Here are some photos of the Community Woodlands Association Conference held on the 1st and 2nd October 2016.
It’s fun, it’s active, it’s sociable, it’s time spent together in nature doing good work!
Findhorn Hinterland Group Project
Maintaining our Woodland and Land
Work Party – Everyone invited, no experience needed.
Saturday 24th September from 09:30 – 12:00
Meeting Place: at the FHG work shed behind the Caddy’s House in Bag End on the edge of the woods (in case of doubt simply ask) – that’s the black dot marked “I” on the Hinterland Map
Come along and join in the fun!
A little effort each month from a few people can make a fabulous difference to our little piece of the Earth that surrounds this community!
Structure of Trust Explored. The Heritage Lottery Fund grant for the public consultation exercise carried out in the spring also funded a training element for trustees. Some of these funds were used to map the different areas of work that the trust is currently engaged in. These sessions were facilitated by Ariane Burgess and produced a mind map and suggestions of different areas of responsibility for trustees and members alike – the results can be seen by following the link to the map and to the associated notes. This work makes it clearer to all what the trust does and which trustee holds which particular area of responsibility.
New Trustee. Donna Skelly, a solicitor working with land and estates for Grigor and Young in Elgin and living in Logie, was welcomed onto the board as a new trustee at the last FHT meeting. She has a passion for land and has been inspired by what the trust is working to achieve. She saw what was going on at the Woodland Festival in the spring and has taken an interest in what the trust does since then. She will be taken on in a professional capacity to secure the workings of the green burial site well into the future by sorting out land and security issues. She has also taken on the role of trust Secretary as from the beginning of this month. A big welcome Donna and a huge thank you for being willing to support the work of the charity in this way! One of the goals of the public consultation was to seek new trustees from the local area and Donna’s involvement also helps to tick that box.
Present Trustee Roles. As of the September committee meeting, trustees agreed to take on certain areas of responsibility mentioned previously in the roles mind map and to try this way of working for a year before a review. The idea is to create a long-term sustainable organisation by it being held by many who have clear roles that can be released and picked up as personnel change over time. Champions are great but in the long run they do not sustain organisations.
As mentioned Donna Skelly is our new trust secretary dealing with the legal side of the trusts work a role previously held for many years by Judith Berry – a big thank you also goes to Judith for her unstinting work and support; she has been a real stalwart for many years. Judith has agreed to take on the area of events and recreation, a role shared with Marilyn Gamble who is also the NFA rep on the board. John Willoner is staying on at this time as a trustee but, as he will be away for six months as from the end of September, he will be releasing his role as treasurer and the financial side of the trust’s work which is being taken up by the inspired and competent Jacqueline Buckingham our present Findhorn Foundation rep. Pat Carroll our Findhorn and Kinloss Community Council rep and dedicated community bridge builder has offered to take on overseeing the IT work of the trust including the website and trustee electronic filing system and part of the communications remit. Didier Lecuyer, as a previous French national park manager, will be looking at covering the large area of land management. Jonathan Caddy stays on as Chair and at present will cover those areas not previously mentioned; education, projects and fundraising the latter if necessary with the professional help of the organisation Get2Grips with Grants.
Community Woodland Association (CWA) Annual Conference. The FHT belongs to the CWA, which is an umbrella organisation supporting over 200 community groups throughout Scotland. Its annual conference was held at Dunoon last year and was attended by Kajedo Wanderer as FHT Land Manager and Jonathan Caddy as Chair. This year it is being held in Forres with 80 to 100 delegates arriving on Friday the 30th of September with the main days being Saturday and Sunday the 1st and 2nd of October. A couple of trustees will be attending the full conference and there will be the opportunity to join in the fun and meet delegates at the Saturday night ceilidh which will be held in the Mosset Tavern, Forres from 8.00pm until late. A site visit to see the work of the FHT is also scheduled for Saturday from 2.00pm to 4.00pm. If you would like to get involved, get in touch.
New Tools and Looking after what we have. Our Land Manager Kajedo Wanderer will soon have a new high spec brush cutter to help clear those paths and keep the gorse back and the trust’s tractor is finally going to get a well deserved paint job with Derek Simpson taking on the coordination of this task. All these jobs take time and effort but are essential to the smooth working of the trust. Another maintenance task carried out this month and worth mentioning is the new roof on the small tool shed – thanks Kajedo and George Paul. A great job and it’s also great to have dry tools and no drips down the back of our necks!
2016 was a difficult year weatherwise for FHT bees but there was a little surplus honey, a few people joined John and Jonathan on regular inspections and as always fun was had and much was learnt!
Come and help maintain our precious woodlands
It’s fun, it’s active, it’s sociable, it’s time spent together in nature
doing good work
Findhorn Hinterland Group
Work Party ~ everybody invited no experience needed
Saturday, 27th August, from 10:00am – 12pm
Meeting Place: at the work shed behind the Caddy’s House in Bag End,
to be approached from the forest behind Pineridge
(in case of doubt, get one of these fabulous leaflets from the General Office or the
Visitors Centre, or simply ask)
Foundation Management Agreement ready to be signed: There has been a verbal agreement ever since the Findhorn Foundation bought land from Duneland Ltd in 2014 that there would be a similar management agreement set up with the new Findhorn Hinterland Trust as there had been with the community group the Findhorn Hinterland Group and Duneland Ltd. It has taken over a year now to agree to wording but we are now ready to sign this important document. It sets out that the FHT has a mandate to manage the land for conservation through an agreed management plan over fifteen year time periods. There still needs a separate agreement to be drawn up to give even more security for the green burial land but this is a significant step forward.
