In September we held our AGM, for those of you that couldn't virtually attend you can find below a brief summary. November wood fuel sessions went live for all members to book onto at 6pm on the 1st October, there are stll a few spaces on session towards the start of October.
David Gravett - Membership Coordinator
What's In this Woodfueler
Nether Hall Wood Coppice Sessions
Christmas Craft Session Visitors
Heartwood AGM 2022
There was a very good attendance at the "virtual" AGM again this year. The group is in very good shape, so here is a summary of the chairman's report for the AGM this year including a high level view of the finance.
If you have any questions please don't hesitate to contact
A reminder of our Vision and Mission
Our Vision: "To become the voluntary workforce of choice for woodland management in the National Forest"
Our Mission: "The purpose of Heartwood Community Woodfuel Group is to increase the supply of sustainable wood fuel, promote a woodland culture enhancing local woodland habitat and provide broader opportunities for community engagement"
Growth
- Membership has continued to grow. This coming season will be our busiest ever with more sessions and more attendee places at each session. We have tried to mitigate a potential increase in demand both from existing and new members. 26 new members since the AGM last year, 10 unsubscribed. We currently have 124 members.
- The introduction of the sub-groups for HQ and Nether Hall have proven to be a success. The teams work independently, they are both very well supported and reduce the agenda load at the main committee meetings. These sub-groups are open to everyone to be part of.
- We have continued to consolidate our HQ at Heart Wood. There are far more members using HQ, including successful craft sessions and skill sharing.
Relationships
- Relationships produce opportunities. In general we say YES to offers initially to explore potential.
- Leicester County Council – a long standing and mutual relationship with Chris Conway and we continue to support sessions at his sites.
- Woodland Trust as a partner in our woodland management plans. Our main operational site this season (and for the foreseeable future) will be Foxley Wood. We also now manage Nether Hall on behalf of the WT.
- The Blunt family –Supporting our HQ at Heart Wood and carrying out thinning work (formal sessions) at Heart Wood and Edwards Wood.
- NFC – Continued support in the form of funding and advice. Relationships through to a senior level (MD). Opportunities being explored for work on NFC woodland estate – Picks Triangle this season.
- Charnwood Geopark – Heritage charcoal project (NFC). Our first paid-for school session tomorrow.
- Sterling University – RestREco project.
- Derby University – Potential Internship with Heartwood.
- Local people and groups – Darren Abell (National Forest Co-operative), Geoff Clamp, Peter Wood, Ian Varley, Ashby Spa WI, Albert Village Allotments, Mimi's wood, Hartshorne Scout Group.
- The latest potentially productive relationship is with Rosliston Forestry Centre. Only this weekend we have carried out tree work for the site manager on a paid contractor basis. He has asked us to be their "go to" tree contractor on site.
- Rickman's Corner Community Hall in Linton for the continued use of their car park during Foxley Sessions.
Sessions
- A total of 33 sessions last season with an average attendance at sessions of 24 that was 667 boot loads of logs.
- This season there will be 36 sessions, all currently planned to have 30 places available = 1080 potential places available, plus there are coppice sessions planned at Nether Hall Wood where although firewood will be limited members will have access to Hazel for other purposes.
- Our volunteer hours are all recorded and used as "cash" to match funding with the NFC woodland management grants – This year we clocked up 5800 hours since the last AGM. This is a conservative number due to many hours going unrecorded.
- This year's dates are all in place. The dates for the whole season have been planned with the structured release for booking ensuring that sessions are viable with the required skilled members.
- Sessions will follow a similar approach to last season, the loadmaster role being a key improvement which not only helped the lead share the management load, it also improved loading and safety in the loading area.
Looking forward
- Charcoal has been a big earner again for us this season. We are hoping that corporate days in the wood (woodland management experiences) will also prove to be a significant income stream. This together with the heritage charcoal project need members to help us run them. Please consider offering help if you can, there isn't a big commitment and it can be very rewarding to work with industry and schools.
- HQ has proved very popular with members. A place to meet, take your family, hold group events, practice skills and green woodworking and above all a place to socialise with others in the group at working parties and events.
