May 7th-8th-9th Somerset Bushcraft Meet/Gathering

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Jaysurfer

Settler
Dec 18, 2008
590
0
Somerset, UK
Maybe we could pass the tequila his way and he'll end up like Dan... Nice and safe.....

27032010385.jpg

God knows how that kid didn't wake up! We could of actually moved him and left him in the middle of the woods somewhere!
 

jonajuna

Banned
Jul 12, 2008
701
1
s
Be carefull of HSE an Insurance etc if your going to be Felling trees etc The Trust will be liable for any accidents and cock ups on activities done on their land with their permission

think i might print a disclaimer... lol
At the end of the day i don't want to take the **** with a once a month meet and not give anything back.
Plus it makes more sense for people who enjoy being in the woods to do stuff like chop up fallen trees. We will not be taking down any standing trees, it will just be a clear up of rubbish and fallen trees.

was thinking about this myself, sadly the nanny state we live in prevents anyone from doing this sort of stuff without adequate public liability insurance, risk assessments and compliance with the HSE regs around equipment

the only way i can see to avoid stuff like that, is for us never to become a formal "group" or club. for any tools we "choose" to use in our "individual enjoyment" of the woods (albeit whilst amongst friends) and none of us ever ask another to do something...

if each of us just happened to be in the woods, just happened to have gloves and bags and a folding saw and just happened to decide as individuals to pick up that piece of rubbish or clear that branch sticking out across the footpath.... we might just maintain the activities as individual responsibilities

but, i still wouldn't be 100% that the trust would still be absolved of responsibility if they gave permission and someone got hurt and decided to "claim through injury lawyers r us" (translates as vampires of society). not saying any of us would, but you never know and they are public woods that others may be in and could get injured.

disclaimers are not worth paper they are written on in law sadly :(

of course, if the trust were to explicitly say to us "do not clear that fallen tree 'there', 'there', 'there', 'there' and 'there'........ and what ever you do do not pick up any rubbish when you spend the night in those woods.

then they would be absolved of any liability which would then be firmly in our laps as individuals (as we are not a club)

woods would look nice and clean of litter though :)
 
was thinking about this myself, sadly the nanny state we live in prevents anyone from doing this sort of stuff without adequate public liability insurance, risk assessments and compliance with the HSE regs around equipment

the only way i can see to avoid stuff like that, is for us never to become a formal "group" or club. for any tools we "choose" to use in our "individual enjoyment" of the woods (albeit whilst amongst friends) and none of us ever ask another to do something...

if each of us just happened to be in the woods, just happened to have gloves and bags and a folding saw and just happened to decide as individuals to pick up that piece of rubbish or clear that branch sticking out across the footpath.... we might just maintain the activities as individual responsibilities

but, i still wouldn't be 100% that the trust would still be absolved of responsibility if they gave permission and someone got hurt and decided to "claim through injury lawyers r us" (translates as vampires of society). not saying any of us would, but you never know and they are public woods that others may be in and could get injured.

disclaimers are not worth paper they are written on in law sadly :(

of course, if the trust were to explicitly say to us "do not clear that fallen tree 'there', 'there', 'there', 'there' and 'there'........ and what ever you do do not pick up any rubbish when you spend the night in those woods.

then they would be absolved of any liability which would then be firmly in our laps as individuals (as we are not a club)

woods would look nice and clean of litter though :)


unfortunatly by giving you permission to stay in their woods they are liable for your saftey etc

if you do any work in exchange for anything ie clear wood in exchange for camping you are now in a AT work situation and HSE at work Regs apply

No disclamer or Sign can absolve any responsibility from the above in English law ie sign sayin you park here at your own risk has no legal base

I would alos be wondering espesially if goods and services where done for camping ie payment if the site should be a registered certified campsite

The council would certianly come down on any one who had paying campers in on their land without the right forms and fees payed etc



Welcome to England :D

ATB

Duncan
 

FreddyFish

Settler
Mar 2, 2009
565
2
Frome, Somerset, UK
Anyway..... The List;

FreddyFish
SiberianFury (josh)- possibly bringing a mate
Salad
Jay (Guess i better come considering its my woods!)
Mayobushcraft
Jonajuna
Bazzworx (hopefully)
Bushwhacker

Anymore out there???
 

