We also see the launched our new social membership, a Summer visit to Foxley Wood, updates abuot Timber, Nether Hall Wood, and The Hub.
David Gravett - Membership Coordinator
What's In this Woodfueler
Timber Festival
The festival this year was our most successful to date, certainly from a financial perspective, but also from the public engagement over the whole weekend.
We ran nest box building workshops that were oversubscribed, so the demand was certainly there. Wild Rumpus who organise the festival paid us to run the workshops, so we were limited on numbers. Excitement on the third day was caused by a very local thunderstorm forcing the evacuation of the woodland where we were based, but after a wet interlude the part-completed nest boxes were finished off and taken away by proud constructors. Nest Box construction continues despite the woodland evacuation.
Following the festival around 20 of the tree stumps we used for work stations during nest box construction were delivered to the National Memorial Arboretum to be included in the Wild Rumpus summer installation.
Next year’s festival will be over the weekend of 5th -7th July 2024.
Kevin Banton | Heartwood Chair
Membership
Social Membership
Today we launch our new Social Membership. This was introduced due to several of our existing members and new membership enquiries wanting to get involved with what we do but not necessarily be involved with the Woodland Management sessions that we run during the felling season. This new membership type will concentrate on the social and craft aspects of woodland work including, charcoal making, green wood working, and most importantly spending time in the woods. This membership type won’t include access to woodland management sessions such as felling trees, coppicing, etc. and does not include the option to a boot load of wood.
Woodland Management Membership
At the end of October 2022, we started a waiting list for new members due to the number of enquires for woodland management sessions, formally known as wood fuel sessions. We saw an unprecedented demand for sessions that continues even now. Due to the work of the committee and Operations Team we are at a point where we can accept several new members from the waiting list, those on the waiting list have been contacted directly.
David Gravett | Membership Co-ordinator
Website
In the coming weeks I will be updating the look of the website. This should improve navigation on mobile devices and make adding new features easier.
David Gravett | Membership Co-ordinator
Nest Box Kits
Our nest boxes have proved very popular, so we now sell them in kit form with the step-by-step construction information added to the website.
If you or anyone would like to purchase one, they are £10 (or £12 made up) https://www.heartwoodhof.org.uk/about-us/guides
Kevin Banton | Heartwood Chair
Summer Walk at Foxley
A final reminder that we will be taking a leisurely walk around Foxley Wood on Sunday 6th August at 10:00.
We’ll look at the parts of the woodland we have worked in over the last three seasons to see how they benefit from thinning. There is quite a lot to see and discuss, so the more members attending the better.
The event is on the booking system.
Kevin Banton | Heartwood Chair
Nether Hall Wood
The woodland is generally looking after itself, but there is seasonal maintenance to be carried out, so the rides have been mowed a couple of times to ensure our commitments are met.
An incident with the fence close to the main entry gate caused a flurry of activity for me one afternoon. One of the residents in the village (Hartshorne) messaged me with a photo showing the fence by the gate on the ground. On arriving it was initially a bit of a mystery. Those of you who have visited the woodland will know that the entrance is on a sharp corner, so it was reasonable to assume that a driver couldn’t take the corner and had smashed into the fence – the issue was the fence was broken down from the inside outwards.
It transpires that a car had “failed to negotiate” the corner and gone through the fence further around the corner. As there is a steep bank here the car must have been stranded inside the fence and decided to drive at it to escape.
I repaired the fence and notified the Woodland Trust. At least the locals were impressed with the speed of response and repair.
Kevin Banton | Heartwood Chair
Changes to Woodland Management Sessions
The sessions leads and the operations team continue working on the approach for sessions in the new season. It may seem very formalised for a volunteer group, but the smooth running of our sessions and the reduction in work between sessions is quite complex. We have documented several processes and are now refining the detail of how they translate onto the ground – maps, plans, communication etc.
We will be briefing everyone as soon as we have everything in place, but even when this is complete, we will need a bedding-in period during the first part of the season. Your support in making this work will be important, including help with season pre-work to clear routes and mark-up for the first few sessions.
Heartwood Committee
The Hub Update
Again, we have had lots of activity at the Hub, with new visitors and several projects complete and ongoing.
Preparations for the replacement of the main shelter roof took a couple of steps forward with the new cover now ready to go after Julie and Deb inserted the eyelets that will enable a strong fixing to the roof poles.
The roof poles are being prepared after Zoe and her dad made a start on them, we then had Debbie and Teresa using their new-found skills using draw knives progressing further on the last session. We should be ready to hoist up the new cover at the next sessions in August. Once complete some of the existing cover will be used to create a smaller shelter over the two round cable drums that act as tables and work benches. The area for these has been cleared and is ready for the shelter to go up.
Here's the reason we need a new shelter cover – Dave carefully transports water from the existing leaky roof.
This month we came very close to the target we set ourselves for charcoal sales this season. Strong sales at “Timber” brought us within touching distance, so with plenty still in stock we expect to break the target early in August, assumption being that our finance guru will increase the target again when we hit it!
Terry has spent several sessions repairing Retort 3, it’s now ready for its test firing.
Least favourite job of the month was the replacement of the straw bale which makes up the composting loo. Hats off to Dave Barker for carrying out the task and with minimum complaint. Loo users for months will thank Dave for his courage!
The Hub is proving a great place to share and learn new skills. There have been a couple of spoon carving sessions that have led to several people dabbling. I (Kev) personally have taken inspiration from Paddy and have been doing a little carving.
There have been members using draw knives and axes for the very first time, guided and supported by experienced mentors they now have a new skill under their belt. We have a host of members now familiar and capable of running the charcoal retorts, plus woodworking skills used to make nest boxes, benches at the Hub and many more projects.
We ensure everyone is aware of the tasks and what’s on offer at each session, and there is always someone available to support trying out skills, so come along and learn in a relaxing environment.
Chris Adams, Kevin Banton, Dave Barker | Hub Team