The last month sees lots of activity at the Hub with the craft shelter roof being repaired and new work benches being build. In September we are holding the Heartwood Virtual AGM. October to December Woodland Management session dates and release schedule has been published. And updates from Nether Hall Wood and Woodland Management Session details.
David Gravett - Membership Coordinator
What's In this Woodfueler
Woodland Management Session Dates
Site Details for this coming season
The New Season Cometh
As mentioned over recent weeks we have been working on the plan for the new season. We now have a stable plan for the sessions and their venues.
This season we will be working in Foxley Wood, Donisthorpe Woodland Park, Edwards Wood, Pick Triangle and Nether Hall Wood. We have made a significant increase in the number of sessions from 40 last season to 55 this, giving a huge jump in session places available from 977 to 1300.
To make this work we have been looking at how we bring some of the site prep work into sessions as a small number of members have previously done this between sessions (mainly Graham Bowers and Simon Starkey last season). This was unsustainable so we will be including tree marking and extraction route work in the sessions. Please bear with us as the leads have more balls to juggle during the sessions, but any issues will be addressed and I’m sure we will learn as we go along.
Part of the reason for increasing sessions is to allow more members from the waiting list to join us. Dave Gravett has done a great deal of analysis on session attendance, so we are confident the increase in member numbers is more than accommodated for by the places available.
One ask we have for all members is that we don’t book onto every session available, especially in the first half of the season up to Christmas. We have a very good record within the group of looking after each other and not “bagging” sessions and then cancelling. We can make it work for everyone, I’m sure.
Your support in making this step-change work will be much appreciated. The committee have put in hours of work building up to the season.
I’m sure we will all welcome the new members and have bulging logs stores by the spring.
I will cover lots more detail on this at the AGM on the 11th September and will be happy to field any questions or concerns.
Kevin Banton | Heartwood Chair
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Membership
Last season saw an unprecedented increase in membership enquiries, previously anyone enquiring about membership was invited to join. In November 2022 the decision was made to start a waiting list for any new membership enquiries, as most sessions were already oversubscribed. During the remainder of the season there was little space on sessions and the waiting list remained.
A few of the 42 interested parties on the membership waiting list had indicated that they were mainly interested in the social side of spending “time in the wood”. From this we have created a new “Social Membership”, 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.
As mentioned in the new season cometh we have increased the number of spaces on woodland management sessions this season. This has allowed us to invite a good number of new members to the group.
As no two members are the same, we are still maintaining a wating list for any new enquiries and will review this as the season progresses.
If you are interested in Social Membership, please send an email to
David Gravett | Membership Co-ordinator
email:
Woodland Management Session Dates
Woodland Management session dates are released a month at a time for members to book on to, this does not apply to non wood fuel sessions.
Multi-skilled members get early access to ensure the sessions are viable. Multi-skilled members are those members who have multiple skills that are required to run a session, i.e. First Aid and ATV Driver, Session Lead and First Aid, Clearing saw and First Aid, etc. When the sessions are available to multi-skilled members there will be no waiting list available. When the required multi-skilled spaces have been filled other multi-skilled members will need to wait until the sessions have been released to all members. The waiting list will then be available. If the session you want is full please book on to the waiting list, as this allows the management team to assess the demand for places and add sessions as required (if possible).
Woodland Management sessions will be released on the following schedule:
October Woodland Management sessions
- Available from 6pm on the 15th August to multi-skilled members, limited spaces, no waiting list.
- Available from 6pm on the 1st September to all members, increased spaces and a waiting list.
- Tue 3rd
- Sat 7th
- Tue 10th
- Wed 11th
- Sat 14th
- Wed 18th
- Sat 21st
- Tue 24th
- Thu 26th
- Fri 27th
- Sat 28th
November Woodland Management sessions
- Available from 6pm on the 15th September to multi-skilled members, limited spaces, no waiting list.
- Available from 6pm on the 1st October to all members, increased spaces and a waiting list.
