichester District Council ).
To report something else needing attention but not urgent, please email parks@chichester.gov.uk and cc environmentalstrategy@chichester,gov.uk . (If you wish to make the Friends aware, also cc fobhc@treesinchi.org .)
The free Chichester District Council mobile app is effective for reporting fly tipping, dead animals or a problem with a litter bin.
*** News Flash ***
Friday 7th March 2025
The date of our next AGM is confirmed for the evening of Wednesday 14th May 2025.
Membership renewals are due 1st April.
Please get in touch, if you'd like to support the Friends through a £5 annual membership subscription or other donation. (You can find our Membership Form here.)
We are working on a Day of Discovery on Wednesday 25th June 2025, as part of the Festival of Chichester celebrations.
A full programme is being planned including small group walks with different foci, which will need to be pre-booked, and drop-in or self-led activities to help visitors see life in the Copse in different ways.
Please put the date in your Diary and look out for more details in April when the Festival programme goes live.
Monthly email updates and Chichester District Council-led Working Parties continue.
(If you've been in contact via email, but not heard back from us, please call or text Paula on 07788 140698 - emails may get missed in a crowded Inbox.)
We need your help!
To volunteer for Working Parties, please visit our Volunteer at Brandy Hole Copse webpage
and complete the form.
(Knowing how many people to expect really helps us plan for a safe, happy and effective morning.)
Wildlife to see at the Copse
Help us populate this new webpage by sending your observations to fobhc@treesinchi.org.
News Archive
If you remember seeing something here, you should still be able to find it in the News Archive section, now on its own page.
Click on the links (in green) to download a file:
- Constitution of the Friends of Brandy Hole Copse (pdf)
- Membership Form (Microsoft Word version that can be filled in using Word - it opens correctly after a MS pop-up warning about "unreadable content" which we have not yet worked out how to address)
- Membership Form (pdf version)
The 2017 to 2021 Management Plan, together with a brief introduction to the Copse can be found on CDC's website here.
Next Friends' AGM: Wednesday 14th May 2025
(last AGM held on Thursday 5th October 2023)
Brandy Hole Copse is, at the time of writing (December 2023) Chichester's only designated Local Nature Reserve. The Management Agreement under which Chichester District Council (CDC) manages that part of the Copse which it does not own was put in place in 2002.
The Friends of Brandy Hole Copse ("the Friends") exists to promote conservation and biodiversity in Brandy Hole Copse and its immediate surroundings. Its work is intended to support the Management Board for the Copse to implement the Management Plan, including through encouraging volunteers to help care for the Copse.
The Friends has faced a positive storm of disruptions in recent years, from the implications of development at Whitehouse Farm, through covid-19 controls, the uncertainties of CDC resourcing and Committee members who have struggled through illness, died or resigned. Following an AGM on 5th October 2023, the Friends has a new Committee to take it forward and inspire continued interest in, and support for, the Copse.
Chichester Tree Wardens created this webpage in December 2022 to support the Friends whilst it has no dedicated website of its own.
Friends' Privacy Policy
This may be downloaded to read (see right).
Please note that interactions through this website are subject to Chichester Tree Wardens' Privacy Policy. Communications intended for the Friends of Brandy Hole Copse will be passed on to the Friends by Chichester Tree Wardens.
To email the Friends, please use fobhc@treesinchi.org .
More about Brandy Hole Copse ...
The importance of Brandy Hole Copse is recognised by multiple designations:
- Ancient woodland (west of Centurion Way; find this under Habitats - Woodland on Magic Map)
- Local Nature Reserve (find this under Land-based Designations - Statutory on Magic Map)
- part of the Copse is included in Chichester District Council's Strategic Wildlife Corridor (Submission Draft Local Plan - scroll down to Background Papers - Review of Strategic Wildlife Corridors for evidence base)
- parts are Scheduled Monument:
- Chichester Dyke, Broyle earthwork, section extending 430yds (393m) through East Broyle Copse, to railway, and earthwork extending 400yds (365m) from Brandy Hole Lane, New Fishbourne (List Entry 1005853)
- Chichester Dyke, Broyle earthwork, section at Brandy Hole, extending E 230yds (210m) from railway, New Fishbourne (List Entry 1005854)
Early records of the Friends of Brandy Hole Copse (starting with its conception as the Brandy Hole Copse Conservation Group) have been lodged with West Sussex Record Office. You can check what is available to view
here. The period covered is 1989 to 2013. To help bring the early years of support for the Copse alive, we have transcribed the 2001 booklet: "Chichester's green secret - The story of Brandy Hole Copse" so that its contents are more readily accessible.
How to find Brandy Hole Copse
Access the Copse on foot from Brandy Hole Lane, Centurion Way (cycle and footway), Bristol Gardens or from Old Broyle Road.
There is limited on-road parking on Brandy Hole Lane just off Old Broyle Road (no space for on-road parking along Brandy Hole Lane north of the Copse) - approximate What3Words location resides.sensitive.swing and an off-road car park nearby with entrance roughly at ruler.fairly.perplexed that has been provided as part of the major housing development to the south (Minerva Heights).