In this newsletter we have updates from HQ Xmas craft sessions, Community Woods Project, Stirling University, and the Operations team are offering tree marking up learning and the opportunity to get involved in a tree planting project.
David Gravett - Membership Coordinator
What's In this Wood Fueler
Membership Changes
There are several changes that you need to be aware of:
- Joint Membership. Due to the manual administrative overhead it has been decided to cease Joint Memberships. Existing Joint Memberships will be converted to Individual memberships in the coming days. As memberships come up for renewal both members of the Joint membership will need to be individually renewed. The remaining duration of any Joint Membership will be transferred to the new Individual Memberships, the joint membership will be set to expired. You will be able to review any changes by viewing Subscription History from the Members menu.
- Membership charge. From the 1st of January the cost of Individual membership will increase to £25 to £30.
- Payment by card. From the 31st of January we will be accepting card payments for membership.
David Gravett - Membership Coordinator
February Wood fuel Sessions
February wood fuel sessions go live to all members to book onto Sunday 1st January at 6pm. As always, if a session is full and you would like to attend, please add yourself to the waiting list. While this doesn't guarantee you'll get a space it does give us an indication of demand and if there are enough skilled members booked on or on the waiting list we can look to split the session across two locations.
As mentioned in the December 2022 Newsletter we have reduced the number of early access spaces for members with multiple skills, i.e. First Aid, Session Lead, Brush Cutter, ATV, Chainsaw, etc. If you are interested in training please take a look at the Training section of our website.
March wood fuel sessions will go live to multi skilled members on Sunday 15th January at 6pm and to all members on Wednesday 1st February at 6pm.
As always, if you are booked onto a session or are on the waiting list and can no longer attend please book off as this could allow another member the opportunity to attend a session.
David Gravett - Membership Coordinator
Heartwood HQ Family Event
Our first family day at HQ took place on the 11th December and was arranged to give everyone in the group an opportunity to bring members of their family along to HQ to make a few Christmas items. The day was a great success. There were over 30 people came along to make Stars, Reindeer and Snowmen.
It was a very cold day, but we had warming drinks and the sun shone later in the afternoon, we even had a little seasonal snow.
It was great to see youngsters (and some a little older) having a go at making something personal and special for Christmas - all from materials we have gathered from HQ or wood fuel sessions.
We are planning more family participation events at HQ next year, so if you have any ideas for activities please let us know.
Kevin Banton - Heartwood Chair
Operations
Training - selection of trees to mark
The training that was offered in the last newsletter on the selection of trees to mark was run successfully on 15th December for 8 trainees. As far as I can tell, the learning was enjoyed by all, and several commented that there was much more to the process than they'd thought. Next steps are to undertake marking up within wood fuel sessions as needed, under the tutelage of an experienced marker, with a view to build the experience of the new markers.
Planting project, Donisthorpe Woodland Park
This is a "heads up" that we'll be running a planting project at Donisthorpe Woodland Park, commencing the latter part of 2023.
It'll present more opportunities for woodland management than the traditional "plant-a-tree-and-walk-away" type event as we'll be owning it from the up-front planning stage, ordering, ground preparation, planting and then aftercare for a couple of years until the new plantings become established.
I'm hoping to pull together a small project team who'll run with it from start to finish. This is fairly hot off the press and I'm working with Chris Conway to write up a project charter that'll define the scope and commitment concisely.
If this is something that interests you, please drop me an email.
Graham Bowers - Operations Chair
Stirling University Work
The work to carry out thinning interventions at a number of National Forest Sites is now due to be completed. There are three sessions on the booking system if you would like to help. Please note these are specific thinning activities that will not generate boot loads of timber, but will enable the University to monitor the benefits (or otherwise) of thinning young woodlands.
Any questions please drop me an email
Kevin Banton - Heartwood Chair