- Wed 1st
- Sat 4th
- Tue 7th
- Sat 11th
- Tue 14th
- Thu 16th
- Sat 18th
- Mon 20th
- Sat 25th
- Tue 28th
- Thu 30th
December Woodland Management sessions
- Available from 6pm on the 15th October to multi-skilled members, limited spaces, no waiting list.
- Available from 6pm on the 1st November to all members, increased spaces and a waiting list.
- Sat 2nd
- Tue 5th
- Sat 9th
- Tue 12th
- Wed 13th
- Sat 16th
- Mon 18th
- Wed 20th
David Gravett | Membership Co-ordinator
email:
Site Details for this coming season
Most of you will be familiar with the main sites from last season, but here is an outline of what we will be doing at each.
Foxley Wood – Graham Bowers is the operations manager. We will continue the work we have been progressing over the last three seasons. We will be carrying out the usual thinning including ride edge and interior. There is an area of conifer in the compartment we will be working.
The area we will be working is getting ever further from the loading bays and the car park, so we have negotiated use of the village hall car park in Linton, which will mean a short walk to our cars, then a drive round to the loading bays. Not ideal, but it will reduce that long walk to the community centre. Up to 30 members per session
Donisthorpe Woodland Park – Kevin Banton is the operations manager. Chris Conway, LCC Park Ranger, has moved on, so we will be working with his replacement ranger. We will finish the area we started last season and will then start working on areas we have already thinned some years ago plus an area of conifer yet to be fully confirmed. Up to 26 members per session.
Edwards Wood – Simon Starkey is the operations manager. We will continue thinning in the area we were working last season. The woodland is mainly conifer with some hardwood. Up to 16 members per session.
Nether Hall Wood – Kevin Banton is the operations manager. The work here will be mainly coppicing of Hazel. There is dead Ash to remove, but the priority will be the completion of an area of Hazel. Up to 12 members per session.
Pick Triangle – A National Forest Woodland. This will be a thinning site under the guidance of the National Forest woodland manager. Details of the work area are still being agreed, but here will be one session per month at this site. Up to 12 members per session due to limited parking and access.
Kevin Banton | Heartwood Chair
email:
Annual Risk Review
Prior to every season a review of our risk assessments is carried out. As part of that review we use the data from our accident book to see where improvements can be made. Thankfully we don’t have many to report from last season, but of the 5 recorded 3 were hand cuts caused by pull saws (Silkys) – one quite serious. Everyone will be aware that these saws are incredibly sharp, and the slightest touch of the blade will cause a deep cut.
From analysis of the entries in the accident book it has been noted that although gloves were worn they were of the fabric backed type which offer no protection against these saws. We therefore strongly recommend the use of leather/leather replacement gloves when using pull saws. We also suggest the scabbards are worn on your belt to ensure the blade is covered with ease when not in use – it can be very tempting to keep the saw in one hand whilst continuing to work with the other. Silky cuts are serious, so please take every precaution when using them.
Please also note that your safety helmet has a shelf life to consider. There are a number of factors including exposure to sunlight and bumps/knocks that affect this, but generally 3 years is seen as a safe time period. Your helmet is your responsibility so please bear this in mind. The helmets we issue are purchased from Screwfix and are currently around £6.50 - JSP EVO2 MID PEAK SLIP-RATCHET VENTED SAFETY HELMET (Screwfix)
Kevin Banton | Heartwood Chair
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Nether Hall Wood
A group of members met up at Nether Hall Wood recently to carry out a survey and removal of “widow makers”. Squirrel damage is a particular issue at this woodland, so there are always dead branches to remove. The group safely took down around 20 branches which were hanging in the canopy, ensuring the safety of site users.
Here are the tree warriors after a successful mission.
Kevin Banton | Heartwood Chair
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Heartwood AGM
This year’s Annual General Meeting will be held this year by “Zoom Meeting” at 7.00pm on the 11th September.
As is tradition the meeting will also serve as the season launch event where we will cover further detail of the coming season.
If there is anything you would like included/covered at the meeting or you would like to be nominated for any of the committee positions, please let us know before midnight on the 8th September.
