West Stormont Woodland Group

West Stormont
Woodland Group

Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation (SCIO) SC051682

Join us today to bring Taymount Wood and Five Mile Wood into community ownership

So it’s October 2019. What has WSWG been doing this month?

West Stormont was the name used in medieval times to cover the parishes of Auchtergaven, Kinclaven, Logiealmond, Moneydie, Redgorton (Stanley) and the Murthly portion of Little Dunkeld. West Stormont has been chosen as the most suitably inclusive title for the many communities connected to Taymount and Five Mile Woods today. Working with local people to bring Taymount Wood and Five Mile Wood into Community Ownership
West Stormont Woodland Group

From now on, think of our two woods as
ONE WOOD WITH A _ _ _ _ _ GAP IN THE MIDDLE

The WSWG proposals for Taymount and Five Mile Woods are coming together really nicely. We feel so deeply now how it is so vital that we go for both woods. The opportunities and benefits open to our community from working the two woods together as one asset are becoming clearer by the day and way exceed any scaled-up challenges we may perceive or face initially. The whole world is at a crossroads as to how we live on this planet in future. Having this wonderful asset at the heart of our community can help us address this across the board. Access for all, improved health and wellbeing, education, lifelong learning, freeing our collective creative imagination. Helping wildlife and habitats thrive again. Boosting the local green economy in lots of exciting ways. Our local response to the climate emergency and mass extinction.

We have had a great summer of events to spread the word and involve all ages and abilities throughout our widespread community. Our “Feeling Good in the Woods” project has rounded off with some wonderful events: Sustainable Foraging Walk, Minibus Picnics in the Woods , Cycling Without Age (huge thanks to Ballathie House Hotel for their support & generosity), Seated Mindfulness and “Woodland in a Backpack”, our new initiative for taking the woods into our local primary schools.

WSWG is at a critical transition point. We are working hard with our consultants, CJ Piper & Co on how best to go about community consultation on the outline proposals. We are also focussed on turning WSWG into the kind of organisation it must become to take ownership and manage the woodlands in perpetuity for our community. And we want our skills mix to be broadened and strengthened so Forestry & Land Scotland have no doubt we will be excellent stewards of the wood with the gap in the middle.

CAN YOU HELP US ACHIEVE THAT?

  • If you can help us improve our website, facebook, email and other communications….
  • If you could help us transition to & manage a SCIO or Company Limited by Guarantee … 
  • If you could take on the Treasurer’s Role….
    If you have a deep passion for our local environment and community wellbeing….

Please get in touch right away

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Previous Articles

Community Monthly Update – November 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!

Read More »

Community Monthly Update – October 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.

Read More »

Community Monthly Update – September 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!

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Community Monthly Update – August 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.

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Community Monthly Update – July 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.

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Community Monthly Update – June 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.

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