After completing the building of nearly 100 steps to access the community woodland, we held a short ceremony on Saturday 30^th May to officially open them. The ‘Mudlarks’ were invited along with shareholders and other locals to bring the wood to life with song. Their singing seemed to cause a gentle breeze to pick up and rock the trees, while Becky Sherman’s mezzo-soprano’s solo caused an echo in the valley!

The Mudlarks cutting the ivy creeper to officially declare the steps open

Our AGM took place on Thursday 9th July. Afterwards the guest speaker Dr. David Parsons, from the University of Wales, talked to a packed village hall about the project he is coordinating on the origins of the place names of Clun and district in 2016. Patrick Cosgrove organised a place-names quiz and there were a lot of questions for the speaker at the end.

The RVCBS has been awarded a grant by Shropshire Hills AONB Conservation Fund for a project: “Brineddin Community Woodland: Engagement, Learning and Conservation.” The Project involves creating promotional materials which will support our presence at three local shows. Come and see us at the Clun and Bucknell shows on 1st August and 5th September! We also hope to be present at Craven Arms Discovery Centre’s Wood Fair in September. We will be purchasing some new tools for further woodland management work around the quillet in the winter months. These will also be put to good use by children from Clun School and Bishop’s Castle Community College when they visit the quillet in the next few months. We are also liaising with Shropshire Wildlife Trust on an interpretation board.

The RVCBS is also involved with another AONB funded project this year. Children from Bucknell School, working towards their John Muir Awards, will be visiting our quillet on several occasions in the Autumn to undertake various exciting woodland activities.

See you at the Quillet!