This month sees that start of up updates to the website, there will be a group BBQ at HQ at the start on June, Corporate days, Nest box building at Rosliston Forestry Centre, National Forest Walking Festival, Timber festival, and more.
David Gravett | Membership Coordinator
What's In this Woodfueler
Corporate day, WI visits and Home Education
Walk at NHW as part of walking festival
National Forest Grey Squirrel Activity and Impact Assessment
Heartwood HQ
Do you fancy seeing what HQ is like? We are holding a BBQ on Saturday 3rd June, from 10am until about 2pm. It is on the booking system, it asks when you are likely to attend am or pm and a rough idea of how many will be coming with you if you would like to bring someone too, so we can plan for car parking and cooking. Just put some comments in the booking notes. Car sharing would be great if you are able, as we are expecting this to be a popular event, and car parking is limited. Hot food cooked over the campfire with veggie options will be available, and as always at HQ the kettle will be on, bring your mug! (Donations appreciated to cover costs for food.) There will also be a few activities ongoing to give you a flavour of things that you could get involved with.
April was a good month with members collecting the logs that we advertised previously. The charcoal wood has been moved up from the car park and the mammoth processing task has begun. Thank you to Leon for the donation of pallets. The new trailer which has wider tyres and better suited for Edwards and Heartwood was trialled and covers the muddy ground up there very well.
Always ask if there is something specific you are interested in that we could look at doing/making at HQ. Thank you to everyone who attended the sessions, plans are already coming together for the May sessions, so book onto the events on the system if you would like to come along.
Chris Adams | Heartwood HQ Chair
email:
Website Updates
In the coming months there will be several updates to the website.
The first change will be to the session booking system. The session booking menus items will be unavailable between 8pm and 10pm on Monday 8th May. All future events will be copied over to the new system along with any sessions / events that you have booked on to.
The session booking process is generally the same. After the update updated help on how to book onto and manage your bookings with the new system can be found on the Help page at the bottom of the Members menu.
David Gravett - Membership Co-ordinator
email:
Corporate day, WI visits and Home Education
We have a number of visits to HQ planned during May. We have our first formal corporate day, when a team from “The Stone Group” will be coming along on the 5th May for a day of forest experience. The Stone Group are a sponsor of the National Forest and as such enjoy a couple of days per year. We have been working with the National Forest Corporate team to create a package for the day. This will include what we do best - tree felling and woodland management, plus charcoal making and potentially nest box building. This is a great opportunity to share your knowledge, skills and enthusiasm for woodlands.
There are two nest box building events with the Ashby Spa WI ladies planned for the 12th and 27th of May.
Finally on the 17th May we will be welcoming a group of “Home Education” parents and their children to HQ where they will be taken through a reduced version of the Heritage Charcoal package we were given by the National Forest team - this includes the history of charcoal, the science and it’s artistic applications. You do not need any specific training or skills to help out as we have the educational material available to share.
These events are on the booking system if you would like to join in and help out - if you have any questions drop me a line.
Kevin Banton | Heartwood Chair
email:
Nest box session at RFC
On Saturday the 15th April a group of Heartwood members ran a family nest box making event. It’s the first time we have taken this activity to the public as we have had a number of similar events at HQ with the WI ladies and other group events. Overall the day was a little disappointing as we didn’t have the number of attendees we hoped for, but we all had chance to coach members of the public in making a box. Even though the numbers were below what we hoped we still made a profit after paying for the room hire and we have plenty of nest box parts ready for other events.
Kevin Banton | Heartwood Chair
email:
Charcoal burns
Charcoal burns at HQ are now in full swing. The demand has gradually increased over the years we have been making charcoal and this year our charcoal, along with Darren Abell, is being used by the National Trust at Calke Abbey at their regular BBQs. The team at Calke have made a conscious decision to move away from gas powered BBQs to one fired by sustainable locally produced charcoal. This means we need a steady supply for sale, so anyone trained in the use of the retorts please check the charcoal burn schedule and if you are available let me know so I can reserve a date(s). As always anyone interested in learning how to use the retorts please let us know as they are ran at most HQ sessions where tuition is available.
Kevin Banton | Heartwood Chair
email:
Walk at NHW as part of walking festival
A reminder that we will be leading a guided walk around Nether Hall Wood on Saturday. Here are the details as published in the National Forest walking festival guide :-
STARTING POINT - Nether Hall Wood, Repton Road, Hartshorne DE11 7AP Nearest parking in Hartshorne village, limited parking on site
More details can be found here National Forest Walking Festival
A Woodland Trust site managed by Heartwood Community Woodfuel Group. The woodland is being managed by our volunteers using different methods, including coppicing to encourage new growth and the removal of diseased trees. We will explain how and why management is required, along with the history and future of the site. We will be sharing our vision for the site and looking to our visitors to give us their feedback and views on how the woodland should be developed for the benefit of visitors and wildlife. This is an informative and interactive walk.
Kevin Banton | Heartwood Chair
email:
Timber 2023
Timber festival will this year be held from the 7th to 9th July. We have been invited to attend again this year, bringing the charcoal burner as usual and managing the camp fire in the story telling area. We are also looking at whether it’s possible to run nest box building workshops. As always the finer details haven’t been finalised as yet, but we will need a team to run the burner, manage the fire and engage with the festival goers. If you are interested in being involved please let me know by e-mail
Kevin Banton | Heartwood Chair
email:
National Forest Grey Squirrel Activity and Impact Assessment
The National Forest Grey Squirrel Activity and Impact Assessment is the new UK wide squirrel monitoring survey and following the launch late last year we are now looking to spread awareness of the survey document and train individuals on how to use it, within the Forest and beyond. Therefore, you are invited to a training event on Friday 19th May at the National Forest Company Office in Moira. This session will be limited to 15 participants and places will be booked on a first response basis.
These invites have been sent to specific woodland owners and practitioners who have applied for grant funding this year or who have a role in managing woodlands across the National Forest. If we can promote the survey and start to build a better picture of squirrel damage, then we can help to lower the impacts at a landscape level in the National Forest.
This training will be split between an indoor morning session and an outdoor practical session during the afternoon. If you’re interested but unable to attend on this date, the indoor element will be held over a webinar on Wednesday 10th May and available following that date online to watch back.
Zoom webinar on Wednesday 10th May
Grey Squirrel Activity and Impact Assessments Autumn 2022
If you wish to attend this in person course, please respond directly to me and I will send further details on location and timings.
Ed Hiorns | Lead Woodland Management Advisor, The National Forest Company
email: