Moss & Height Spring Wood “Fun day”: Wednesday 3rd July.
This will be the last bark peeling session of the season. There will be peeling tools available . You should bring your own sandwiches and drink . Meet by the memorial bench in the middle of the wood by the Byway at 10pm . Dan Sumner is also doing some fencing if you want to help with that. All welcome (and encouraged!)
Please let Ian know if you are coming: 07813 696161 / [email protected]
Charcoal / coppice opportunity:
We’ve recieved the following message from John Robinson. Please contact him directly if you want to follow this up.
I have a small hazel coppice at Catcrag ,Witherslack. The person who used to do the charcoal burning has given up. There doesn’t seem much point in continuing the coppice programme if the product is not used. I wondered if you or someone you know might be interested in continuing the charcoal burning. John Robinson
Trade stands available at the Loweswater Show – Sunday September 1st 2024 A traditional agricultural show in the heart of north-west Cumbria. Full details & application form are available on the website, ( loweswatershow.com ).
If you have any suitable hazel please bring it along for use/discussion etc. There will be some material for the session but it might be helpful to have more & perhaps to compare your own to other grades.
Bring a billhook if you want to have a go (or just turn up & observe / ask questions etc… not essential to bring anything)
Bring a few coins for the hat if you want to contribute to Graham’s fuel costs. There is no other charge for the session.
Graham has offered to run this event for CANW members for free. Perhaps we could ask people to drop a small contribution to his fuel costs into a hat on the day if you feel able?
All welcome, more the merrier.
The idea is for Graham to share his skills and knowledge so that we might be better equipped to develop the thatching spar market in the north of England. There is growing interest from the thatching community in sourcing UK made spars in preference to imports, but currently there is very little supply anywhere in the country to meet the demand, & the skills are fast disappearing.
If you are able, I suggest bringing along some examples of what you “think” a decent gad should look like. There is likely to be discussion about material selection & tolerances, & it would be helpful to have some extra material to work with. If you don’t have access to hazel don’t worry, there will be enough around to enable the session to go ahead.
Meet / start time to follow…
Timber Framing Course (September 9-13th)
Jack Holden is running a timber framing course – please see attached information & contact Jack directly for booking. [email protected]
Glass Knott Earthburn
Details still to be confirmed for this, except that it will now be held in late July/August rather than late June as I said in my previous email. Watch this space…
Weekend In The Woods
Still a few too many tickets left. Bring your grannie….
Still tickets available (which we really need to sell). Thanks for anything you have done to promote this event. Please keep pushing it wherever you can. We need to break even if we are to continue running WITW in the future…
Thatching spars event
We have two possible dates to run a spar training event at Sprint Mill. Please let me know which of these two works best for you. We’ll pick the date that most people respond with & then I’ll send out a general invitation. All welcome, but it would be good to have an idea of numbers. PLEASE RESPOND BEFORE FRIDAY (10th) if you want input into which date is selected
Thursday 30th May
Friday 31st May (before WITW arrivals)
There is no charge for the event as Graham has very kindly offered to run it for free. We feel that it might be nice to offer him some travel expenses to cover his fuel costs for getting here, so we’ll have a little pot (or basket…?) & if you are able to make a small donation on the day that would be appreciated.
No experience necessary. The idea is for Graham to show the process & standards required to supply the thatching industry with spars so that the skills are preserved & hopefully new markets can be developed for in-rotation hazel in the north of England. I’ll send an invitation out this weekend with the firmed up date.
Moss & Heights Springs Woods FUN DAYon FRIDAY 7th June.
There will be another FUN DAY at Moss & Height Spring Woods, all welcome. There’s more oak bark to peel (for leather tanning, proceeds to BHMAT), plus other things…
Contact Twiggy: for more info & to let her know if you intend to come
Also, a reminder about the additional bark peeling day this Saturday 11th May: contact Dan Sumner if you want to come to this one:
Ring Kiln for sale
Charles & Shirley Stewart have a double ring kiln to sell. The asking price is £200. You’ll need to collect.
For further details please contact them directly:
CANW visits
We are hoping to organise a couple of visits to places of interest this year for CANW members. Top suggestions are:
The Scottish Crannog Centre on Loch Tay nr Aberfeldy (last year CANW members provided around 10,000 hazel rods for the construction of their iron age village living museum)
J & F J Baker’s oak bark tannery in Devon
At this stage we’re gauging interest so we can work out if we can do it by car-share or if we need to hire a bus etc. If you think you might be interested in a long distance trip to somewhere interesting please drop Helen Clarke an email & we’ll see what we can arrange.
Also, any other suggestions of where CANW might run a trip/visit please shout out.
