As I come to the end of my first year

as volunteer co-ordinator I have

been re-thinking how I communicate

to you. The newsletter is very time-

consuming to produce and I am plan-

ning to change the format to a blog

style. This way I will be able to com-

municate news to you in a much

more immediate way rather than

saving it up for a bi-monthly newslet-

ter. Details will be coming out to you

soon!

Introduction by Liz Randall Volunteers, Sunday Group, Visitor

Experience Volunteers, Tree Label-

lers, Forest Live volunteers, Trus-

tees, Conservation Volunteers,

Parkrun, Florilegium and the group

that gave nearly half of the hours

(4236 ) the BOARS!

Lastly I just want to let you know that

I am starting a new role at Bedge-

bury soon, alongside my Volunteer

role, as Tree Database Officer one

day a week, which I will do instead of

my role at the Visitor Centre.

I have recently finished compiling

volunteer hours for 2016/17 which

have been now been submitted to the

Forestry Commission Volunteer

Manager for inclusion in her annual

report. The hours are significantly

higher than the previous year, possi-

bly due to better recording, but

definitely due to all of your hard

work.

So, a huge Thank You goes to you for

the nearly 8927 hours across the

many different groups including

Wednesday Wild Crew, Learning

Canicross by Clare Grint

Inside this issue:

Volunteers Week 1

Volunteer Away Day 2

Bedgebury Cafe 2

Tree of the month—

Western Hemlock

2

Wednesday Wild Crew

and Sunday Dates

3

Starfish Malawi 3

Bedgebury Bright Sparks

Summer Camp

3

Ticks and Lyme Disease 4

Wildlife Walks and Family

Discovery Days

4

Rick Astley 4

The Lost World 4

dog medals and treats at the finish

line!

We would love to hold another

Canicross at Bedgebury in the au-

On Sunday 21st May Bedgebury played

host to its first ever Canicross event,

cross country running w ith

dogs. Local running company, Nice

Work, organised the 5k and 10k race

and the event was hugely successful.

It was great to see so many dogs

(and their owners!) racing their way

through the forest trails on a beauti-

ful sunny morning and being awarded

Bedgebury Volunteer Newsletter

April May 2017

Volunteers’ Week

To celebrate National Volunteers’

Week (an annual event organised by

The National Council for Voluntary

Organisations NCVO), we have organ-

ised a guided walk and picnic on

Wednesday 7th June.

Please come along and celebrate the

contribution made by millions of

volunteers across the UK, and in

particular your contribution to the

success of Bedgebury.

Meet at the Visitor Centre at 10:30,

or just pop in for a piece of cake and

a drink by Marshal’s Lake from

12:00—13:00.

tumn so if you think you’d like to

help out, or even take part in the

race, keep an eye on the Bedgebury

website!

We have recently completed the build

of an outlet for Bedgebury Café in

the Play Area, adjacent to the Ship-

wreck.

They are hoping to open it within the

next week or two, selling ice creams,

hot and cold drinks and snacks.

Wednesday 28th June 09:30

Plots—meet at Area Office

If there are any changes we will

email or call you.

If you need to contact us on the day

of volunteering for any reason

please call -

Dylan (Wednesdays) 0300 067 4480

Visitor centre (Sundays) 01580

879820.

Wednesday 7th June 09:30

Volunteer Week Picnic

Sunday 11th June 10:00

Plots—meet at Area Office

Wednesday 14th June 09:30

Plots—meet at Area Office

Wednesday 21st June 09:30

Plots—meet at Area Office

Wednesday Wild Crew and Sunday Volunteers

Tree of the Month - Tsuga heterophylla Western Hemlock

You can see from the picture that,

despite their size, they have tiny

cones (around 1-2cm long) which are

a lovely shade of red at this time of

the year, turning to brown as the

season develops.

Looking closely at the needles you

will see they vary in length, hence

the species name— heterophylla,

meaning different leaves.

