Wilder Woods » Events

Get Outside for Inspiration: woodland training day for schools and practitioners

Deb Millar — Mon, 14 May 2012 14:50:54 +0000

‘Get Outside for Inspiration’. March 16^that Hallr Wood.

Report by Jenny Cater

This practical workshop for school staff, forest school leaders and others working in the educational field was attended by 18 people from across the south west region. The start of the day revealed the range and mix of practitioners and their reasons for attending – teaching assistants delivering Forest School, BTCV volunteer co-ordinator wanting to make links with the curriculum, a couple from Arnos Vale cemetery, Bristol getting ideas for outdoor learning, teacher from north Devon looking for more inspiration for his Bushcraft and Country Way woods, teachers from a special school seeing how to use the outdoors for life skills, and teaching staff from a range of schools from Bath to Dorset wanting inspiring ideas for getting outside in their school grounds.

The main aims of the day were to get ideas, games, inspiration and confidence to deliver a range of literacy, numeracy and cross curriculum topics outdoors. In the morning sessions the 3 groups, Early Years and KS1, Special Needs, Secondary and outdoor practitioners rotated around activity based workshops set in different parts of the woodland.

Jacky King, (Arts projects, creative writing, author, outdoor learning in schools) took them on a journey of discovery to open up ideas for using the outside for literacy – woodland consequences, description and adjectives for poems, story telling and trails for spicing up the senses

Jenny Cater (Space 2 Play. Outdoor Learning Environments and FS leader) used ‘nature’s natural numbers’ on wooden cookies to create curving number lines to jump on and use for a range of numeracy skills. Journey sticks were made into 3D shapes and Pythagoras’s theorem of 3, 4, 5 triangles were used to make large scale quadrants.

Deb Millar (Outdoor educationalist, archaeologist and FS Leader) enticed the different groups into a world of fantasy with the creation of miniature habitats, getting enthusiastic about fantasy bugs and mapping out the environment using sensory trails.

After a welcome lunch of hot soup to warm everyone (thanks Karen!) the afternoon session by Jenny gave a brief introduction to the process of designing and landscaping your own space to get outside and be inspired to learn. Finding out how everyone feels about their environment, zoning different areas (fire/cooking, access points, tool activity, woodlands and wildlife) and deciding on a project they could take back and put into practice were the key elements. By the end of the day, the wind had whistled through the trees and we were getting chilly but there was a buzz of enthusiasm and requests for more learning outside workshops in the woods. Perhaps the greatest inspiration had come from being in the woodland environment with so many like minded people and sharing possibilities and ideas for getting outside and using our natural surroundings to inspire our teaching and learning.

Feedback: What Inspired you today??

A great mix of ideas and discussion. Lots of ideas to work and develop. Great atmosphere generated. Thank you.

Best bit is ideas sparked from each other

Made me feel that outdoor (FS) learning is fulfilling and has spurred me on!

Whole day was inspirational and supportive. Love the space. Great soups. Very helpful grounds talk.

Stimulus for literacy I found useful and will definitely organise. Particularly developing a story trail, what happens where…..

What inspired me? Numeracy line and literacy games.

Seeing the site and realising what can be done in our compound (which is going to become an outdoor learning space)

Enthusiastic organisers. Inspiring site.

Being creative. Something good from natural materials.

Fire circle, chatting, sharing. Thank you!

Many thanks. Sharing ideas. Camp fire – central point. Freedom within self and the surrounding area.

Opening circle – network of like minded people.

Tranquility

Great ideas to practically use.

Great ideas. Meeting people

Fab!!

Inclusive Woodland Adventure

Hannah Aitken — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 18:22:46 +0000

12 young people with a variety of abilities and additional needs attended Wilderwoods Woodland Adventure day at Drayton Woods on Thursday 16th February. Well supported by Forest school leaders & support carers, the young people spent the whole day in the woods, getting involved in various woodland tasks: making bird feeders, planting trees and helping create a willow screen.
3 young people from Langport came along to buddy up with some of the young people attending.
The day started with an opportunity to take part in an animal stamp trail. This was designed to be followed at the individual pace of different participants, including Katy in a wheelchair. Everyone was very proud of the stamps they had collected.

Pine cones were ‘found’ and collected on the trail and then filled with a bird food mixture. Some loved the different textures involved, others left the sticky bits to others! The filled pine cones were then taken out into the wood and hung on branches for the woodland birds to find.
Meanwhile cooking was getting underway back at the campfire. 17 baked potatoes were buried in the ashes and left to bake as a team set off to plant trees in the wood.
The Woodland Trust has kindly donated a mixture of trees that will eventually bear edible fruit: blackthorn, elder, crab apple & wild rose.
A wonderful tree planting team planted 10 trees, complete with stakes and protective spirals, while others engaged in clearing ivy away from selected trees. One boy just enjoyed sitting on the woodland floor soaking up the peaceful atmosphere. We were lucky to have a sunny and warmish day!

