David Biggs (left) congratulating David Brown (right) on his Wood-Mizer bursary
A twentieth running, ten years after it began, saw Woodland Heritage’s ever-popular ‘Woodland to Workshop’ course achieve two landmarks in May. Based as ever in Herefordshire at Whitney Sawmills and woods, along with the Duchy estate’s woodlands, the next target that beckons could be as near as this September, when the total number of attendees is due to top the 250-mark.
“We always thought that the simple idea of a course that connected timber growers with wood users had a market and it’s wonderful to see that a decade later, the demand is still there from both ends of the timber supply chain”, said Lewis Scott, Co-Founder and trustee of Woodland Heritage. “Feedback from those attending remains consistently high and the waiting list to attend still remains, although we’re always keen to hear from people who’d like to attend, of course!”
One of the attendees at the May 2018 course, David Brown, was supported by a Wood-Mizer UK bursary.
As a self-employed farmer and forester, David has over the last 29 years planted and established around 50 acres of broadleaf woodland on his 70-acre farm. His aim is to produce high quality timber using carefully thought out management plans, formative and high pruning, and rigorous squirrel control.
His dedicated work resulted in being selected as the winner of the RFS award for small woodland management in 2015 and the Roger Williams-Ellis challenge cup at the Royal Welsh Show in 2016.
In addition to this he finds the time to construct wooden structures using traditional timber framing techniques and working with local Oak and Larch, as well as studying for the MSc Forestry at Bangor University as a distance learning student.
“We would like to express our thanks and gratitude for the continued support from Wood-Mizer UK for our ‘Woodland to Workshop’ courses”, said Mr Scott. “Wood-Mizer sees the value in developing more wood growers and users, equipped to better understand the business opportunities that exist with our most renewable of resources.”
The next Woodland to Workshop course is due to take place in late-September 2018. For more information, please e-mail enquiries@woodlandheritage.org.uk or phone 01428-652159.