It’s a long way off, but please make a note in your diary of our 2025 apple-pressing day which will be held on Sunday 12th October at the Redlake Valley Village Hall in Chapel Lawn. This will be the fifth year that we’ve run this event and the weather’s always been good – so there’s obviously no need to bring your umbrella!
If you’ve taken part before, you’ll know how enjoyable it is to bring your apples and screw-top bottles along for scratting and pressing, followed by pasteurisation while you have a coffee and a natter with the others there. If you’ve not been before, and you think you may have a good crop of apples (or can get some from someone who will have), make this your first year.
At a meeting of the RVCBS board on 28th November, and following on from the AGM of 24th October, the composition of the board was decided as follows; Anthony Morgan (Chair). Simon Jameson (Vice-chair), Mark Limbrick (Secretary) with Patrick Cosgrove, Bob James and Sara Randall continuing as board members. As ever, we welcome expressions of interest from others wishing to become board members, especially, but not exclusively, from a younger age-group.
The Society’s AGM was held on 24th October with seven shareholders present. In line with the Society’s rules, two board members, Mark Limbrick and Bob James, stood down, but both were willing to serve again so were re-elected. The Chairman and Treasurer presented their reports and the accounts were approved. These are attached below.
Discussion ensued about the need to attract younger people to the Society, and also how the Society’s longstanding commitment to increasing biodiversity in the woodland was proving to be successful. A vote of thanks was enthusiastically endorsed for Mark Limbrick who was standing down as Chairman after eleven years, but would continue as a board member.
There was then a PowerPoint slide show to illustrate the Society’s work over the past twelve months. This is too large to attach to this web page, but can be emailed separately on request to Patrick Cosgrove at pccosgrove@icloud.com
Each year, the Royal Forestry Society present awards to winners and runners up in competitions to recognise best practice in forestry and woodland management. Our Society took part in the Community Woodland Competition. We didn’t win an award, but we were shortlisted and were visited by two RFS judges who said, ‘We warmed to this unusual project run by the Redlake Village Community Benefit Society which owns and manages parts ‘quillets’ of a larger complex of ASNW [Ancient and Semi Natural Woodland] oak woodland on a very steep challenging but attractive wooded hillside in a National Landscape. The goal is to reverse the declining condition of the woodland through reintroduction of oak coppice to enhance light levels, improve the woodland structure and species diversity. A further purpose is to strengthen the historic connections of quillet owners with the village. The reintroduction of small coppice coupes has begun. We suggest that a pragmatic level of monitoring is commenced to assess the effectiveness of this regime and that National Coppice Federation advice is sought on the best approach to coppicing of oak. The community served by the site is small in size but we commend the concerted effort to work with schools, educationally challenged groups and vulnerable adults through the arts, as well as the local community through woodland fairs and events. The group is well run and all shareholder members who contribute to the Society have equal voting rights. On this occasion the entry was up against strong contenders in terms of the scale of impact for communities; nonetheless we encourage the Redlake Valley Community Benefit Society to continue their excellent work and apply for other awards in future.‘
So that’s what we’ll do, and congratulations to Astbury Mere Country Park and Boston Woods Trust, this years winners of the Gold and Silver awards.
In the late 18th century, the lower boundaries of the Brineddin quillets were delineated by stone markers or Merestones (from mære, Old English for ‘boundary’). It was not an uncommon practice in previous centuries to delineate boundaries in open fields, but less frequent in woodland. Tales are told in Chapel Lawn of dark deeds whereby quillet owners crept out at night to move their merestones to the right or left in order to enlarge their quillets. Over time, the original stones have disappeared and there is now thought to be only one survivor towards the eastern end of the wood – more visible in winter when the vegetation has died back.
To the rescue, though – the Redlake Valley Community Benefit Society! In about 2011, after purchasing its first quillet, number 2879, the Society decided to mark the bottom left-hand corner with a stone. Unfortunately, the first attempt failed as Diana Hoare – vicar at the time but former stone carver – carved the plot number beautifully on a stone but it cracked on attempts to erect it. Undaunted, Simon Jameson created another.
Fired up with success, Simon carved a third stone to mark the Society’s purchase of quillet number 2880 that had belonged to the late Henry Richards of Purlogue. And now, carried away by success, two more have been installed – numbers 2878 and 2877.
So we now appeal to other quillet owners: why not install your own stone, or ask the Society to do it for you (in return for a modest donation)? But don’t you dare creep out at night to move ours!
Its that time of the year again when we think about getting out in the woods to continue our work to regenerate the wood and keep it healthy as well as getting that sense of well being that working alongside others in a woodland setting can bring.
The schedule of work parties for 2024/25 is set out below.
This includes some Sunday afternoons where the daylight hours allow a reasonable work time and a safe return to Chapel Lawn.
Afternoon sessions begin in Feb 25 as before then sunset prevents a 2.5 hour session in the afternoon.
Coffee and cake will be provided!
Meet in the Village Hall car park or make your own way to the Quillets.
Sunday 27th October – 10.00 for 10.30 start until 1.00pm.
Sunday 24th November – 10.00 for 10.30 start until 1.00pm.
Sunday 29th December – not programmed
Sunday 26th January – 10.00 for 10.30 start until 1.00pm.
Sunday 23rd February – 1.30 for 2.00 until 4.00pm
Sunday 23rd March – 1.30 for 2.00 until 4.00pm
Sunday 30th March – 1.30 for 2.00 until 4.00pm (EXTRA SESSION)
Sunday 27th April – 1.30 for 2.00 until 4.00pm
Hope you can join us for these sessions, we look forward to seeing you in the wood soon!
Helped along greatly by the absence of rain (and you can’t often say that at the moment), yet again the Redlake Valley Community Benefit Society enjoyed a successful apple-pressing day on Sunday 13th October at the village hall in Chapel Lawn. For the fourth year now, the Kemp Valley apple pressers arrived with their equipment and ensured a successful event. 310 bottles of truly delicious pasteurised juice and 76 litres of unpasteurised were produced for satisfied customers who came and went throughout the day bearing baskets, bags and boxes of apples to be pulped, pressed and pasteurised. As ever, it wasn’t just about the apples. It was a very friendly, sociable occasion and, who knows, maybe some new friendships were formed. Thanks, of course, must go to all who turned out that day to help, resulting in £465 raised for the Society’s funds.
Just to make a change from raising funds for our own nature recovery activities, the board of directors of the Redlake Valley Community Benefit Society are happy to publicise a major fund-raising campaign by the Middle Marches Community Land Trust. Briefly, they hope to purchase two flower-rich meadows near Minsterley in Shropshire which support, amongst many other species, the largest colony of green-winged orchids in the county. This has led to their designation as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) by the government’s nature conservation body, Natural England. We encourage you to feel generous. Here’s a link to the fund-raising webpage.
When we entered the 21st century, a great many places planted millennium oaks to mark the occasion – but not here in the Redlake Valley. Better late than never, though. When Janet Hartin and her husband, Nigel, moved into their house in Bucknell in the year 2000, Janet planted an acorn that she’d found nearby. 24 years later although constrained by its container, it had become too large for her back garden so she generously donated it to the Redlake Valley. Community Benefit Society.
It has now been planted in Brinnedin Wood a little way to the left of half way up the flight of rustic steps in the society’s quillets. It’s a lovely little tree so, with a ring of fencing to protect it from deer, hopefully it will settle in well and grow to maturity. Thanks to Bob James for the use of his tractor and Simon Jameson for his sledge-hammer power.
Redlake Valley Community Benefit Society 