We held our first event of the year on Sunday gone. It was fully booked but a couple didn't show-not an issue to be honest, apart from the fact that some who would have liked to be there, missed out.
Anyway, myself and the "squad": Me, Eric Methven, Ken Jackson and David Beaver ( always eager!!-sorry
)were up early enough to join the sparrows coughing and barking on etc. and everything was set for 09:30.
Our students arrived and were introduced to the team by John Butler the current Recreation Ranger, a safety brief, a simple tools brief from Eric and we were off.
We started with a bit of a wander, looking at and collecting resins and bark as we went, all very leisurely and relaxed:
Next, in order to give folk a first chance to use the Laplander as well as learn about coppicing hazel etc we stopped to collect a few sticks:
then it was another saunter along some of the nicer bits of forest road, again collecting odds and ends for tinder, cordage and what have you:
after a bit of a drag up the hill, we took a shortcut into a little dean and then clambered up the opposite side for a well earned breather. Sad to note but the remains of a substantial bonfire scarred the area we were using as our rest halt.( this is actually on a nature trail used regularly by primary schools):
After a few minutes we moved on and began our shelter building phase. Just a simple debris or leaf hut, but a fair substitute for a tent in extremis!:
There is always huge variation in how much attention the students pay to what they are being taught, which often leads to some weird and wonderful variations on a theme!:
This ones a bit flat but otherwise ok:
This one; was massive! you could have easily slept 5 in it, also it was built on the brow of the spur we were working on, so it was a bit exposed to the wind::umbrella:
This one had a floor which rolled you to the back of the shelter but again; otherwise ok and these lads improvised a leaf litter collection sheet using a small basha one of them had in his pack:
after about an hour and a half, we halted and then had another look at what had been built, then compared the shelters with the demo version. I think, as always, lessons were learned and point's made, in a light hearted fashion, with many a ; "Ah... of course!" and an occasional; " Oh buxxer" but all the sub groups completed a usable shelter, using no tools and whatever they had available in the way of building materials. You cant get much greener than that!
Then, in the spirit of minimum impact, minimum trace, all the shelters were dismantled and the component parts scattered widely around the area, leaving the little spur, much as we had found it on our arrival.
The next stage was to move on to our fire lighting area. I'll leave it here for now, as it takes ages to put this stuff together, as well as taking a while to load up when viewing!
I'll post part two later in the week but hope you enjoy having a look see.
all the best
R.B.
Anyway, myself and the "squad": Me, Eric Methven, Ken Jackson and David Beaver ( always eager!!-sorry
)were up early enough to join the sparrows coughing and barking on etc. and everything was set for 09:30.Our students arrived and were introduced to the team by John Butler the current Recreation Ranger, a safety brief, a simple tools brief from Eric and we were off.
We started with a bit of a wander, looking at and collecting resins and bark as we went, all very leisurely and relaxed:
Next, in order to give folk a first chance to use the Laplander as well as learn about coppicing hazel etc we stopped to collect a few sticks:
then it was another saunter along some of the nicer bits of forest road, again collecting odds and ends for tinder, cordage and what have you:
after a bit of a drag up the hill, we took a shortcut into a little dean and then clambered up the opposite side for a well earned breather. Sad to note but the remains of a substantial bonfire scarred the area we were using as our rest halt.( this is actually on a nature trail used regularly by primary schools):
After a few minutes we moved on and began our shelter building phase. Just a simple debris or leaf hut, but a fair substitute for a tent in extremis!:
There is always huge variation in how much attention the students pay to what they are being taught, which often leads to some weird and wonderful variations on a theme!:
This ones a bit flat but otherwise ok:
This one; was massive! you could have easily slept 5 in it, also it was built on the brow of the spur we were working on, so it was a bit exposed to the wind::umbrella:
This one had a floor which rolled you to the back of the shelter but again; otherwise ok and these lads improvised a leaf litter collection sheet using a small basha one of them had in his pack:
after about an hour and a half, we halted and then had another look at what had been built, then compared the shelters with the demo version. I think, as always, lessons were learned and point's made, in a light hearted fashion, with many a ; "Ah... of course!" and an occasional; " Oh buxxer" but all the sub groups completed a usable shelter, using no tools and whatever they had available in the way of building materials. You cant get much greener than that!
Then, in the spirit of minimum impact, minimum trace, all the shelters were dismantled and the component parts scattered widely around the area, leaving the little spur, much as we had found it on our arrival.
The next stage was to move on to our fire lighting area. I'll leave it here for now, as it takes ages to put this stuff together, as well as taking a while to load up when viewing!
I'll post part two later in the week but hope you enjoy having a look see.
all the best
R.B.
