The Prince of Wales Award for the top student attending the Woodland Heritage ‘Woodland to Workshop’ courses in 2019 has been awarded to Scunthorpe resident, Rachel Johnson, a timber framing apprentice at the time she attended her course. Rachel is the tenth recipient of this award and had one of the hardest tests to become the winner as three, and not the usual two, courses were run last year meaning that the tutors had over thirty talented students to choose from.
Woodland Heritage Trustee, course tutor and Duchy of Cornwall Head Forester, Geraint Richards, said of Rachel: “Both during the course and subsequently, Rachel has shown a great passion for learning about wood. Grounded, very practical and always with good humour, Rachel has great potential that we hope that with good fortune she can meet. On behalf of the course tutors, congratulations Rachel!”
With financial assistance via a Wood-Mizer UK bursary, Rachel took three days off from her woodland apprenticeship with woodsman, author and natural eco-builder, Ben Law, in Coppice Management and Natural Building (Roundwood Timber Framing) to attend ‘Woodland to Workshop’, which was held half-way through her year with Ben at Prickly Nut Wood in West Sussex. Within the South Downs National Park, this part of England has one of the highest concentrations of tree cover in the country and was quite different to the landscapes of Rachel’s Lincolnshire home.
“My time at Ben’s was a unique experience”, said Rachel. “Ben is an excellent teacher with an obvious true love for the woodland. I learnt so much about the woodland, biodiversity, sustainability and coppicing. There is something quite rewarding about felling trees, bucking, extracting and then building with timber. The Woodland to Workshop course was the perfect addition to my learning and I am indebted to the course teachers for passing on so much knowledge to me.”
Having also gained a chainsaw ticket at the start of her year at Prickly Nut Wood, Rachel is intending to gain further experience at a new site in the south-east, which will develop her skills in managing small woodlands, producing timbers for conversion and then building timber-framed structures.