At lunch time young people helped cook and eat: 60 sausages, (plus 6 veggie ones) 15 baked potatoes, a big pan of homemade baked beans and loads toasted bread, all prepared on the campfire.
After lunch we were treated to a wonderful story about the beginning of spring, told by our visiting story teller Amanda. All (but the most hyper-active), listened enthralled, including the boys.
Young people then had the choice of various activities and took part in: peeling sticks and making charcoal around the fire; helping create a beautiful ‘free form’ willow screen in our woodland garden; sawing firewood using the bow saw; using tools to make gypsy flowers, bows and arrows, creating & using a safe target run in the woods;
The older boys were able to go into the wood with the buddies for target practice with only monitoring adult supervision needed. This was a wonderful freedom for both the disabled young people and the buddies involved.
The presence of the Langport buddies worked really well, they took on
mentoring 3 young people, all with varying degrees of Autism. They had to be reminded a few times but they hung on in there, showed care for others and created a brilliant, safe, boys atmosphere. I think those less able really loved it and really felt part of a group.
One very hyperactive autistic girl loved just hanging around the boys when they were using tools. I was very impressed by the maturity of the buddies who were able to accommodate this in a safe, non confrontational way.

The day finished with a review looking at photos of activities and sticking 2 stickers on favourites

Many thanks to Karen, Amanda, Camilla, Kevin, Fiveways School support carers Jane, Mary, John, Emma, Lauren, Alice, and Langport Buddies Matt, Joe and Keiral, for making this day such a success and enabling the group of young people, who normally spend a lot of their time indoors, to ‘Get out in the woods and go wild’!

Also many thanks to the Short Breaks funding team for their continuing support!

Hannah Aitken
Wilderwoods Forest School Leader

Basketmaking at Drayton Woods – January 2012

Hannah Aitken — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 11:49:25 +0000

Ten of us gathered together on one of the frostiest mornings of the year to be initiated into the ancient and traditional craft of basketmaking. Armed with gauntlets and old baked bean tins (?) we set about dethorning vicious bramble stems. The sound of a bramble being forced through a hole in a tin has to be heard to be believed! Once subdued we began to see our garden enemies in a whole new light. No longer were they stealthily attempting to slash our skin to shreds or attach themselves inexorably to our clothing. They underwent a total transformation, becoming instead sturdy green and purple frames and handles for our baskets.
Our teachers, Linda and Hannah, dealt patiently with all our queries, soothed us when willow rods snapped and introduced us to the vocabulary of basket making – ‘slyping’, ‘waling’, ‘tips and butts’ ‘upsett’ and ‘randing.’ Once every rib was slyped and in place we were off. We sat around the fire chatting, listening to birdsong (and from time to time the farmer inconsiderately cutting the hedges with something very loud!) totally absorbed by the rhythm of weaving the willow, ivy or bramble seeing each other’s our creations take shape. Everyone put their individual stamp on their basket design – some enviably neat, others of us going for a rather more rustic and airy look! It is hard to describe how relaxing it was just to simply be outside and thinking about absolutely nothing except getting the weaving right, choosing which willow to use next and seeing our work actually begin to look like baskets. The range of colours was amazing – acid green, deep red, olive green, saffron yellow and purply-green. We could hardly bear to tear ourselves away from our creations when it was time for lunch.
By the end of the afternoon we were admiring each other’s handiwork, all of us now the proud owners of our own unique handmade baskets. The sense of achievement from making something yourself from natural materials (which you could actually use!) was truly satisfying. The fact we had spent the day outside was an added bonus. Click on the basket photo in the Drayton Woods Gallery to see all our creations and get a flavour of the day.

Hedgerow Baskets

Deb Millar — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 19:32:38 +0000

Lynda Shaw and Hannah Aitken ran a wonderful hedgerow basket workshop on 20th November. Do look at the Hallr Wood gallery to see the photos. Some stages of the process were soothing, some utterly frustrating!

We all managed to finish our baskets except for Cee who was supposed to be cooking anyway!They will be running willow baskets in January at Drayton.

Horse Logger and Celebration of access opening at Hallr Wood

Deb Millar — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 16:17:36 +0000

Nearly 100 people of all ages (oldest was 97) called in to watch Charles and Rosalind Buckler at work with their two logging horses on Saturday. The sun shone and children played on the swings and in the dens. The horses Major and Suzy did a great job bringing timber from around the wood ready for planking on Rupert Furneaux’s mobile saw mill ( hopefully visiting us soon). The Woodland Cafe did a brisk trade serving hot soup, teas and delicious cakes, baked and donated by supporters (THANKS to you all). It was a beauitiful way to celebrate the end of the long battle we have fought for permission to continue our woodland activities. In the afternoon we all gathered around the access so that Juliet (Chair of our group) could cut the ribbon. We were also presented with a giant cheque from CHADS (Charlton’s Amateur Dramatic Society) who so generously contributed £500 from the proceeds of their summer producction to enable us to do the work required. There are so many people to thank for the access. S Morris donated the materials – stone for the car area and the concrete for the ramp. Vera Huxter gave money for us to buy new wooden gates, many people donated individually. SSDC gave £500 and Charlton Parish Council gave £40. We have worked flat out to get the access done as quickly as possible. Special thanks go to Tim Loosemore, Marty Fildes, Mike Whittaker, Mike Smyth and of course Martyn Huxter who built the concrete ramp only a week ago. Roger Cox has done a fantastic job with his digger – and will be back soon we hope to finish off by spreading a bit more stone on the edges of the car area. We still have landscaping work to do but hope to complete the planting by holding extra volunteer days through out the winter on Wednesdays. Do get in touch if you would like to know more. Thank you very much to the Forest Education Initiative Partnership Fund for funding for the horse logger. It aptly concluded the Somerset Twig to Table project.

