We are a Community Project which means that without local support we won’t be able to go forward with plans to bring Taymount Wood and Five Mile Wood into Community ownership. You can read here about our latest progress, some of the projects and activities we’re involved in and our ideas going forward. Also here are some wonderful blogs for WSWG from Margaret Lear and The Barefoot Woodland Wanderer!
You can go back through the archives from 2018 to learn more about our whole journey so far to bring Taymount and Five Mile Wood into community ownership.
Please join us and let’s make this happen together.
With bated breath and eyes focused ahead for the slightest movement, the young teenage boy edges closer to the fox earth. After a 5 mile bike ride out of town and a steady walk in, only a few feet now remain before he can reach the old rotting log that will conceal him from the earth’s occupants.
This month, WSWG has been flat out with the Wildflower and Mining Bee Rescue Mission in Taymount and Five Mile Woods. The recent cutting and mulching of years of encroaching gorse and other scrub along the core paths in both woods means the task is enormous. WSWG members and new volunteers have stepped up to help over the past fortnight because they care about the small creatures and their vital microhabitats in our woods.
This month, here are some musings on the season and community wealth building from Bob Talbot.
March is famous for “mad” hares, for its “ides”, for occasional sun that feels like May, and for its winds, which, with April showers, “bringeth forth the May flowers”. In short it is a month of change, leaving winter behind but not forgotten, shaking the snow off its coat tails and setting its face towards better and hopefully warmer times ahead.
This past month we have been taking stock of the amazing future we have envisaged for ourselves when the woods are in community ownership. The WSWG Proposal is a truly exciting opportunity for neighbouring communities around the woods to join together in meaningful action for nature and the environment in a way which directly delivers community benefit to suit diverse interests, abilities and needs.
A heartfelt wish for a Happy New Year to all our WSWG members and supporters. Here’s hoping 2023 will be a happy and positive year for us all and the WSWG Project. To update anyone who missed our announcement in the run-up to Christmas, the WSWG CATS Application to bring Taymount and Five Mile Wood into community ownership was submitted to Forestry and Land Scotland in December 2022. An evaluation and negotiating process will now take place over the next few months, which we truly intend will bring a happy and positive outcome for us all.
WSWG is delighted to inform you that we have submitted our CATS Application to Forestry and Land Scotland for Taymount and Five Mile Woods, based on the WSWG Proposal 2022 Going Forward which received overwhelming support in our recent Community Consultation. It has been a long haul and we are so grateful for your support in getting us to this point.
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.
Unseen for most of the year, they erupt as if by magic across the woodland floor in a dazzling display of colours and forms through August to November. Their underground rooting network is so fine and dense, there can be 300 miles of fungi mycelium under each footstep. The mushroom fruiting body we are so familiar with is merely the means to spread their spores to the wind.
This has been a very busy month for the the board. You’ll see we’ve elected a new board of Trustees who have worked tirelessly throughout the last few weeks to prepare the Community Consultation for the WSWG project. This is the next key moment as we move forward towards bringing these two woods into Community Ownership and its success will depend upon the support of the communities in which these woods are situated.
They have inspired poets, writers, lovers, artists and dreamers the world over since the dawn of human existence. Their infinite blend of colour and form, fragrance and beauty have become such an integral part of our lives, that a world without them is simply inconceivable. Saying it with flowers is equally as profound a statement at funerals as it is at weddings and other celebrations. They adorn our gardens, streets and work places, our clothing, dinner plates and even our bodies in body art.
He raises his foot, in anticipation of the pain that never comes, as the familiar sound of a buzzing bee in panic is heard and felt beneath his foot. Once stung twice shy – being more of a rule of thumb than a casual saying with barefoot walkers. Now feeling somewhat guilty at his clumsy intrusion, he examines the unfortunate casualty that’s still struggling to regain composure. “Believe it or not, this is your lucky day” the man jokes aloud as he lifts the un-amused and bewildered bee with one hand while reaching into his bag for a small jar of honey with the other – a rare treat only ever carried on long arduous days such as this.
Our big thing this month was the first General Meeting of the WSWG SCIO, involving the retiral of the three interim trustees and the election of a new Board of Trustees to take WSWG forward as a charity. We had sent out a “GM Pack” to keep our WSWG membership informed, invite them to the GM and seek nominations for WSWG Members willing to become Trustees. The meeting was held at the Tayside Hotel in Stanley on 20 June with the formal proceedings followed by the opportunity to chat together over a cup of tea.
Whilst Membership of West Stormont Woodland Group is FREE and always will be, fundraising is a major objective in our journey to bring this woodland under community ownership. Please consider making a donation, however small, to keep our bid process on track. Thank you.
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