Management plan progress!

Committee meeting
We had a positive and productive committee meeting earlier this month, with another one due at the beginning of October.

Perhaps the most positive outcome was that the Forestry Commission has offered us the time of one of their Project Officers, who will work on a management plan as part of his professional development. This is great and very welcome news that will help us to keep the ball rolling.

Chair meets council
The Sims Hill Community Woodland Chair, Dom Driver, met with the South Gloucestershire Council last week. They had a great meeting and have decided to start motoring on getting a license agreed.

Dom said, " It was really positive to make contact with local council members. I look forward to working with them more closely in future as we make more and more progress in the woodland."

AGM 2013

Well it's been a while, but we're back up and running. The 2013 AGM took place at the end of July and the ball is rolling once again. Two of our committee members have resigned due to work pressures - they will be sorely missed! But we've gained two more who both work with Scout groups, which will come in handy for future path clearing and litter picking projects! The rest of the committee was re-elected and remains the same as it ever was. 

The committee and Sims Hill members agreed to concentrate on a number of small projects designed to reinvigorate the group. They are:

• Cleaning up the pond
• Clearing the path and making it accessible to all
• Tidying up the tree guards and general litter
• Wider engagement with interested groups (Scouts, Business Park colleagues etc.)
• Improving the internal fencing
• Butterfly transect 
• Organising lunchtime walks

A few further practicalities were discussed, including free 2013/14 membership for existing members due to the appallingly wet summer that meant we got next to nothing done in the woodland done last year. New members well be asked to pay the annual fee of £5, which will go towards insurance and management plan costs.

Annual General Meeting

The Sims' Hill Community Woodland AGM is taking place next Thursday 26 April at the Bristol Business Park on Coldharbour Lane. The meeting will be held in the woodland if the weather's fine so finger's crossed for clear skies!

Anyone who paid the annual membership fee of £5 in 2011 will be given this year's membership absolutely free, but new members will be subject to the fee.

A message from the Chair

We are continuing to push for the management plan - a crucial step towards getting our licence to operate from the Council. We are using a web-based tool called MyForest and, as a first step, we will be walking the wood to map out which types of tree grow where. We will then discuss emerging thoughts at the next Committee meeting on Monday 26 March.

The Splatts Abbey Wood Conservation Group kindly welcomed me to their committee meeting last Tuesday 6 March. This gave me food for thought about how making links with the people who live around Sims’ Hill is about more than increasing the benefits of the woodland; it is also about our legitimacy. A bunch of people who only really travel into the area for work need the people who live there to give them a licence to operate in the local landscape. 

It is also about energy. The current Sims Hill group was initiated by people wanting to make the place they walk in at lunchtime better, by professional development, and by a cherished belief in the special nature of woodlands. These are strong motivators, but wanting to make better the place where you and your family live is another, probably even stronger, motivation.

Dom Driver, Chair, Sims Hill Community Woodland Group

Planning the management plan

The last committee meeting was on Monday 19 December 2011, where it was decided to make a push for completion of the management plan. Until we have a plan, we can't get a licence for heavy duty work, which means any tasks undertaken in the woodland will be low impact (such as litter picking and path clearing).

We want our members to feel they can get stuck in and really make a difference and so will soon be registering the woodland on MyForest, where we can speed up the process and get our plan (and act) together.

The prospect of potential work once we have a licence is a very exciting one so watch this space for details of future working parties!

Access All Areas!

The most recent working party on Saturday 6th August was a great success, in spite of the fact that volunteers had to drag themselves out of bed on a Saturday morning!

Our aim this time around was to clear the paths for better access and I think it is safe to say that the mission was (almost) accomplished. There is still some work to be done at the Coldharbour Lane entrance as the brambles have taken over with quite a vengeance but, all in all, it was a successful morning.

We can now start to consider what kind of challenges Autumn may bring...

Sims' Hill Woodland Wildlife

Here are some of the wildlife species spotted in the woodland so far. If you spot something new the next time you're down at Sims' Hill, why not take a picture and send it in?