The loop in the River Tay from Murthly to Stanley where Five Mile Wood and Taymount Wood are located.
What has WSWG been doing this month?
We are particularly looking for people who live in the Stanley, Kinclaven and Bankfoot area, but approaches from members living in the wider WSWG area would be very welcome too – Murthly, Luncarty, Pitcairngreen, Almondbank, Logiealmond, Dunkeld and Birnam, Caputh and Spittalfield. If you are resident in the local area, passionate about our local environment, and fancy getting involved please get in touch at contact@weststormontwoodlandgroup.scot
Site meetings with Jim Lee of Energy4All and Alex Urquhart-Taylor of Dundee Renewable Energy Society to update the scope, context and likely timeframes for potential Community Energy/Self-sufficiency/EV-charging Projects in the WSWG Project. The global energy story is shifting and WSWG intends to be part of the local response.
Meeting with Jackie Brierton of Growbiz for advice and support in finalising the WSWG Green Enterprise Plan, Funding Strategy and overall Business Plan.
Ongoing work by the Steering Group on the suite of documents feeding into the final costed WSWG Proposal and the Survey Questionnaire for the mainly on-line Community Consultation, the dates for which will be confirmed soon.
Fly-tipping removed from Taymount Wood car park during the C406 Tackle Litter Group community litter-picking event on 10 April. Many thanks to PKC for removing it and to the host of local residents and other volunteers who cleared litter from the nearby verges. PKC Visitor Rangers, Nicky and Lewis, also kindly litter-picked the car park at Five Mile Wood before they came along to help in the main event on the C406 road.
The Community page on the WSWG website is an open space for members to tell us how they connect with the woods. This beautiful poem by Julia Fehrenbacher was contributed by WSWG member, Deirdre Joy.
The Cure For It All
Go gently today, don’t hurry
or think about the next thing. Walk
with the quiet trees, can you believe
how brave they are—how kind? Model your life
after theirs. Blow kisses
at yourself in the mirror
especially when
you think you’ve messed up. Forgive
yourself for not meeting your unreasonable
expectations. You are human, not
God—don’t be so arrogant.
Praise fresh air
clean water, good dogs. Spin
something from joy. Open
a window, even if
it’s cold outside. Sit. Close
your eyes. Breathe. Allow
the river
of it all to pulse
through eyelashes
fingertips, bare toes. Breathe in
breathe out. Breathe until
you feel
your bigness, until the sun
rises in your veins. Breathe
until you stop needing
anything
to be different.
See how it looks on our Community page: https://www.weststormontwoodlandgroup.scot/community/poetry-stories/ Please keep sending in your contributions so we can fill the page with amazing evidence of how important Taymount and Five Mile Woods are to us all now and how much more they will be when they are in community ownership.
Word of the Month
SCIO. A Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation (SCIO) is a legal structure which has been purpose-built for the voluntary sector in Scotland. It provides limited liability and a separate legal identity to organisations that want to become charities but do not want or need the complex structure of company law. This means that even the smallest charity can access the benefits of incorporation – including limited liability and legal capacity. It is only available to charities with a principal office in Scotland and is regulated by OSCR and subject to the Charities and Trustee Investment Act (Scotland) 2005.
Source: Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations
Find out more at: www.scvo.scot/support/setting-up-a-charity/decide-on-structure/scio
What’s coming up next?
- Community consultation on the final CATS Proposal – a bit delayed but hopefully revised dates to be confirmed soon. Mostly on-line but postal for those not on the internet and hopefully a couple of drop-in events as well.
- WSWG Community Events Programme to be publicised soon – similarly delayed due to workload behind the scenes! Watch this space for walks, talks, foraging, fun events, more tree tubing. Something for everyone!