If you wander along Hill’s Avenue

from the top of the sunken track

towards the forest the view is beau-

tifully framed by the sweeping

branches of the Western Hemlock

trees.

These evergreen conifers, native to

the West Coast of North America,

can grow to a massive 70—80 me-

tres tall.

Bedgebury Cafe

Page 2 Bedgebury Volunteer Newsletter

Volunteer Away Day

All Bedgebury volunteers are invited

to an away day to RHS Wisley, details

as follows -

Wednesday 5th July

Coach departing Bedgebury 08:15

Guided Tour of Wisley and time to

look around

Returning to Bedgebury by 17:00

Spaces are limited. Please let Liz

know if you would like to come and

haven’t already confirmed.

Following on from Dan Luscombe’s trip to

Malawi last year, Bedgebury recently

invited children from four local primary

schools to learn about a project to help

save the critically endangered Mulanje

Cedar.

Working with Botanic Gardens Conserva-

tion International, local charity, Starfish

Malawi, and members of our tree and

learning teams, we hosted a two-day

event in the Pinetum in which 66 children

from Goudhurst, Sandhurst, Bodiam and

Etchingham primary schools came togeth-

er to learn about the plight of the Mulanje

Cedar. Their day included a visit to our

nursery where they planted wild-collected

seeds from the critically endangered trees.

The seedlings will form part of the propa-

gation trials for the “Save Our Cedar”

project, which we are supporting.

Dan Luscombe, Bedgebury Pinetum curator,

said, “having already been to Malawi as

part of the project, and seen the critically

endangered Mulanje Cedar in its native

habitat, it’s been great to work with BGCI,

Starfish Malawi and some of our local

school children to sow some of the wild-

collected seeds in our nursery. We hope to

Starfish Malawi

Page 3 Bedgebury Volunteer Newsletter

Bedgebury Bright Sparks Summer Camp

Kent High Weald are running summer

camps for children this July and August.

Please see their website if you would like to

find out more.

I recently attended an induction session to

find out a bit about what goes on, I could

have stayed all day around the fire, enjoy-

ing hot drinks, making wooden name tags,

cooking marshmallows on the stick I’d just

prepared, popping corn over the fire and

playing hide and seek games.

A few of you have volunteered to help with

these sessions, I look forward to hearing all

about it.

The Learning Volunteers

Once a month the learning volunteers

meet to undertake various tasks for the

school visits.

This picture shows the learning team in

the plots, behind the Area Office, having

cut hazel sticks. The sticks are used by

children to attach fallen leaves, cones etc.

to whilst walking round the pinetum.

be able to continue this work with school

children in Malawi in the future too as part

of the “Save Our Cedar” project.”

Park Lane

Goudhurst

Kent

TN17 2SL

Phone: 0300 067 4476 / 4480

07585 402103

E-mail: liz.randall@forestry.gsi.gov.uk

Website: www.forestry.gov.uk/bedgebury

Bedgebury Pinetum and Forest

Coming up . . .

There are still tickets available for Rick Astley, supported by

Rumer on Friday 16th June…

Also, if you have young children or know someone that might be

interested, we have a childrens’ theatre company coming to us

on Saturday 15th July

Tickets for both events are available from the Box Office.

Wildlife Walks and

Family Discovery Days

The Friends of Bedgebury offer volun-

teers a 10% discount on their -

Birdwatching for Beginnners

Saturday 3rd June

Family Wildlife Discovery Days

Saturday 24th June

Saturday 15th July

Saturday 5th August

Bat Walks

Tuesday 11th July

Friday 14th July

Tuesday 1st August

Saturday 2nd September

Wildflower Walk

Saturday 12th August

Pop in to the Visitor Centre or call

01580 879842 to book your place.

See here for a list of future work-

shops and events.

Ticks and Lyme Disease

Remember at this time of year to be aware of the potential

risks of tick bites and lyme disease.

Click here for more information.