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Unigate Wood - part of London's green lung

Unigate Wood – part of London’s green lung

by Angus, 12 January, 2016, 4 comments

The Royal Forestry Society organises about 100 trips each year to visit woodlands - these are done through its local groups.  The London Division is particularly active with Paul Akers and Angus Morrison in charge - they recently arranged a trip to a small South London woodland of 2 acres, called Unigate Wood and invited the Director of the RFS as well as ordinary members such as me .   Unigate Wood was once part of the site of a Unigate Dairy which closed, leaving the dairy to be replaced by a large residential development .  As part of the planning permission the developer entered into a deal for planning permission called a "section 106 agreement " with Lambeth Council to preserve the woodland for local amenity and it is now jointly managed by Lambeth Council and the Friends of Unigate Wood.    The friends are led by Stephen Lacey who 10 years ago used the wood for walking his dog but couldn't resist building up a group of local volunteers to care for the site.  Read more...
Preparing for action.

Preparing for action.

by Dick, 7 October, 2015, 0 comments

It is not unusual for owners to allow others to use their woodlands; community groups, scouts, guides, local schools and so on all benefit from spending time in woodlands up and down the country.   Less common is for a charity to use a woodland for pre-deployment training. Jon Mackeen, vice-chairman of DART international UK, a charity based near to the woodland in question, takes up the story: "DART International is a registered UK charity that provides teams of experienced volunteer arborists (tree surgeons) to support worldwide disaster relief operations by removing obstructive trees and enabling other aid and rescue services to operate safely and effectively Read more...
Branching Out Adventures competing with Go-Ape in East Sussex

Branching Out Adventures competing with Go-Ape in East Sussex

by Angus, 25 September, 2015, 1 comments

"Setting up our own business has been one steep learning curve after another," says Mark Oakden, whose background is in construction and surveying.  "When we opened to the public in May this year, we expected to be immediately overwhelmed by customers but it's taken some time to build up.  Now, 4 months on, it's going really well and we sometimes have 60 people in the wood climbing at the same time.  The most satisfying for me is working with kids who have disabilities or troubled backgrounds.  To be able to do something like this gives them huge self-confidence as well as a thrill." Mark and his business partner Dave lease two acres of oak woodland at Bentley in East Sussex (near Lewes) and have invested over £300,000 to set up their high walkways, giant swing, climbing wall and zip wire.  Read more...
"Woodland Therapy" and outdoor counselling.

“Woodland Therapy” and outdoor counselling.

by Mark Wood, 28 August, 2015, 16 comments

For a long time I wanted to take my therapy outside of the office, and indeed outside of any boxes, so I am really pleased that I can offer "talking therapy" in one of Woodlands.co.uk's woodlands near Ashford in Kent. The best way of understanding this kind of therapy, is for you to hear from some of my clients. Here a client describes the differences she sees between the therapy I offer, and the support she has received from her mental health team in recent years: “ When I walked into the waiting room of the mental health department I was met by signs, posters and pictures all telling me about the different kinds of conditions and diseases I can be suffering from. I then sat in a waiting room surrounded by people who looked as if they no longer saw life as a positive choice, which you drink up like a sponge.  Read more...
Becky Speight, Woodland Trust chief, outlines her new vision

Becky Speight, Woodland Trust chief, outlines her new vision

by Angus, 9 July, 2015, 1 comments

Visiting the Woodland Trust headquarters in Grantham, Lincolnshire, immediately gets you thinking of trees - it is surrounded by young silver birch trees and the walls are clad in wooden panels and even the reception desk is a sawlog that has been cut into planks for seasoning   The footprint of the building at Kempton Way is C-shaped, said to be in the shape of an unfurling fern enclosing a sheltered woodland garden.  Inside, about a hundred people, predominantly young, sit in open plan offices in front of their screens, avidly organising and tapping out the Woodland Trust message mostly fundraising or campaigning – the other staff are out in the field managing their estate of over 1000 woods or working with landowners. We met the chief executive, Beccy Speight, who has been at the helm for a year and is clearly immensely capable and knows woodlands inside-out - her previous job was managing a chunk of the National Trust Read more...
Forest Schools in the U.K.

Forest Schools in the U.K.

by Peter, 4 February, 2015, 1 comments

The history of forest schools in the UK dates back to the 1800s, but it is only in the last 20 years that their organisation and scale have significantly developed. Forest schools are about learner-led activities in an outdoor natural space, ideally small woodlands, over an extended period of time. For example, forest school activities can include tree identification, shelter building, butterfly hunts, and animal track spotting. In recent years forest schools have exploded in popularity and they work alongside traditional classroom approaches. At the heart of the forest school ethos is an emphasis on offering every learner a regular opportunity to achieve. Read more...
A Guide to Social and Therapeutic Horticulture.

A Guide to Social and Therapeutic Horticulture.

by Sarah, 28 January, 2015, 2 comments

Social and Therapeutic Horticulture (STH) currently fits under the umbrella term ‘Green Care’. Research on the effect of our natural environment upon us has shown that there are many ‘passive’ benefits to our general well-being .  Social and Therapeutic Horticulture (STH) is described as the purposeful use of horticultural activities to promote health and well being, and to facilitate social inclusion. But what does this actually mean? An STH Practitioner is someone who has studied and practised how to use horticulture as a tool to help improve or maintain the health and wellbeing of an individual, and how to create the right environment for change to take place.  STH is now being used in hospital settings, and also within the charity sector as a means to help a wide range of people including those with mental health conditions, learning disabilities, within the prison service, PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder), spinal injury and dementia. Read more...
Camping in woodlands for blind and visually impaired people

Camping in woodlands for blind and visually impaired people

by Angus, 11 January, 2015, 3 comments

One of woodlands.co.uk's community projects in Kent organises bushcraft days for young people who are blind and visually impaired.  Karen Little, who runs a forest school there, says, "we'd like to do camping trips but at the moment we are starting with bushcraft sessions for visually impaired 8-16 year olds with their parents or carers.  It's amazing how much they get out of it - as we concentrate on tactile stuff."  In Kent the Ashford Actionaaires, part of the RNIB's Action for Blind, have been Karen's key partners in organising these hands-on woodland activities. Read more...

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