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WoodLots 64 News September 2006
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Workshops Available at the WEC
Weald WoodFair 2006
Forest Enterprise Welcomes Your Timber
Exploring
Your Woodland’s History
Search
for Best Sweet Chestnut
Charcoal & Firewood Processing Training
Woodchip for Wood Fuel Training
Training in Windsor Chair Making
Training
& Education at the
South
East Woodland News
Apprenticeship
in Trees & Timber
If you gain value from WoodLots
Show your support for WoodLots
Hold your
event at the Woodland Enterprise Centre
‘On
average a typical tree absorbs, through photosynthesis, the equivalent of 1
tonne of carbon dioxide for every cubic metre’s growth’
Source:
Edinburgh Centre for Carbon Management
15th, 16th & 17th September
Now in its 11th year, management of the annual WoodFair has been handed over from East Sussex County Council to Bentley Wildfowl & Motor Museum. Many thanks to
FREE WOODFAIR BUS: half hourly minibus service from Lewes train & bus stations and Ringmer, plus request stops along the route.
WoodFair Admission: Adults £8, Senior citizens £7, Children (3-15) £6. family ticket (2 adults, 3 children) £24. Ticket includes all the usual Bentley Wildfowl & Motor Museum attractions. www.bentley.org.uk
For exhibitor information and bookings:
Tel: 01825 840870, fax: 01825 841322,
email: barrysutherland@pavilion.co.uk.
WoodFair Exhibitor booking form
Forest
Enterprise
Welcomes Your Timber
Can you produce a lorry load of timber or more on a repeat basis and are
you looking for new markets? To help boost marketing opportunities for
privately produced UK timber, Forest Enterprise (FE) are offering a
one-off opportunity for free entry into their autumn catalogue for tender,
deadline 30th September. To
find out more please contact: Alan Corson, Forest Enterprise Marketing
Officer, T:
01904 696300, M: 07788 917157, E: alan.corson@forestry.gsi.gov.uk (FE are
the forest management arm of the Forestry Commission).
Exploring
Your
Woodland’s History
This 44 page colour booklet, based on the experiences of the Clowes Wood
Archaeology Project in Kent, offers a thorough guide to woodland owners
and community groups wishing to explore, understand, record and preserve
the archaeology of their woodland. With plenty of basic information about
archaeological features, you will never look at your woodland in quite the
same way again!
The Forestry Commission will have copies to give away at their stand at
Weald WoodFair, or you can send a stamped (65p) addressed A4 envelope to
Search
for Best Sweet
Chestnut
The British and Irish Hardwoods Improvement Programme (BIHIP) needs help
to locate the best (‘plus’) sweet chestnut trees (Castanea sativa) in
the South East. Sweet chestnut is a species with excellent wood qualities
and immense potential: the timber is attractive and durable and the tree
is far more drought-resistant than other hardwoods.
Although
traditionally managed on 10-20 year coppice cycles, the recent decline in
coppice markets has increased the recognition of the value of sweet
chestnut as a timber tree. BIHIP
now need to find the best (plus) trees, in terms of timber quality, in
order to develop a selection and improvement programme.
Information
sheet available from Karen Russell, Woodland & Forestry Specialist,
East Malling Research, Tel: 01732 843833, M: 07951 258805, F: 01732
849067, E: karen.russell@emr.ac.uk. The BIHIP website
www.bihip.com gives more information on plus trees and the aims and
objectives of the chestnut group
Charcoal
& Firewood Training
Initially the charcoal making course will run from Plashett Wood in East Sussex, in conjunction with Harvey Malthouse, a highly experienced underwoodsman and charcoal maker. The 2 day practical course will equip you with all the skills necessary to convert a range of hardwoods to charcoal safely and efficiently. The firewood processing course will equip trainees with the skills necessary to operate firewood processing equipment safely, including maintenance and dealing with common operational faults.
