Happy Reading!!!!!!!!!!!

The Westminster Reception
Minister Praises Woodland Trust for
Community Woodland Network
Alun Michael addresses Community Woodland Network Groups at Woodland Trust Westminster reception

About 60 of you joined us at Westminster on 11 December on a very rainy afternoon to enjoy tea and cakes overlooking the Thames and celebrate the first year of the project. It was lovely to see and meet some familiar faces from the conference and also some new groups who were attending their first event.  Your comments on the day told me that you enjoyed the opportunity to meet each other and other Woodland Trust staff as well as some of our trustees and corporate sponsors and not forgetting Clive Anderson our new President - I think this was his first official event.

For the official Press Release click here

www.yourwoods.info is going from strength to strength, with the visitor sessions hitting a high of 1,817 in December. This has been growing steadily since the conference and is good to see. There has also been, although slow, a steady growth on the discussion boards. We will be opening this area up to more people now we are into 2004, so for those of you who do visit there should be more for you to comment on or join in with.

We are starting to test the group mini websites next week so hopefully more news about these soon. As they say, ‘watch this space’!!!!

Any comments or suggestions that you have on the new home page layout or any other parts of the site, please do let us know. Also, if there are any other areas of information that you feel you would benefit from if they were added to the site, again, let us know and we will do our best to find the relevant experts.

So thank you to those of you who are supporting the site and let's hope this trend continues.

To see the document in full please click here

It's hard to see how the above factors can easily be resolved, which leaves voluntary groups in a difficult position. However, there are some steps that groups can take to ensure that their operations are not seen as high risk by insurers. Some insurance brokers have suggested that many insurance companies view the voluntary sector as 'amateur' or 'unprofessional'.  Therefore groups should provide the insurance company with as much information about their activities as possible.  Let the insurers know everything that volunteers are expected to do, and the safeguards the group has put in place to ensure this involvement is carried out safely, from recruitment through training to ongoing supervision.  The group should make it clear that they have full and proper health and safety and other appropriate policies and procedures in place - child protection, for example.

Groups should also demonstrate that they have carried out risk assessments - and acted upon them.  This means detailing all potential hazards, the level of risk involved, and the steps taken to lower that risk, whether it be through information, training, safety equipment or physically removing or altering the potential hazard. Please click here to go to a useful PDF document which continues this article and offers other practical advice regarding insurance. 

Christmas Card Re-cycling Scheme:
Please help us raise even more funds this year by re-cycling your Christmas Cards at any Tesco or WHSmith store. For more information click here

The Successful South Coast Cycle Challenge:
As most of you will remember, Paul took part in this challenge during late September to raise funds for the Trust and the CWN project. It was successfully concluded with all participants completing the 250 miles and raising the minimum £500.00 per person. To read 'the daily diary' click here

The Woodland Trust Supports National Science Week with the help of Big Brother:

John Tickle of Channel 4's Big Brother fame helps launch National Science Week by searching for signs of spring.  For full details of the press release and the Trust's UK Phenology Network click here

GPS Friend or Foe? - I know from the discussion boards that many of you are considering getting such a system to assist you with your woodland surveys and management. If you are considering such a step, then before you commit funds you might like to talk this through with someone who has completed a research project on these systems. To e-mail Woodman, a network member, please click here 

One such group, based at Brookings Down Wood in Noss Mayo, collected 100 oak saplings for a planting day in December and planted these as well as thorn, hazel, field maple, holly, sweet chestnut and birch. A successful day was had by all.

Publications and Articles:

Naturalist Chris Baines has written a thought provoking article on street trees - click here

To read the most recent Nature Matters newsletter in PDF format click here

Watch this space!!!!

The Community Woodland Network project will be offering another round of grant funding for groups, once again to the maximum of £2000.00 per group starting 1 April 2004. Keep an eye on the 'about us' section of the website for the 2004/05 application forms. We will jog your memories again in the April newsletter.