By December last year there had been six school visits made to the quillet, and a total of about 60 local children/ young people now understand more about Brineddin Wood and life in an oak woodland. They listened for birdsong, looked for mini-beasts, snacked on the benches and walked up and down our quillet steps.  In addition the wood has benefitted from their careful conservation work on its lower slopes, where hazel coppice stools were cut back for regrowth this spring. Here are some photos from those visits:

Apart from our presence at shows and hosting school parties at the quillet in the second half of last year, we ran a programme of work parties. We have already earmarked two dates this year and wonder if you would like a morning out in the woods doing a little hazel coppicing, oak seedling planting or other woodland management? If none of these appeals, please feel free to simply come and have a look at the quillet and see what we are doing. We plan to meet on Sundays, 31st January, and 6th March, all at 10.00 am in Chapel Lawn village hall car park. There is a small band of regulars who would love to see you there. We usually work until about 1.00 pm. If you want to take part please try to bring tools such as loppers, bow-saws or secateurs along with sturdy footwear, waterproofs, and a drink, although we now have a good supply of tools, courtesy of Shropshire Hills AONB, for volunteers to use as well. We will provide the cake and biscuits at break-time!  Please let us know you will be coming by contacting Karen on 01547 530002 or limbrick85@btinternet.com  We may have to cancel the work-party if inclement weather is forecast (you will still be welcome even if you decide to come at the last minute!).

Our work as a Community Benefit Society will continue after the Shropshire Hills AONB funded project comes to an end in March 2016.  We have already planned the date of the AGM, so please mark it in your diaries or on your calendars. It will be the evening of Thursday 26^th May and we are in the process of attracting an interesting speaker to deliberate on a topic related to our work.

Finally, here’s a poem written by children from St George’s School Clun

 

 

 

A lot is happening at the moment so here’s a quick snapshot of what we’ve done recently and what we’ll soon be doing. Please join us if you can

Recent Activity

We have had a busy week!

On the evening of Tuesday 5^th October, board member and Treasurer, Anthony Morgan, represented the Society at a ‘Friends of the Shropshire Hills’ evening, at the AONB offices in Craven Arms.

On Wednesday 6^th, children from Bucknell School visited the quillet as part of their John Muir Award (click here to find out what that entails). Cath Landles of the AONB has secured funding for the children to visit Brineddin Wood on four occasions this autumn to enable the schoolchildren to achieve this well respected award for outdoor activities. On this occasion the theme was bug life. Here are three photos from the day, two self-explanatory, the third a little confusing.

On Thursday 7^th, we hosted a visit from the Shropshire Hills AONB Conservation Fund Trustees. They came to see how we have been spending the grant that they gave us this year. It was a lovely afternoon of mellowing sunshine, so we were able to relax by sitting on the benches in the quillet while we explained what we have achieved so far.

On Sunday 11^th, members of Knighton Tree and Allotment Trust visited the quillet on a bright autumnal day. We presented a slide show of the wood and the Society’s work in the village hall and then walked over to the quillet.

After ascending the steps, some of the more intrepid visitors chose to make their way to the top of the hill where the tree cover thins out. They were rewarded with good views across the valley to Caer Caradoc. But that’s not quite all. One of the KTAT party, Ritchie Cotterrill, sent us a fabulous photo of us as we climbed the steps. It’s so good we’ve placed it  on our gallery (click here). Do take a look and don’t forget to send in any particularly good pictures of your own to go on the gallery (of the wood, that is, not your holiday snaps!)

Forthcoming events

We are looking forward to setting out our stall at Knighton Community Market on Saturday October 24^th. Please come along and see our new display and take away one of our new leaflets.

We are also planning hard for visits by children from Clun School and from Bishops Castle Community College on October 21^st and November 10^th respectively. They are all keen to learn about hazel coppicing and to gain some practical experience. Where we have permission from other quillet owners to carry out woodland management, we expect a good sized area of the lower slopes of several quillets to show the signs of a working woodland once again !

We have compiled a list of dates for conservation work parties this winter and hope that those of you who like to wield a pruning saw or spade would like to take part. We plan to meet on the following Sundays: 25^th October, 22^nd November, 3^rd January, 31^st January, and the 6^th March. Meet at 10.00am in Chapel Lawn Village Hall car park. We usually work until 1.00pm. Please remember tools along with sturdy footwear, waterproofs, a flask (and a packed lunch if staying until 2.30 pm). We will provide the cake and biscuits at mid-morning break!

We are very pleased with the interest shown in our community woodland project to date and look forward to welcoming many more adults and children to this idyllic corner of south Shropshire.

P.S to our posting the Clun Valley Fairtrade Flyer a few days ago, Chrissie Verduyn has asked us to also post the notice of their forthcoming AGM on 1st October (click to enlarge).

Who was there all day at Bucknell show, having helped erect the gazebo and stand earlier in the day, and then helped to take it down at the end.

Saturday 3rd September, and the sun decided to shine on Bucknell show after a stormy morning. Society members, Karen Limbrick, Anthony Morgan and Martin Garland worked together to show off the society’s new display materials. A great deal of interest was shown and it turned out that a fair number of local people knew little or even nothing about Brineddin Wood and its quillets, with a few promises made to visit in the not too distant future and even help with work parties (yes, please to that!). Karen again engaged children’s’ interest with practical activities. About seven children made bug hotels, ladybird tidy tins or ‘God’s eyes’, but bug hotels were a particular favourite.

Thanks to Society member Chrissie Verduyn for letting us know that Clun Valley Fairtrade has become the first River Valley Fairtrade in the UK. No need to say any more; the leaflet says it all (click images to open in new windows)

We hosted a successful visit to Brineddin Wood by Church Stretton Tree Group on Sunday 16th August. We had already given a slide presentation to the group back in February. Thirteen members arrived in the afternoon, who were welcomed by four shareholders. We arranged a walk and climb up the quillet steps and then tea and  cake refreshments back at the  village hall.  Many probing questions were asked, some of which we have yet to find an answer to!

Fortunately the sun shone on this year’s Clun Show, and on the Society’s new display materials, skilfully created by Karen Limbrick and Sarah Jameson with funding from Shropshire Hills AONB. Society Board members Karen, Mark, Ollie and Patrick manned (personned?) the stand and held good quality conversations with probably 20 or 25 visitors to the show, some of whom knew of us, while others did not. Karen was additionally busy helping children make Bug Hotels and God’s Eyes as you can see form the photo where Lily Davies from North Wales is holding up her creation.  The stand’s next outing is at the Bucknell Show on 5th September.

Saturday 1st August is the day of the Clun Show and Carnival. Come and visit our Society’s stand. Admire our new display materials, encourage other people to talk to us, and watch children making Bug Hotels and God’s Eyes out of recyclable materials.

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!

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!