The
target audience is wide: industry workers looking to add another
skill/product to their portfolio, woodland owners and members of the
public interested in conservation/traditional crafts. The courses will
also be marketed as experiential gifts, unusual, practical and
sustainable.
E: scott@scottfrasertraining.co.uk,
www.scottfrasertraining.co.uk.
For more information about Lantra: www.lantra.co.uk
Wood
Chip Training
South
East Wood Fuels are offering 1-day training seminars in the production of
woodchip for the wood fuel industry throughout the South East. The
training will educate potential suppliers about the technology (chippers
and boilers), the processes involved in producing fuel to a standard
suitable to supply boilers, and the practicalities of storage, handling
and delivery. The training is aimed at existing forestry contractors and
woodland owners looking to move into the wood heating market. Attendees
will be given a comprehensive training pack to keep as a resource guide.
E: bruce@sewf.co.uk
Windsor
Chair Making James Mursell, based at West Chiltington
in West Sussex, has just opened the first and only purpose built workshop
dedicated to teaching Windsor chair making in the country. James has been
making Windsor chairs for 11 years and has been teaching chair making for
2 years. Students, often with no previous woodworking experience, convert
a round wet log into an elegant chair in just five days. Coppiced Sussex
sweet chestnut is used to make the back and legs, involving steam-bending,
shaving and turning.
Training
& Education
at the
WoodNet has recently been successful in receiving funding from the Ernest
Cook Trust for a Training & Education Development Officer at the
Woodland Enterprise Centre. Working in partnership with Plumpton College,
WoodNet will develop the classroom space and deliver a range of modules
and seminars in an appropriate woodland setting. The training and
education programme will be aimed at further and higher education
students, Key Stage 3-4 pupils, and contractors and professionals seeking
further training and professional development in sustainable timber
production and use. The classroom facilities will be available for hire by
independent training providers.
If you would like to know more please contact the WoodNet
Training & Education Programme, Tel: 01580 879552,
email:
South
East Woodland News
published
twice a year by the Forestry Commission offering succinct advice and
information to woodland owners in the South East on non-technical
management issues. All back issues are available online at:
www.forestry.gov.uk/forestry/
Workshops
Available
at the WEC
The
TimberBuild Network
has gained approval for the construction of eight cruck frame timber clad
workshops to be built at the Woodland Enterprise Centre just south of
Flimwell. The workshops will be constructed from local timbers and heated
by woodfuel. Each workshop will be 90m2 with an optional mezzanine floor,
and will be available to rent or purchase as either single or double
units. The eight workshops will be constructed in two phases, with the
first four to be completed within 2006. More
info
Expressions of interest from
wood-using businesses are welcomed.
Please contact David
Saunders, Project Manager
Tel: 01580 879552,
E: davids@woodnet.org.uk.
Apprenticeship
in Trees & Timber
Develop
a career and train at the same time:
Potential apprentices and employers
may be interested to know that Plumpton College now offers Work Based
Learning in forestry, arboriculture and sawmilling resulting in NVQ Level
2, covering the care and management of trees, woodlands and forests and
the production of wood and timber products. Employers
considering taking on an apprentice (sawmillers, foresters, estate
managers, arboriculturalists) and those wishing to become apprentices
contact: Work Based
Learning at Plumpton College, Tel: 01273 892050,
email: wbl@plumpton.ac.uk, www.plumpton.ac.uk
(Services to Business section)
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For small or large meetings,
conferences,
workshops, exhibitions and private functions,
the Woodland Enterprise Centre offers 150 square metres of exhibition and conference
space, plus smaller meeting rooms, all within 22 hectares of
demonstration woodland at Flimwell, just south of Tunbridge Wells on the
East Sussex/Kent border in the High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural
Beauty. For bookings throughout 2005-06 please contact:
Weald WoodNet, Tel: 01580 879552, www.woodnet.org.uk/wec,
Email: info@woodnet.org.uk