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.

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.

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.

The main thing we have been focusing on this month is the legal obligation for the new WSWG SCIO to hold its first general meeting (GM) “as soon as practicably possible” after SCIO registration which was on 5 April 2022. The main purpose of the GM is for the current Interim Trustees to resign and a new Board of Trustees to be elected by WSWG members.

May Day sightings and soundings in Taymount Wood this year included three pairs of common crossbills, blackcap, willow warblers, jays, song thrushes, sparrowhawk, robins, blackbird, woodcock, siskins, greenfinch, wrens, wood pigeon, great tits, coal tits, great spotted woodpecker and (… summer’s nearly here!) TWO swallows.

Our big news of the month is that on 5th April West Stormont Woodland Group was officially registered as a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation (SCIO). The SCIO number is SC051682. WSWG will shortly be looking for a few more WSWG members to join as Trustees to help guide the group in its environmental, recreational and woodland acquisition aspirations.

We’ve been enjoying the lovely bursts of spring weather in between the grey and wet days! We hope you have been too. On 4 March and 13 March, 17 enthusiastic volunteers turned out for our WSWG “Protect a Wild Tree” events in Taymount Wood. A fun time was had by all and even the weather was good to us!