Jaysurfer

Settler
Dec 18, 2008
590
0
Somerset, UK
unfortunatly by giving you permission to stay in their woods they are liable for your saftey etc

if you do any work in exchange for anything ie clear wood in exchange for camping you are now in a AT work situation and HSE at work Regs apply

No disclamer or Sign can absolve any responsibility from the above in English law ie sign sayin you park here at your own risk has no legal base

I would alos be wondering espesially if goods and services where done for camping ie payment if the site should be a registered certified campsite

The council would certianly come down on any one who had paying campers in on their land without the right forms and fees payed etc



Welcome to England :D

ATB

Duncan

Right before this gets too silly...
The woods are owned by the parish. Thats anyone who lives in the local community (Me!)
There is a trust who are appointed to manage the woods on behalf of the community.
When i say manage, these are retired people who get together once a quarter to decide if they are going to plant any more trees, put up any more signs etc etc...

Once a year someone volunteers to 'tidy' the woods, I thought it might be something people on here may be interested in doing as we have an appreciation for the great outdoors.

I'd rather the community see's our 'get togethers' as a possitive (security, management and tidying the woodland) and not a neggative (fires, trip hazards etc etc), so thought if i volunteered our services to 'tidy' the woods it would give us brownee points and mean we are able to use the woods now and in the future.
At the end of the day i can go and use them whenever i want and as i own about 1/100 of the woods no one can stop me or do me for trespassing. However i do like being able to offer other people the opporutinties that i have.

I enjoy spending time in the woods but i would like to feel at the end of the weekend I/we have done something constructive and achieved something.

I've seen many threads on here where members organising meets have asked for a few quid a night in order to be able to use the land and also members who have use of woodland in exchange for a bit of work here and there.

Now i am more than happy to check if the woods has public liability insurance and if it doesn't orgnaise for a group of 15 to be covered at any point while we are there. It will never be registered as a camp site as it is completely unpractical and it is not a camp site, it is privately owned land and will stay that way!

As of yet i have seen no one act irresponcibly, however if i see someone who puts themselves or others in danger with reckless behaviour they'll be asked to leave...
At the end of the day i am there to enjoy myself and spend time with good company, not worry about who can be trusted with a knife and who can't and who's doing what.

Sorry for the moan...
 

jonajuna

Banned
Jul 12, 2008
701
1
s
Jay :) dont think anyone (especially me) is saying we shouldnt have a tidy up or that we need insurance (even though strictly speaking we do).....

just umming and ahhing about;

1, the anally retentive laws we have in this country
2, thinking aloud as to how we can proceed while protecting the trustees
3, making sure we dont act in a way (ie forming a club or association) that actually means we are subject to even more of point 1

completely agree that its favourable for us to clean the woods to get in trusts good books as well as just cleaning up the countryside

insurances for the type of activities we are talking about would likely be prohibitively expensive

as the "land owner" the trustees will likely have 3rd party insurance for normal activities (walking, riding) but only probably covering things like a tree falling over and squishing a member of the public

all "maintenance" of the type of clearing trees and scrub would likely have to be done by a registered arborist who would come with his/her own insurances

to cut to the chase, it is most sensible to do pretty much what bushwacker has said, meet up, camp, clear rubbish and then let the trustees know what we have done. that way they cannot be held liable and we still get the brownie points. as for clearing any fallen wood, not so sure, clearing the paths by moving stuff to the side is one thing.

how about finding out when they are next organising the routine clean up? we could come along to that (as well as our litter picking) as a thanks for the use of the woods
 

jonajuna

Banned
Jul 12, 2008
701
1
s
Umm yep and the cider .
Ere lads me an the missus had our 20 week scan today we are havin a girl;)

i was made up when my daughter was born, always wanted a girl........

