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Having a stag party in a woodland – making spoons

Having a stag party in a woodland – making spoons

by David Alty, 5 October, 2012, 4 comments

The other day I had a bit of an unusual email request:  "Could I run a spoon carving workshop for a stag party with nine blokes as part of pre-nuptial celebrations?"  I was straight on the phone to woodlands.co.uk HQ, who readily agreed to the use of a woodland, Hellbeck Wood, for the event.  Friends, Mark and Ben,  were quickly roped in to be assistants and to create their own spoon as part of the bargain. Prayers were offered to the rain god for a fine day, but all bets were hedged and a couple of tarps were erected beneath the trees. The prompt arrival of the stag party group brought another surprise - a woman in their midst!  She was to be an honorary man for the weekend, I was informed.   A short walk led through the wood, to our prepared camp with a small fire and a brew on the go Read more...
Search and Rescue - woodland searches, dogs and toys

Search and Rescue – woodland searches, dogs and toys

by Angus, 30 July, 2012, 2 comments

David is a volunteer dedicated to saving lives.  For nine years now he and his dog have been working with Hampshire Search and Rescue who deal with about 60 call-outs each year.  This can be for children who've got lost or run away or for dementia sufferers who've forgotten where they live and are wandering around commons or woodlands. Recently his team spent three days looking for an Alzheimer's sufferer and eventually found her 50 miles from her home, alive and quite well. "The key objective," explains David, "is to find the missing person as quickly and efficiently as possible. When we are testing people who've been trained we expect a lot of them - they have to find three bodies in 50 acres within half an hour. Actually 7 % of missing people are found within 30 metres of a track or road." Read more...
A woodland birthday

A woodland birthday

by Lindsey, 19 July, 2012, 1 comments

Soft play, football or bouncy castles are the usual birthday party options but not for Mrs Hawkins and her five year old son.  They recently attended a Robin Hood birthday party at Beeley Wood in Oughtibridge organised by Growing Wild. During their two hour adventure, the children enjoyed hunting for treasure, making bows and arrows and cooking sausages on an open fire. Read more...
Small Woods Association - a nunnery or a hothouse?

Small Woods Association – a nunnery or a hothouse?

by Angus, 3 May, 2012, 2 comments

The Small Woods Association is a remarkable organisation with three unusual women at the core of it - Jude Walker, its CEO, Angle Pollard who runs their social forestry programme and Diane Wood - the SWA treasurer. For those who notice these things, it's interesting that that their surnames are all related to woodlands and what they do - encouraging walking and pollarding in woods - an illustration of aptronyms perhaps (names which are very apt for the job they do). These women, along with Phil Tidey and their team at the Greenwood Centre, have built up the Small Woods Association into a very effective charity which has turnover of almost 3/4 million pounds and a clear objective of promoting sustainable conservation of small woodlands, but in recent years it has developed a particular emphasis on social forestry, meaning woodland projects with health and social objectives. Read more...
Social Forestry in Glede Wood.

Social Forestry in Glede Wood.

by Luke, 7 February, 2012, 7 comments

Visits to ‘Glede Wood’, Shropshire, provided for the use of the Small Woods Association by Woodlands.co.uk, have begun again with the start of our new project ‘Branch Out’ Our Social Forestry projects have targeted a range of disadvantaged groups from NEET’s (Not in Employment Education or Training) to women offenders. This time we are engaging members of Telford’s black and ethnic minority. We have managed to gain some funding to buy a minibus, bought cheaply courtesy of Hitachi Capital, which allows us to pick people up from the town centre. As a result this broadens participation and removes another barrier to exploring the forestry sector. Read more...
Smile Meadow - a forest school

Smile Meadow – a forest school

by Claire, 11 January, 2012, 2 comments

St Mark’s CE Primary School (Sussex) were surprised and delighted to be given the use of a piece of woodland and meadow, only 400 metres from the school. First the whole school visited the Ashdown Forest (under the aegis of the Sussex Wildlife Trust ), Then all the staff took part in an INSET day – also led by the Sussex Wildlife Trust. This gave the staff the opportunity to develop and refine some ideas on how to use the wood and meadow land to enhance children’s learning. Read more...
Woodland Shelter Build.

Woodland Shelter Build.

by Mike Alex and Mark, 11 April, 2011, 6 comments

A priority when staying out in the woods is a good water and wind proof shelter The following photos show the construction of a hazel wood shelter to sleep 2-3 people. We are out a lot, so we built it to last. The photographs in the 'strip' below show the various stages in the construction of the shelter. Read more...
Yew-turn on Forestry Commission sell-off

Yew-turn on Forestry Commission sell-off

by Angus, 20 February, 2011, 14 comments

On 17th February 2011 the Environment Minister, Caroline Spelman (DEFRA's Cabinet minister), announced that the consultation on the Forestry Commission sell-off was being cut short and that the Government would rethink the whole thing. However, things are never as simple as they seem.  The Government is still committed to reducing DEFRA's costs and whether the vast woodland and forestry estate in England will remain under the management of the Forestry Commission is debatable. Read more...

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