Forest Family Sessions

Hannah Aitken — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 12:25:30 +0000

A friendly outdoor playgroup for 0-5 yearolds with Skills Share for adults. Children can explore woodland & play games with a qualified Forest School leader while adults take part in woodcraft, firelighting, wool weaving & felting, willow craft, drama games & wildlife awareness skills share sessions.

4 week course starts Wednesday September 7th, 14th, Sept 21st, Sept 28th

1pm-3pm

For bookings & details contact Hannah Aitken 01458 252 463

Course subsidised by Somerset Community Foundation

Forest School Fridays

Hannah Aitken — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 12:11:46 +0000

Drayton Woods After School Club for 8-12 year olds starts on September 16th and runs for 6 weeks until October 21st. 4.30-7pm
A chance to develop woodland skills over an extended period, exploration, denbuilding, whittling & tool work, crafts, campfire cooking

Booking Essential Contact Hannah Aitken 01458 252 463

Hallr Wood Open Day 19/6/2011

Deb Millar — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 11:41:11 +0000

We welcomed a steady stream of people – old friends and new faces to our Open Day at Hallr Wood on 19th June. Thankfully we dodged the showers and the afternoon was dry and even sunny at times. The wood looked enchanting and there was loads to do. There were woodland trails, chances to try out shave horses and spring pole lathe, a hammock challenge, crafty activities and plenty to eat from our beautiful Woodland cafe. We had a comfy seating area under our enormous cargo parachute and people could go and sit there and hear wonderful stories from Amanda and also Mark playing several tunes on his hammered dulcimer. Our raffle had attracted some great prizes – Sarah won the rocket stove (and can’t wait to try it out on their next camping trip to Exmoor) Azharah won the elm spoon, Jo Blunt won the lovely etching donated fron Nina Gronw- Lewis, Andy the chocs from Heather Barnes (healthy chocolate!) and Cherry won the bottles from Somerset Food Direct. Richard won the hammock challenge. We have raised nearly £200 towards the costs of our planning permision (works required). Big thank you to all our helpers- Ian & Torin, Azharah, Marty, Sarah, Jane, Lynda, Ed, Andy, Martyn, Amanda and her helpers, Juliet Lawn, our Wwoofers Ian, Colline and Matt and also those who came and ate cakes and strawberries. Do look at Ian’s photos which can be accessed via our Hallr Wood facebook page. Hopefully we will have some on our gallery soon too.

Volunteer Woodland Management Day

Hannah Aitken — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 12:23:52 +0000

We had a wonderful day in Drayton Woods on Sunday November 7th and lots of jobs got done.

15 adults and 9 young people helped. With 24 helpers this was the largest turn out at Drayton so far.

A new canvas shelter was put up with the expert guidance of Martyn Huxter This has created an outdoor wood craft working area.

The new shelter stood up excellently to the storm we had on Sunday night/ Monday- it went up just in time!

Over the day lots of people planted 200 bluebells, 50 anemone and 50 narcissi bulbs. We checked our bird boxes in the wood. Two nests were found and the identification of egg remains revealed that coal tits had been using the boxes. The boxes were repaired and strengthened and put back with some new additions to make them more waterproof.

5 ash trees and a small leafed lime were planted, compost and wood ash was the woodland garden put on the woodland garden and bulbs planted. Brush & brambles around the fire area were cleared and logs sawed for firewood. Young volunteers put down woodchip around the campfire area in preparation for the wet weather & mud. A vice that had been donated to the Forest School was cleaned & freed up ready to be set up in the new woodworking area.The weather was sunny all day! As the tarpaulin went up the sun set, and it got a lot colder. We were glad to gather around the blazing campfire to drink a toast of hot spicy cider to all our hard work and to a Winter well prepared for!

250 trees from the Woodland trust have now arrived so watch this space for further opportunities to come and plant some of them!

Photos of the day can be viewed on our website: http://wilderwoods.org/gallery/drayton-woods/

Thanks once again to all involved

Youth Volunteering Day

Deb Millar — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 10:56:59 +0000

We had a wonderful day with 19 young people who came and helped with woodland tasks. We planted woodland bulbs, moved wood, put up nest boxes and also enjoyed a visit from National Trust wardens.
Many thanks to all those who came and also to Somerset County Council who support us.