Barnsley Bush men wanted!

[leaf man]

Howdy all.
I am a new member of the forum and I have to confess, a long time reader and poacher of some of the ideas and projects on this site. keep an eye out for my bits, will post tem up soon.

Now, I am looking for any keen bush men in the barnsley, south yorkshire area for a long term project within a very local, very special woodland. Wombwell Woods is 300+ acres of semi natural ancient woodland, with a history going further back than the Romans. It has been a working coppice, sandstone quarry, and now it is being left overstood and is getting littered on and over run with rhody. I do work, gratis, for the FC but it is slow and quite intermitent.

So, I want to put together a small band of like minded men, and ladies, to begin a self funded, self planned and modest project to enhance these woods and practice our skills.

Any ideas are always welcome, it will be a team effort after all.

pm or email me and we can get the ball rolling asap!

Mike aka leaf man

 

[Shewie]

I'm could be interested in helping out when I can Mike.

I've visited Wombwell a couple of times before for day walks etc.

Put me down for a probably, look forward to hearing some more details. if the voluntary work can be recognised by an official body then even better.

 

[Leonidas]

Used to live next door to Wombwell, know the woods intimately.
Wish I had not moved now....darn it..

The very best of luck with your project

Tom

 

[BushEd]

I'm in Sheffield, but would happily come up and help out!! So long as it's accessible from public transport

will try to thibk of some ideas...

 

[leaf man]

you're totally right, Shewie. i have meetings arranged with the local society for the woodland and with the FC so that we have the WRITTEN permission for doing such activities, aswell as their support and various permissions for felling etc, if required. the last thing i would want is for us to become entangled with red tape regarding the use of our tools, or weapons to the untrained eye of peskie walkers, landing us in a heap of bother.

the vague aim is to enhance the well being of the woodland, whilst doing so gently and over time.
we will take very little credit for what we do, self acknowledgment being all we need,and be modest in our activities. building hides for keen twitchers, leveling the nasty rhody bush (this is no easy task as there is soooo much there), tending to the litter problems now and again, pond habitat rescuing, logging of species diversity through the seasons( this is to help prove a decline of the habitate, comparing to previous surveys), path repairs... the list could go on.

All this, with an edge of doing it the old school way. leaving only our finished work in place, with a side order of our foot steps as evidence. we will enhance our skills and ourselves, learn and try ideas other people have learnt from, drink tea and eat over real fires and when the time comes, make merry from locally made and harvested sap wines.

Sounds like a hippy version of the A-Team I know, but if you up to it, let me know!

 

[Ratbag]

Mike
I could be interested in this - I like near Penistone - and could rope in a couple of mates too.

Rat

 

[leaf man]

I'm in Sheffield, but would happily come up and help out!! So long as it's accessible from public transport

will try to thibk of some ideas...

sure is, wombwell station is very close indeed. ill look up the OS map co-ordinates and send them to you, presuming you have the sheffield and moors ranger map.
:welcome1:

 

[leaf man]

Mike
I could be interested in this - I like near Penistone - and could rope in a couple of mates too.

Rat

hey rat, fantastic. many hands and all that..:welcome1:

 

[scrogger]

I could also be able to help out a bit. It would not be all the time as I already have a family that demands my time and I volunteer for the scouts also.

keep me posted.

And hope all goes well.

 

[leaf man]

just off out to meet the FC ranger now, will hopefully post some good news in a few hours!

cant believe the response im getting for this guys, thank you!

 

[Ratbag]

Always on the lookout for new places to......er, play

Let us know how you go on

Rat

 

[BushEd]

sounds really good man!! good luck

 

[hiho]

strange to see a local area the top of the list

keep us informed...

 

[drewdunnrespect]

once i dont work weekends anymore i could come up cos i live in teeside not to far away for a days activitys but not at the moment untill new job is found

drew

 

[leaf man]

ok guys an gals, here is the bottom line.

there are two ways to do this.

1 is to just do it under the radar, in the hope that we do not get caught breaking the Crown Bylaws (FC ownership is classed as government property, hence the bylaws) or

2 form a group/organisation with public liability insurance, write to the FC with membership lists with a little background info on the group, outlining the aims and methods of the project. this will mean we get permits and may be elegable for grants to carry out the work, in an official capacity!

does anyone have experience with this area? i do know that when you form a group, there are certain words with the name that define whether you need a structure and membership fees etc... am i treading in a mine field here?

in the meantime though, this is going to be an informal gathering of like minded folks, giving to a local community .

the FC soon loses the ranger for the woodland due to funding cutbacks, and so the policing and personal care of the woods will diminish. this hopefully, is when we step in!!

 

[Shewie]

I used to be in a similarly organised group but I've lost touch with them since I moved to Leeds. I'll see if I can get hold of someone though.

There are quite a few folk on here who do similar things in their spare time, maybe it's worth starting a new thread to address the questions ?

Can the existing ranger point us in the right direction at all ?

I like the sound of "Friends of Wombwell Woods"

 

[scrogger]

al21 is a member of friends of Haggwood I think and Tony (peterlee paddler) is a friend of Chopwell woods. They may have a few contacts who we could get in touch with to get info on setting similar up.

I can set up Liability insurance but would not be sure on the price but I could rebate my commissions back to drcrease the cost of the policy as a whole.

It could get complicated if you have to go down the route of banks, signatorys and treasurers etc. But hey ho it would still be worthwhile taking a look at it.

Andy

 

[Toddy]

Might I suggest that anyone interested in following through on this googles Wombwell wood, action plan, first.

Local woodlands are rarely not under someone's remit. I believe that English Heritage might have an interest since the woodlands have what we in Scotland call scheduled sites.

From a personal point of view I think the more woodlands that have people caring for and working in them, the better

cheers,
Toddy

 

[CAL]

Leaf Man,

I live in Wombwell and have always enjoyed the woods. I don't have a vast amount of spare time but I would like to help out if I can. Let me know about any plans and I'll try and get involved.

Thanks,

CAL

 

[Claudiasboris]

I work near Wombwell and would certainly be interested in this! Work and cadets already take a large chunk of my time, though, so I couldn't promise huge amounts of time.

Claudiasboris