Woodland £5 Heritage 2019 Made in Japan since 1919 Twenty Five Years in Pictures Teaching Timber W2W to Business “Why I joined” Patron HRH The Prince of Wales Whitney Sawmills Specialists in cutting and manufacturing UK grown timber Based in Herefordshire, Whitney Sawmills is well established as a leading British sawmill. For many years we have supplied fresh sawn Oak and Douglas Fir beams as well as air and kiln-dried timber including Oak, Ash, Sweet Chestnut, Sycamore, Cherry, Elm, and Poplar. We are also renowned for providing unusual and specialist hardwoods and softwoods for particular restoration projects as well as furniture making and house-building. Our aim is to continue to source an increasing amount of our log supplies from well-managed UK woodlands and estates, to help promote the sustainability and legacy of our native timber. Proudly celebrating our centenary Oak provided for Shenmore Lodge Green Oak beams supplied for Dumfries House project Ash used by Andrew Dix for a bike frame Sweet Chestnut used in the Duchy garden furniture range [email protected] 01497 831 656 Whitney-on-Wye, Hereford HR3 6EZ whitneysawmills.com Contents 25 Years - Our Silver Jubilee 4 Barking up an Oak tree – The story of Cork 54 A turn for the better 6 Woodland to Workshop – 10 years on 56 Sir Harry Studholme – 2019 Peter Savill Award Winner 7 From an Acorn - a story of Remembrance and Hope 58 Goodbye Graham, Hello Tabitha! 8 A 200 year forestry partnership – British-Australian Goodbye ‘B’, Hello Kelly! 9 forest and wood products 60 Neil Girvan – 2018 Prince of Wales Award Winner 10 Woodland Cruck Barn Part 3 - Rankin’s Legacy 66 Our 2019 Field Weekend 11 Giving life to the Rackham legacy 68 A tribute to Roger Venables 12 Creating Working Woodlands 70 Field Weekend 2018 13 Tree Health Resilience Strategy 72 Field Weekend Snapshots 2018 22 A year of progress for Action Oak 74 Letters 24 Continuous Cover Forestry (CCF) two-day course, Ruthin/Clocaenog 76 Woodland Heritage’s ‘Woodland to Workshop’ experience heads north! 25 Continuous Cover Forestry Group – 2019 Events Programme 79 Association of Pole-Lathe Turners and Greenwood Workers 27 Best Use of British Timber Award 80 Annual Wood Awards Winners 2018 28 A modern reference to temperate woody plants 83 Fast forward for Continuous Cover Forestry in Ireland 31 Lignum and Ash 84 Le bois d’oeuvre c’est l’avenir! 34 Bangor Forestry Students’ Association 88 Mountain Oak Woodcraft 37 Book Review: ‘Cherry’ Ingram, the man who saved Japan’s blossoms 90 Whitney’s wood works wonders! 38 Life with veneers is rarely smooth 91 Shenmore Lodge 39 SelectFor course report: ‘Irregular Silviculture in the A virtuous wood circle in Herefordshire 40 Lowlands: Transformation in Practice’ 92 Irregular Silviculture Network – An update 42 Future Trees Trust in 2018 94 Teaching timber 44 The Deer Initiative 96 Why Mowat & Company recently joined Sylva Foundation launches “myForest” premium account 98 Woodland Heritage 46 A reflective look at timber over the past 100 years 100 25 Years of Woodland Heritage 50 Drilling into Oak Decline’s past 102 Towards a Strategy for UK Forest Genetic Resources 52 woodlandheritage.org.uk Woodland Heritage, PO Box 168, Haslemere GU27 1XQ Patron Woodland Heritage is a Registered Charity (no. 1041611) and a non-profit making organisation (Company Limited by Guarantee) His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales Woodland Heritage does not, as a body, hold itself responsible for Trustees statements made or opinions expressed in this Journal; nor does the editorial content necessarily express the official opinion of Lewis Scott – Co-Founder and Managing Trustee Woodland Heritage. Simon Burvill, Tom Christian, Geraint Richards MVO, All right reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, Roger Richardson, James Walmsley, Hugh Williams, including photocopying, recording or any other information Tabitha Binding storage and retrieval system, without prior written permission from Woodland Herirtage. Chief Executive Designed by Alex Campbell-Hart. Printed by Gomer Press Ltd on Guy Corbett-Marshall FSC certified paper. Front cover image © Simon Hadleigh-Sparks and IGPOTY Woodland Heritage 2019 3 25 Years - Our Silver Jubilee by Lewis Scott, Co-founder and Managing Trustee It is hard to believe that it is now a quarter of a century since I sat talking to the late, great Peter Goodwin about how to find enough quality timber in the UK for our cabinet making businesses, rather than relying on the resources of other countries. I recall us bemoaning the parlous state of British broad- leaf forestry. I remember my quoting statistics that we in the UK at that time had only 8% tree cover as compared to 23% in the EU as a