The agenda will be emailed to all members in good time for the meeting.
Kevin Banton | Heartwood Chair
email:
Volunteer Group DDW Group
Earlier in August a small group of volunteers from a local business in Burton (DDW Group) joined us at the Hub for a day helping out with a couple of projects.
We have had the construction of a dead-hedge screen down near the car park on the list of tasks for some time. The brash and materials were already available as a result of tree felling along the main track at the end of last season. With only six volunteers they made light work of building the screen which will ensure any materials or logs dropped off near the car park during the season are not visible from the main gate.
The group then moved on to completing the pedestrian route from the car park to the main camp area, avoiding the main vehicle track which can get very muddy during wet weather.
After sharing a camp-fire lunch they completed the day by emptying and refilling the retorts and processing some of the firewood we use for the campfire.
Kevin Banton | Heartwood Chair
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The Hub Update
It is looking like the new take on our non-woodfuel activities, (Time Out in the Woods), was the right thing to do. This goes especially for those centred around The Hub, our ever-improving base in Lount, which is going from strength to strength with yet another well attended month. We have also had some visits from potential members who are interested in the “Social-membership” joining option.
Charcoal production has been a big focus again, to meet the remaining summer orders. Thanks to the completed repair to the donated retort No.3 we reported on last month, we have had three units all fired-up to help meet the demand. The retorts of course cannot run without the seasoned logs which are converted into charcoal, and these need to be crosscut and spilt ready for use, which members have also been busy doing. A big thanks also to Leon for the donation and delivery of over forty pallets which the retorts can use as fuel. If you have any suitable scrap wood you don’t need, (garden sheds and fence panels work very well,) please let us know, as we are always on the lookout for more fuel!
Here we can see Terry performing “the dance of the embers” to the retort Gods, to ask them to endow the freshly repaired retort No.3 with much heat and bountiful charcoal!
It also seems like lots of general improvement work has been going on lately at The Hub. If you have not been up for a while, you will notice some changes! For example, walking up the access track has always been a muddy affair in the winter months due to our heavy vehicle movements. Hopefully this will soon be a thing of the past as members have continued with the marking out and preparing a new footpath from the car park end of the track up to the Glade area. This is still work in progress but already usable with care!
Arriving at the shelter you might be surprised to see a brand-new roof and roof cover. Yes, the old saggy / leaky tarp, has been re-purposed and a fresh one stretched over an improved roof structure to keep our new work benches dry in inclement weather.
New work benches you say? Yes, that right! we have another sturdy bench now in place ready for our seasonal production by members of craft items which we sell to local retail outlets to boost the groups income. Visiting groups such as the WI also make good use of these facilities.
You may recall last newsletter we talked about the donation of a huge cable reel for use as a table? Well not only do we now have a pair of these, but a team of thrifty members have also fashioned a frame and canopy from the old main shelter and created a perfect place for tea breaks and lunch.
Time Out in the Woods is not all about building and improving of course, and some members have used the morning to sit quietly in a corner and work on “crafty stuff” such as green wood carving. As always if you would like to try your hand at any of these types of skills, there is a live list on the website (MEMBERS / Heartwood Hub / Hub Activity Ideas.) Just tell us what you are interested in doing in the comments box when booking on the session and we will ensure the right equipment is available on the day.
Finally, a word about Biochar. You may know that we produce a small amount of charcoal “waste” from our retorts that is too small to be used for BBQs. This small granular charcoal termed Biochar can be used to improve soils and in so doing, also lock up carbon which would otherwise return to the atmosphere. The National Forest Company are currently working with Nottingham University looking at the benefits of incorporating Biochar into the soil where new tree planting is taking place and have asked if Heartwood are interested in helping with the project. This would entail the grant-funded purchase and operating of a new type of charcoal producing piece of equipment know as a Kon-Tiki Kiln. It is still early days in discussions, but we will be sure to keep you updated on this exciting opportunity.
Chris Adams, Kevin Banton, Dave Barker | Hub Team
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