Finance Overview
- 2021/22 (Actual)
- Monies In £19,713.24
- Monies Out £19,163.58
- Carry Forward £2,117.52 + £6K Reserves
- 2022/23 (Forecast)
- Monies In £14,060.00
- Monies Out £11,367.86
- Carry Forward £4,809.66 + £7.5K Reserves
Kevin Banton - Heartwood Chair
Heartwood HQ
We have been making besoms to sell in preparation for Halloween and decided this year to make a smaller besom for the children, we still need to make more if you would like to have a go. Last year we sold 16 but would like to have more available this year (without Kev having to make them at home).
We will be there this month on:
- Friday 14th October 9.30am
- Saturday 29th October 9.30am
Remember we always have the fire going and for a small donation, lunch is usually provided.
Chris Adams - Heartwood HQ Chair
Charnwood Charcoal Project
The first paid-for charcoal school field trip was held on the 13th September at "The Outwoods" in Charnwood. A total of 59 school children from two classes in year 6 from the Hall Primary School in Glenfield. The package delivers three aspects of charcoal making - the heritage/history, the science and, the artistic applications and uses pop charcoal. It was a lovely day and the whole event went very well. There were only four Heartwood members, but along with two of the National Forest team we managed and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. The whole experience is very rewarding for us individually and of course brings in funding for the group. It would be great to bring more members into the activity, the commitment is very low, but the payback is huge.
We have received some great feedback, so I thought I'd share it with everyone.
Helen Smith NFC - We all know that the fieldtrip is in safe hands and that the passion and skill of the Heartwood team will ensure that it goes from strength to strength
Julie Attard NFC - None of it would have been possible without your willingness to experiment and your dedication and enthusiastic support throughout the whole process. The project has been a joy and we are so proud of what we have been able to achieve together. I am excited to see how the field trip develops and, like you, I feel sure it will be of great interest to schools in the wider National Forest.
Teachers from Hall School Glenfield - We thoroughly enjoyed our trip today. It was well-organised and thought through. The pre-visit resources were of very good quality and were well-worth having. The offer to come into school to support us was appreciated. The booking process was very efficient and easy to do. All staff we dealt with, either via email or in person were excellent - knowledgeable and keen to ensure we had a good day.
I just wanted to thank you for a totally wonderful day in the woods learning about charcoal making. Your hard work really paid off.
A parent of one of the children stopped me to say how much her daughter enjoyed the day. She had been feeling a little poorly in the morning but came back home skipping and said she loved it!
Kevin Banton - Heartwood Chair
Internships
Derby University run an annual "Driven" internship programme where they look to place students into local businesses and organisation. We were approached some time ago to ask whether Heartwood had any opportunities. After exploring what we doing with the talent development officer at the Uni we have agreed that we can offer two positions. These will be short term where the students are paid for 80 hours effort by the Uni to work with us. The two opportunities are:-
- Ecotherapy and well being - investigating the health benefits of what we do and how we promote this further
- Business Improvement - an opportunity for a student to understand how voluntary organisations work and potentially look at new ideas and approaches
- Both roles will be advertised at the Uni during October with two of the committee attending the "Internship Fair" on the 18th. If we get students interested they are likely to start in November. I will keep everyone informed of progress as we may all come into contact with th students during their time with us.
Anyone interested in becoming a mentor is more than welcome to get involved. Let me know
Kevin Banton - Heartwood Chair
Nether Hall Wood Coppice Sessions
We have dates planned this season to get through the work we need to do in Nether Hall Wood. This is mainly Hazel Coppicing, but there are also a number of dead Ash trees to remove. The sessions through to Christmas are on the system, but have limited spaces due to the parking restrictions. They will be take wood home sessions, but please manage your expectations as we will not be using the quad on site, so anything that does need moving to cars, whether it be Hazel poles, pea sticks or logs will be moved on the Tree Hog - the sessions will be a lot more relaxed with no targets on boot loads, just getting through the management work we need to do on site.
There will also be limited use of chainsaws to make them quiet sessions, just the cross cutting and stump reduction. It would be great to get as many members familiar and involved with Nether Hall Wood, so please book on.
Kevin Banton - Heartwood Chair
Christmas Craft Session Visitors
We are delighted that ladies from Ashby WI will be joining us on the two October sessions at HQ. They are coming along to make Christmas Reindeer and will be making contributions to club funds. If you are on these sessions please be aware that they will be busy (and great fun from past experience), but you are still OK to make your own and help make any surplus for the group to sell. We will continue to make Christmas items through November and into December, so please book onto the sessions they are all open on the system.
Kevin Banton - Heartwood Chair