whole. Timber and wood-based products were then the sixth largest import item in our balance of payments. We all know that stats can vary a little, but what was crystal clear to us was that action was Peter Garthwaite OBE 1909-2001 needed. Enter our motto for the last quarter of a century don’t you speak to Peter Garthwaite”, which I duly did. “Action not Words”! We didn’t just want dramatically After many phone calls and much impeccable advice I to increase tree cover because wood is a beautiful and said “wouldn’t Peter Garthwaite make a great patron renewable natural resource, but because of the wonderful for the charity” and Peter Goodwin’s characteristically environmental and ecological benefits provided to us and direct response was “good idea, ask him”. When I did ask our planet by trees as they grow. Garthwaite he responded by saying “Well, what an honour to be asked, you do realise I am in my eighties!” Of course We talked about “sustainability” a word so common-place I hadn’t, and rather had a picture of someone in their today but virtually unheard of a quarter of a century early sixties. It was an absolute honour to have known ago. From our inception we championed Continuous and worked with the man. Garthwaite’s knowledge and Cover Forestry, uneven age silviculture. We wanted to wisdom it turned out was matched only by his humility. avoid the complete domination of monoculture and clear felling. We wanted quality, predominantly native, In 1995 Peter Garthwaite OBE wrote: broadleaf hardwoods, such as Oak, Chestnut, Walnut, “My forestry philosophy has not altered in the 65 years Cherry, Beech to name but a few. Further, we wanted that I have been in practice: it is that wood is a renewable diversified multi species, multi age woodlands. Climate resource, and woodlands and forests should be managed change and the proliferation of tree pests and diseases to produce the highest quality timber of which the site is would now seem to support our strategic approach. capable; and that as a general rule when trees have reached their prime maturity, they should be felled to live on for However, in the beginning we were a tiny fledging charity many years in such form that their quality dictates; as oak with conviction and ambition but with little money and beams supporting the roof of a cathedral; as fine craftsman- no staff or other resources. But my co-founder was the made furniture; as a framework for a house.” indefatigable Peter. We asked land owners and foresters to join us, we asked cabinet makers, joiners, carpenters I’ve always thought that the true role of Woodland and other wood users to join us, and you did. We wanted Heritage was to “win hearts and minds” about the WH to be the vehicle via which we all could collectively importance of trees and wood to our world – to have put something back for future generations, in the form of healthy forests that benefit people and wildlife and a healthy flourishing and productive trees and woodlands. source of timber and forest products – the two aims are not mutually exclusive. Look at the alternatives to wood When we were in the process of setting up Woodland such as the plastics clogging up the oceans and threatening Heritage I wanted some advice, and Peter said “why wildlife and our food-chain. A forward-looking food 4 Woodland Heritage 2019 producer has now replaced plastic packaging with wood veneer. What was wrong with taking your groceries home in a brown paper bag constructed of natural cellulose fibres (from fast grown conifers) gradually melting back harmlessly and seamlessly into our soil and water courses. A perfect virtuous circle. How have we managed to forget so much? So what have been the milestones in WH’s development over the years? Well, the need for an educational/training course became apparent, if we were to help pioneer and foster the resurgence of a “Wood Culture”. Accordingly, we put together a course called “From Woodland to Workshop” (W2W), which very much did what it said on the tin. Foresters attending started learning what happened to their trees/logs after “being sold at roadside”, they learned about saw-milling, kiln drying and woodworking. You had cabinet makers and joiners learning about forestry and where their precious wood came from. Hundreds of learners (some young, some not so young) have participated in our W2W course over the years and now have a better understanding of the supply Sydney Draper 1925- 2015 chain and the needs of the market. to defend our national tree. I think that is maybe a We wanted to extend and enhance our understanding of milestone! It’s certainly a celebration of successful public- Continuous Cover Forestry (CCF) techniques and many private partnership in action.