Another Glass Knott Earthburn
Brian Crawley is organising another earthburn (traditional earth clamp charcoal burn) at Glass Knott Wood this summer (probably the last weekend in June), related to the 50 year anniversary of the filming of Swallows & Amazons, which featured local charcoal burners of the time doing their thing. Volunteers will probably be needed.
Attached is an article that appeared in Camping & Caravanning Magazine ahead of the one he & Dan Sumner did earlier in the year, to give a flavour.
We’ll firm up the details shortly, but for now it would be worth penciling in the date if you fancy popping along or want to volunteer…
We’ve still got lots of Weekend In The Woods tickets left, sales are not going as fast as we have hoped. Please, if you are able, could you share it through your social media channels, or send to any other likely places? We really need to sell out to cover our costs, so it’s going to need a big push. Any help you can offer in promoting it would be greatly appreciated.
Moss & Heights Spring Woods FUN day! Wednesday, 1st May
All CANW members are invited to a “FUN DAY” in the woods. We’re hoping to revitalise these events by making them more interesting. There will probably be some real work to do, but there will also be opportunities to learn about coppice, woodland management, heritage crafts etc. & meet lovely knowledgeable people.
Not sure exactly what is on the agenda yet but it might well involve oak bark peeling for leather tanning, which is hugely enjoyable to do.
Organised by Bill Hogarth Memorial Apprenticeship Trust (BHMAT)
Contact Ian Taylor directly if you intend to come: [email protected] / 07813 696161
Additional oak bark peeling day at Moss & Heights Spring Woods Saturday11th May
If you can’t make the mid-week day then how about a weekend day? Or come to both! Our chairperson Dan Sumner will be peeling more oak from Helen’s old coupe. Again, all members are welcome to attend. Please contact Dan if you want to come to this one: [email protected]
Asian Hornet News (Thanks to Melanie Fryer for this summary)
The National Bee Unit has declared four risk areas where there will be intensive spring queen trapping following last season’s finds of 72 nests in the UK. During March 1,000 traps will be set, one trap per square kilometre, in 5km zones around nests that were found last season. The areas are in South East Kent, South West Kent, , East Sussex, Plymouth and Yarm in North Yorkshire. Local beekeepers in these areas are encouraged to set their own selective traps. As ever, any Asian hornets should be reported immediately, preferably with a photo, via the Asian Hornet Watch App. Alongside the information provided by the NBU please note a lone Asian Hornet was identified and reported in Preston on March 20th. The warehouse where it was found has regular wagon deliveries from France. A bee inspector attended, set traps and is monitoring closely. The main concern is that the Hornets are not particularly seeking out bee hives. By the time they find them they will have already destroyed the local insect population over a considerable distance.
Woodland Pioneers 2024
Dates have just been released for this year’s Woodland Pioneers organised by BHMAT.
Two interesting things in the pipeline, for which I’ve very little information about as yet! But I’ll update you all as & when more info comes through:
1. A new tannery is in the process of being setting up & intending to use oak bark. Demand for oak bark might rise in the near future, & hopefully the prices will rise accordingly.
2. We are in the process of trying to sort out a training day on making thatching spars. It will probably be run at Sprint Mill, hopefully this summer. Details still to be arranged but bare it in mind…
A 2-day seminar with the Landscape Conservation Forum Thursday 25 – Friday 26 April 2024
Chaired by Ian D. Rotherham and Ken Smith
This two-day event begins in Day 1 by celebrating the remarkable and unique heritage of ancient woodlands. To do this we introduce recent and current research in woodland archaeology and management and update on progress since the landmark publication of the ‘Woodland Heritage Manual’ in 2008. Day 2 will focus on the threats to this irreplaceable heritage and ecology posed by current forestry policies and woodland management prescriptions.
Dave Gray Experienced & qualified tree worker (ground & aerial) available now for woodland/contract work. Based in Carnforth. 07927 199545
Lee Bassett – Witch Halse Coppice Crafts – www.Coppicecrafts.blogspot.com I currently have the following woodland products available: – Hazel weavers / stakes – Cleft Oak posts / rails – Birch tops – Large diameter logs of Ash, Sycamore, Oak, Larch and a small amount of Elm. – Sawn planks of many species including Ash, Oak, Sycamore and Larch (can be sawn into waney edge cladding) – I can also quarter saw logs for high quality ‘dimensional’ timber if required. 07801990053
“This consultation seeks feedback on some of the decisions regarding the first stage of implementing the 2003 UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage. It is part of a wider consultation process taking place until the end of February to inform a policy paper which will outline the details of how the UK plans to implement the Convention. This survey is being run by the UK government but has been developed and agreed with the devolved administrations which have responsibility for their own heritage policy. We explore the definition and criteria of intangible cultural heritage in sections below, but for background information and further detail, we recommend the UNESCO website for the Convention.”