CEEP Working Party
The call to arms for help at our base at CEEP proved successful with the first session taking place on the 9th August. On the day we built three further wood stores, created a hard base for the charcoal retort, tidied the compound, moved and spread chipping into the woodland area and consolidated the timber which has been donated from members for future build projects.
All this work was carried out in just under 5 hours by a relatively small team. We have now created an ongoing work list, so for future sessions we know what needs doing and can add to this as projects and jobs arise.
We have scheduled working party days on the second Friday and last Saturday of the next few months. Your help would be appreciated if you can spare a little time. The sessions run from 09:30 till 14:00, but if you can only spare a couple of hours it will all help. The dates are on the booking system, so if you can come along please register.
The next session on Saturday 31st August will be a firewood processing day. Now we have stores in place we need to complete the processing of logs from last season. Chainsaw trained people please try to attend and anyone else who can please come along. The more people the easier the work.
First Aid Training
I'm sure you will be aware of the importance of having First Aid trained members in the group. There is an obvious need to have sufficient trained people at each session for safety reasons and to make planning work we need to have a relatively large number of trained people to choose from.
Helen has arranged a further training session on the 28th September at CEEP. The training is one day and covers emergency first aid at work plus a specific forestry element know as +F. This ensures trained people can deal with severe injuries, the likes of chainsaw cuts and crush injuries.
The management of our sessions is a fine art which as many of you will know includes leaders, chainsaw operators, ATV drivers and of course first aiders. At a number of sessions last season we struggled for first aid cover with people having to double up on roles (we would never run a session if we couldn't cover the role). Having a larger pool of trained people will help this and also mean that our trained people are only called upon a few times a season, so the commitment after the training is small as many people will be at sessions anyway we can then incorporate them into the role plan.
Please consider taking part and getting trained, it will help the group and will be a key personal skill for you.
If you are interested either email Helen on
Taster Event
Last season we ran our first "taster" day at Donisthorpe Woodland Park. This was a great success with many of the attendees joining the group and attending sessions as a result. We have planned an earlier taster day this season, in fact it will be pre-season on the 22nd September. We are hoping to run this at Willesley Wood so we can complete the small amount of work still outstanding there.
We have started a social media campaign to spread the word and will be sending out updates and reminders over the next few weeks. It will help the cause if we can all share/spread the word please so we ensure as many people are aware of the event and hopefully come along to sample and the join the group.
At the time of writing we already have 12 people registered. Feel free to point any potential attendees/members at
Remember we will need the support of existing members to run the session and act as mentors to the attendees, so if you are available please register on the system (it will be a non-take day for existing members). Your support is much appreciated in keeping the group alive and bringing in new people - there's plenty of wood don't panic!!
Heartwood AGM and Season Launch
We always run our AGM as a joint meeting where we go through the compulsory side of things that all constituted groups must do and also cover the "state of the nation" review of the group.
Regarding the committee and it's members, we have a very strong group of people who have excellent transferable skills that help us run the group. However we are always looking for fresh people bringing new perspectives and ideas, so if you have an interest in the running of the group please
Aside from the AGM business we will be looking at the last year, what we have achieved, how the group has grown, what our strategic direction is and where we are heading for the next year. A great deal of work has been put into the strategic direction of the group, so your views will be invaluable in chatting them through and getting your opinions.
The meeting will be held at the Railway Inn Moira (upstairs club room) at 19:00 - 21:00 on the 9th September.
New Season Dates
The dates for next season are now all finalised. We are currently loading them onto the system and intend making them live on the 1st September for bookings. As always we ask that everyone is considerate in their bookings to ensure everyone gets a good share of dates and opportunities to come along when they want to. Please don't block book every session and if your plans change please cancel your bookings to release them for others.
We will be monitoring the take-up to ensure if sessions get full quickly we look again at the plan and potentially inject more dates (that does mean we need plenty of leaders and first aiders as mentioned earlier)
We will also be adding a few other dates as they become confirmed at other sites. We are looking to work with the team at CEEP to help them with their wood stock as an example.
The main working site will be Woodcote Wood at Smisby on the other side of the road from last season and one session per month at Donisthorpe Woodland Park
There will be plenty of dates which will include Saturdays and a variety of mid-week days to hopefully give opportunities to those on shift work etc.
Publicity
A couple of the group recently went along to a social media training session organised by the National Forest Team. It was comforting to hear that the way we go about our business within the group is on the right lines, but we have always suffered a little with not having a plan for how we manage social media. Hopefully those of you who use Facebook will notice a bit more management around the way we post, especially around events and how we publicise them.
Your feedback on how this is going will be much appreciated