9 years later, second thoughts, sooo much more trouble than boys! lol

congratulations though :p
 

mayobushcraft

Full Member
Mar 22, 2007
260
1
61
Yeovil somerset
Right before this gets too silly...
The woods are owned by the parish. Thats anyone who lives in the local community (Me!)
There is a trust who are appointed to manage the woods on behalf of the community.
When i say manage, these are retired people who get together once a quarter to decide if they are going to plant any more trees, put up any more signs etc etc...

Once a year someone volunteers to 'tidy' the woods, I thought it might be something people on here may be interested in doing as we have an appreciation for the great outdoors.

I'd rather the community see's our 'get togethers' as a possitive (security, management and tidying the woodland) and not a neggative (fires, trip hazards etc etc), so thought if i volunteered our services to 'tidy' the woods it would give us brownee points and mean we are able to use the woods now and in the future.
At the end of the day i can go and use them whenever i want and as i own about 1/100 of the woods no one can stop me or do me for trespassing. However i do like being able to offer other people the opporutinties that i have.

I enjoy spending time in the woods but i would like to feel at the end of the weekend I/we have done something constructive and achieved something.

I've seen many threads on here where members organising meets have asked for a few quid a night in order to be able to use the land and also members who have use of woodland in exchange for a bit of work here and there.

Now i am more than happy to check if the woods has public liability insurance and if it doesn't orgnaise for a group of 15 to be covered at any point while we are there. It will never be registered as a camp site as it is completely unpractical and it is not a camp site, it is privately owned land and will stay that way!

As of yet i have seen no one act irresponcibly, however if i see someone who puts themselves or others in danger with reckless behaviour they'll be asked to leave...
At the end of the day i am there to enjoy myself and spend time with good company, not worry about who can be trusted with a knife and who can't and who's doing what.

Sorry for the moan...


Jay I agree we as a group should worry more about what we can offer to the woods and less about the what ifs. If anyone is worried about someone getting hurt. Then dont come. All of us are adults and should have the knowledge and integrity to avoid injury to ourselves or others. But accept that accidents can happen. That said we have permision to use the woods and with that the responsability to give something back. I think that if we consentrate on the paths, trash collection and gathering downed wood for our own weekend use. I also think we could use several downed tree trunks to close any gaps in the perimiter of the woods so that there is room for walkers and horse traffic but not allow for fourwheelers. Something that we can winch out of the way for maintainance in the woods. Let me know what you think.

Talk later
James
 

jonajuna

Banned
Jul 12, 2008
701
1
s
no worry about the what ifs

all i am suggesting is that the more formal something becomes, the more likely refusal (due to fear of litigious behaviours) is to be forthcoming for such activities

the current "handshake permissions" are best :)
 

Jaysurfer

Settler
Dec 18, 2008
590
0
Somerset, UK
Umm yep and the cider .
Ere lads me an the missus had our 20 week scan today we are havin a girl;)

Bushwhacker thought he was having a girl too....
Now he has a son called Alfie lol

Made up for you mate. little girls do love their dads... only problem is when they grow up they 'love' men in general lol
 

Jaysurfer

Settler
Dec 18, 2008
590
0
Somerset, UK
Jay I agree we as a group should worry more about what we can offer to the woods and less about the what ifs. If anyone is worried about someone getting hurt. Then dont come. All of us are adults and should have the knowledge and integrity to avoid injury to ourselves or others. But accept that accidents can happen. That said we have permision to use the woods and with that the responsability to give something back. I think that if we consentrate on the paths, trash collection and gathering downed wood for our own weekend use. I also think we could use several downed tree trunks to close any gaps in the perimiter of the woods so that there is room for walkers and horse traffic but not allow for fourwheelers. Something that we can winch out of the way for maintainance in the woods. Let me know what you think.

Talk later
James

Sounds like a plan...
You just wanna use your winch lol
 

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