Community Monthly Update – November 2022

The big thing this month has been “Community Consultation 2” from 17 to 31 October on the WSWG Proposal. This mainly on-line survey has delivered its intended purpose, which was to provide evidence of community support for WSWG’s proposed plans for Taymount and Five Mile Woods in community ownership. Here is a summary of the key and very pleasing results from the survey which will be going into our CATS application in a couple of weeks' time.

What has WSWG been doing this month?

The “Community Consultation 2” survey! Which brought in a welcome 173 responses representing 376 adults and children

71.3% of responses from the WSWG area; 28.7% from outwith the WSWG area
52.3% of responses from members and associates, 47.7% from non-members

And here’s the level of support for different elements of the WSWG Proposal. Where 1 was strongly disagree and 5 was strongly agree, these are the average scores out of 5 for each area. This is overwhelmingly positive!

Once our current workload with finalising the CATS application has eased, we will respond in more detail to the broad themes which came up in the survey and answer some of the specific questions people asked.

But overall, we are just so pleased with the expression of community support this represents for the WSWG Proposal going forward as the basis of our CATS application at the end of November. Thank you so much to everyone who participated in this important Consultation, members, associates and non-members alike.

If you missed this chance to give us your feedback then you’ll be pleased to know that the survey is still available on the WSWG website so that anyone who has not yet had their say can still contribute their responses and thoughts. Follow this link

A Quick Reminder of the Plans

Proposed Access Improvements for Five Mile Wood (Note: smaller features like dispersed seats, picnic benches and waymarkers not shown at this scale)

Long term Vision for a restructured Taymount Wood – an enriched and healthy environment for both people and nature

Other Activities this Month

Continuing work on the Business Plan and associated documentation to support the WSWG Proposal in our impending CATS application
Joint instruction to Galbraith from FLS and WSWG for updated valuations for both woods
20 October – progress meeting with Forestry and Land Scotland
Outreach for letters of support from a range of stakeholders to submit with our CATS Application
Met up with Lindsay McManamon, our new local contact for the P&K Health and Social Care Partnership. Looking forward to working with her on our Healthy Living theme in future and thank you to her predecessor, Fiona Johnstone, for all her helpful advice and support for WSWG previously.

Word of the Month

Appreciation: The WSWG Project is such a fantastic, one-off opportunity for our community and our local environment, and our appreciation of your support on our long journey to date is huge. Thank you.

What’s coming up next?

We have decided to leave the survey open on the WSWG website so that anyone who has not yet had their say can still contribute their responses and thoughts. Follow this link
Target date for submission of our WSWG CATS Application – 28 November 2022. Watch this space!
We know we’ve been a bit poor on the events front this year due to the massive workload required in getting everything prepared for the CATS application, but we do hope to arrange a few activities during December and in early 2023 which we will let you know about asap! Watch this space too!

A pretty November scene in Taymount Wood. Note the plastic-free tubes showing their durability – still intact and working 9 months after community events last winter to protect natural regeneration of native tree species such as oak and hawthorn from deer browsing

Community Monthly Update – November 2023

November 8, 2023

We are really thrilled to let you know that Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) has approved WSWG’s Revised Wildwood Proposal and Business Plan for Taymount Wood. This is the first big goal achieved in our Community Asset Transfer Process to bring Taymount and Five Mile Woods into community ownership!

Community Monthly Update – October 2023

October 13, 2023

A highlight for the WSWG Project this month has been the timely teaming up of a group of employees from Aviva in Perth with some unexpectedly lovely autumn weather for a day of corporate volunteering. On 2 October, five enthusiastic Aviva colleagues spent the day with WSWG in the middle of Taymount Wood on a range of interesting and very useful tasks, quite a contrast to their usual office based working environment.

Community Monthly Update – September 2023

September 19, 2023

Given the distinctly seasonal change in the weather of late, we thought we would bring our Word of the Month up to the top of our September update. Psithurism: (Noun) The sound of wind in the trees and rustling of leaves, from “psithuros”, the Greek word for whispering. Enjoy your woods this autumn!

Community Monthly Update – August 2023

August 9, 2023

This month we really want to share with you a wonderful event we had – the joint woodland picnic on 22 July with Tayside Woodland Partnerships (TWP). We pitched our gazebos in a lovely grassy glade in Taymount Wood and set out a delicious picnic spread courtesy of Alison’s Kitchen in Blairgowrie – quiches, sausage rolls and cakes galore – on portable tables kindly lent to us by Stanley Village Hall. More food and home-baking was brought by the picnickers themselves. Despite weather forecasts to the contrary, it was a beautiful day with not a drop of rain or drizzle. After lots of great chat and good food, we heard a little about each of our organisations’ respective projects and then took a walk up the main track to King’s Myre Loch.

Community Monthly Update – July 2023

July 14, 2023

First up this month is for us to say a big thank you to a lovely group of young people from Ochil Tower School in Auchterarder who had come on a mini-bus trip to visit Taymount Wood on 21 June … and just did a litter-pick whilst they were there!! What a great example of being good citizens – enjoying the environment and taking care of it together.

Community Monthly Update – June 2023

June 14, 2023

We want to start with a big thank you to all WSWG volunteers who helped in the Wildflower and Mining Bee Rescue Mission this spring. Many times more wildflowers have come through along the various stretches of raked verge than would have been the case had they remained swamped by gorse mulch and, as seen in the photo here, mining bees have successfully emerged where the track surfaces were cleared to help them out too. And of course the cleared sections of track make for more comfortable going again for walkers and dogs. Lots more areas still need attention, and we will keep doing what we can when we can, but thank you again to everyone who helped make a difference for nature this spring.

West Stormont
Woodland Group

Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation (SCIO) SC051682