Staffing Secured: Forester Kajedo Wanderer has been generously seconded by the Findhorn Foundation to work on Findhorn Hinterland land for the past year. This has allowed many of the on-going projects to be managed and helped along in so many ways such as planting and tending trees, using the brush-cutter and topper to clear paths and firebreaks, leading and organising tours of the land, carrying on the momentum of clearing valuable lichen beds of invasive plants, caring for the woodland shelter, edible woodland garden and ponds, organising the work of volunteers and a hundred other things that are reflected in the well-kept nature of the land at the present time.
It was clear that the Foundation was not able/willing to fund this secondment beyond this year and although the FHT would have very much liked to employ a land manager at this time, as a very young organisation it was seen as too risky to take on an employee at the moment by the trustees.
Over the last months however, an arrangement has been agreed by which the FHT pays a monthly amount to extend Kajedo’s involvement for another year and by the end of that time we should have secured grants so could have him working on the land for at least a third year. This is very good news as it means that the purposes of the trust to conserve, educate, build community and provide recreational facilities can go forward in a very positive way.
A big thank you to the Findhorn Foundation for being willing to enter into this agreement and it is great to have you on board Kajedo – your work and presence is very much noticed and appreciated by the many!
Happenings on the Land: This summer the land and Hinterland facilities have been well used. Activities have particularly centred around the woods and woodland shelter area and have ranged from night camps by a Nairn Duke of Edinburgh group, drumming and bread making sessions for adults with disability through the Foundation’s Building Bridges programme, nature activities for groups of 3 to 6 and 7 to 11 year olds as part of the Children and Youth in Community summer activities, a burial of a local gentleman in our green burial ground, a couple of informal birthday celebrations around a fire and even a small wedding reception for Sarah Alexander and Trevor Simpson who were married in the village and wanted a contained outdoor space for this special event.
To make sure that there is no conflict with bookings, activities are appropriate, the area is respected and cared for and that there is something positive put back into the land, we provide written guides for the use of the areas and a booking system. This material can be found under Hinterland Facilities on the website.
Findhorn Dunes Archaeology – Walk and Talk
Sunday 25th September 2-4pm. Free but donations always welcome!
Meet at the Woodland Shelter in Wilkies Wood for an introduction and look at some of the fascinating artefacts found on the land. This will be followed by a walk over the dunes to the beach where Michael will point out sites of interest that you might have passed many times and never understood their significance. You may want to read up a little beforehand on the background of the archaeology of the area which can be found here.
Bring suitable clothing and footwear for the walk and the day’s weather.
If you wish to book a place or have any questions, please contact Kim our membership secretary at: [email protected]
Hinterland Wildlife – A Tracking Adventure
Sunday 11th September 2-5pm £10 per adult
(accompanied under 16s free)
The Hinterland is home to some fantastic wildlife. On this nature adventure we will use tracking and other nature awareness skills to help us really get to know our wild neighbours.
Getting a glimpse into the hidden lives of animals can be an eye-opening experience and one that can deepen our appreciation of our local ecosystem.
Heron and fox tracks
The common lizard
To book please email Dan: [email protected], or call 07952 679640
www.danpuplett.net
Engage with the Land ~ Saturday 30th July 2016 ~ 09:30 – 12:00
Work parties are a great way to learn more about the Findhorn Hinterland while caring for it. By participating in a work party you will deepen your knowledge of local ecology and pickup some land stewardship skill.
Join us every month, 2pm and 4pm on the last Saturday of the month. We meet at the Hinterland Information Point in Wilkies Wood – that’s the blue dot marked “I” on the Hinterland map.
Tools and gloves are provided, if you have your own bring them along.
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The Findhorn Hinterland Trust (FHT) is a charity (SC045806) set up as a SCIO (Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation) in July 2015 and as such is regulated by OSCR (Office of Scottish Charities Register). (more...)
Community Woodlands Association (CWA) Conference 2016
On the weekend of the 1st and 2nd of October, the CWA held its annual conference in Forres (at Horizon Scotland in the Enterprise Park). Eighty-five delegates attended representing many of the over one hundred and fifty community woods scattered throughout Scotland and on this occasion with some representation from groups in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Jonathan Caddy was well received as one of the introductory speakers, giving a presentation on what we had all done on the Hinterland since its inception ten years ago and how we hoped to move forward.
Site visits on Saturday were to Darnaway Forest, Sanquhar Woods and the Findhorn Hinterland . Twenty-four of the delegates were shown round the Hinterland with Kajedo and George as their guides. Together we were able to feel the joy that the woodland and heath lands of the Hinterland give.
Of particular interest to us were the workshops and discussions on involving young people and the wider community. Accounts of work with the NHS, children of all ages,
training schemes for young people in enterprise and forest related skills were just a few of the stimulating inputs. It was interesting to hear of the challenges and successes of other groups and how much we all had in common. The links between people and woodlands was a constant theme, as was the need to work towards making our projects viable for the long-term future.
We left with lots of food for thought and look forward to investigating exciting possibilities further.
Have a look at the photo gallery for some more pictures.
George Paul
FHT Member
3rd October 2016