Wilder Woods

The website has now been mostly rebuilt but stay tuned for continuing updates to it.

Central Somerset Outdoor Learning Partnership is still thriving and actively working to increase access to forestry and conservation activities for all ages. However we have unfortunately encountered a problem with our web site and ask for patience until it is up and running. Our Picassa galleries are still in place and events will be posted on here.

SPRING TERM 2010

Sat 6th March Woodland Toys: Part 1 12yrs+ 10-4pm Drayton Woods £5
Sat 13th March Woodland Toys: Part 2 12yrs+ 10-4pm Drayton Woods £5
Fri 19th/Sat 20th March Overnight Bushcraft Camp 13yrs + 5pm- 12noon Drayton Woods £15/
£12 concs
VOLUNTEER DAYS

We hold regular volunteer days to help with woodland management tasks and welcome anyone who is interested. We especially encourage youth volunteers who can get credits towards Duke of Edinburgh or John Muir Award through us. Wear warm clothes, sensible footwear and bring a packed lunch. There is no membership fee or charge but we ask you to contact our volunteer co-ordinator ahead of the days so tasks can be planned.
Sunday Feb 14th Woodland Management Adults
13yrs+ 10.30-4pm Drayton Woods
Sunday March 7th Woodland Management Adults
13yrs+ 10.30-4pm Hallr Wood
Charlton Mackrell

Please ask for concessions if you qualify for free school lunches
Activities for Young People 12 years and over are subsidised by Somerset County Council Youth Fund

Booking Essential
Please ring/e-mail for Further Details and Booking Form
Hallr Wood (nr Somerton): Deb Millar 01458 223 444
deb@beccott.com
Drayton Wood (nr Langport): Hannah Aitken 01458 252 463
hannah@madasafish.com

Volunteer Co-ordinator: Jane Wilson: 01458 446799

Our annual review (2009) is ready. Unfortunately it is 8 pages long and we haven’t managed to upload it but electronic copies can be obtained by emailing forestschool@beccott.com

Thirteen teenagers from around Somerset enjoyed a night sleeping out in hammocks this last weekend, thanks to a grant from Somerset County Council. They did a night walk and learnt survival techniques from Duncan Macleod- Rhodes from Wild Connections. Look out for photos in the gallery and also some gripping accounts from the young people themselves.. (at least they promised they would write something!)

We are terribly saddened by the news of Midge Hopkinson’s death last Friday 25th September after a brave battle against cancer. Midge did a massive amount for the Girl Guides and was thrilled that we were doing forest school on her doorstep. She was also supportive of our group on a practical level; our kettle and many of our pots and pans have been re-cycled on through her from the guides. We were so pleased that she agreed to be on our committee. We hoped that she would re-gain enough strength to sit around our lower camp fire one day and this was another reason to soldier on with our improved access because this does make it a possible for people with limited mobility to visit the wood. On a personal level I will miss calling in on her and discussing camp fire recipes and how good it is for children to get out into the woods and be a bit wild.

Sessions for families with young children will soon resume in Charlton Mackrell and begin in Drayton with help from a Grass Roots Grant. We are very pleased as we have missed the lovely Wednesday afternoon sessions with mums, dads, grannies and young children.

Please look at the calendar for dates.

We will be able to repair our storm damaged craft shelter area and improve parking at Hallr Wood, thanks to another grant from SCC Aggregates Levy who have supported our summer playschemes for the last two years.

We are ideally placed to offer interesting courses for this age group; bushcraft and bow making, conservation skills and woodland crafts. We are so pleased to hear that Somerset County Council’s Youth grants will help us offer subsidized courses and we are now busy planning a programme for 2009-10.

Do get in touch if you are interested and within this age group or work with a group that is.

We were thrilled to be awarded funding from the Field Studies Council in the summer of 2007 to develop and trial a living history resource for KS2 to be used in woodlands. The project was conducted on behalf of the Yeovil and Dorset Forest Education Initiative Cluster group who we work closely with.

The object of the resource is to make children more aware of the history of woodlands and the importance of conserving them for the future. It also aims to give children a new insight into the past through a combination of practical experience and drama.

We have run Viking Days for schools and home education groups in woods and in school grounds. We made Viiking barley bread on an open fire and ate it with stinging nettles (everyone liked them) or with honey on wooden plates; we told sagas and discussed daily life in Viking times; we held ‘things’ and got very carried away with all the role play so much so that we almost believed the look outs when they reported seeing wolves and Saxons approaching…

As a result of our sessions, we have produced a booklet with activity plans so that schools and groups can run their own ‘Viking Days’. We hope it will encourage more schools to get out into their woodlands for learning.

We ran a training day for teachers wanting to run their own Viking Days in November 2008. The booklet ‘How to run your own Viking Day’ is free to download from the FEI web site (see links). We will be running more Viking Days for children in school holidays and can also assist schools should they wish to host a day.