T.W.I.G.
T.W.I.G.
Tillingham Woodland Interest Group.
News-hoots!
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This page will be where you can read odd snippets of news about the group, about other groups, environmental projects and similar news. Hopefully all accurate and up to date as well. But there may be a few scurrilous ones in there for fun too! We will be adding to the top of this page every week or so, scroll down to see previous entries, all dated. ******************************************************************************** SUNDAY, 27th April 10am – 4pm. Join us for a FREE, Spring Walk, in HAZELEIGH WOOD, LODGE ROAD, HAZELEIGH.
(Follow the small signs into the lane, on the left of A414 driving from Maldon’s Morrison’s, towards the Woodham Mortimer Roundabout)
Come and enjoy a hours or so stroll through this normally closed, private woodland, in association with TWIG and Essex Arb. The woodland owners will be on hand to show how the wood is managed, woodcrafts and charcoal made.
Splendid photo/painting opportunity for Bluebell enthusiasts..
In the wood we will have a nature trail for youngsters. TWIG members will be on hand to help identify trees and explain their Tillingham woodland project. Refreshments available.
Also on hand to answer any questions you may have on planting or caring for trees, will be the M.D.C. Tree Officer and experts from Essex Arb. A company that offers total tree solutions.
Bring the children and your friends for this unique opportunity to enjoy an hours spring walk in a well managed, mature wood.
For more contact us on either 01621 778859 or 0771 5556133. www.twigs.org.uk
March 2008. Well we are still on track, Maldon council have agreed to take responsibility for the wood, with us running it we hope. We just have to get all the 't's crossed.! More soon.
February 2008. Twig turned out to assist Mayland plant 450 hedgerow bushes and a dozen trees last week. It was wild and windy, drizzle misted up the glasses, but there were smiles all round. The Green Light Trust helped organise things and the best idea was the camp kitchen dispensing Teas coffees and bacon buns! We also heard that we are another step forward towards planting our own, more later.... By the way, the mail is working fine again. a P.C. problem....
January 25th 2008. Sorry if you have been trying to get through to me on email for last week, gremlins in the system. seems I have over powered my mail program, received too many mails. all down to my little business and my sailing club, sadly not too many TWIG mails.... Next week maybe! John
January 2008. Hello to all our supporters. A Happy New year to you all. We hope that very shortly to have the news we have all been waiting so long for. We will post it on these pages as soon as we know. ******************
December 2007. We are reliably informed that the project has 'ticked all the right boxes', with all concerned and just the final legal matters are to be smoothed out now. We hoped to be planting by this time, but have been dismayed to find that spanners were still being thrown in the works, delaying us yet another year. However we now have the promise of backing by the Woodland Trust as well. Essex County Council have also informed us they are onside. We are constantly seeking advice from the recognised bodies and so far can find no person of note or authority who does not wish this project well. Hopefully the next entry will be the one everyone has been waiting for! *********************************
Have you seen the new offer, October 2007, by Powergen?
They are offering a donation of £2.00 to The Woodland Trust for every person that goes on line and completes an energy survey. Seems quite harmless and some useful info to boot. worth a try... http://www.powergenchallenge.co.uk/ ****************************************** Notice of 2nd annual Meeting. Monday 26th November at 8pm. Hall to rear of the Congregational Church, South Street.
All members of TWIG are invited to attend, . The agenda, is as follows, 1. Apologies, 2. Update on the Woodland Project. 3. Events during year. 4. Future Events 5. Election of Steering Group 6. Any other business.
If you wish to volunteer or nominate anyone for a post please contact us 7 days prior to the meeting.
For more contact us on either 778859 or 778479. John Williams. Chairman TWIG
Come and hear how the project is going and find out what you can do to help. We are planting for our grandchildren here, so a long term vision is required. Refreshments will be served. Volunteers to help on the Steering Group welcomed. Contact TWIG for more details.
Seed Gathering Sunday! Sunday November 4th. 10am till 4pm approx. We have been welcomed back to John and Maureen's Hazeleigh Woods for Seed Gathering again. hopefully there will be refreshments as before and members of Twig on hand to assist with identifying and sorting the seeds collected. We will encourage as many as would like to to take seeds away to propagate, we will even help the little ones plant one up on the day to take away and grow. All the remainder of the seeds will be used in our nurseries to grow more trees for the future...
Tuesday 24th July2007. Sorry it has taken so long to get back on these pages, but not only was I away for a week but just prior to that my P.C. Crashed! fun and games, am just catching up with myself! We are all getting geared up here for the Tillingham Flower Show! On our stand you will be able to offset your carbon footprint by planting a tree, or enter into the spirit of the day and search for King Ethelbert's treasure when you plant a special tree in our 'wood' on the stand. You can also see the ideas of the local children, what they think might be 'good in a wood'! then you can add your own ideas to the woodland plan we have. we would like to hear constructive views from all, especially the young, as this will be for their benefit really! We hope to be selling that good charcoal again too, at the same sort of price too! See you there Saturday, fingers crossed for the weather. John Sunday 24th June 2007.
My Jenny's Wedding!!
As many of you might know, John has been a little preoccupied for the past 8 months or so since he bought a little boat to renovate. The idea was to present it to Dave and Jenny as a wedding present... After some initial doubts, Darian pitched in to assist and the final paint finish is down to her! 
As found in Burnham on Crouch, a
somewhat neglected Foxcub 18.
Many of those who
first saw it, raised an eyebrow or two, doubting if it was possible at
all, let alone by Midsummer's Day and my Jenny's wedding!
As they are both very Eco conscious, he being a tree warden with a woodland, she trekking eco trails in the Amazon and working in an endangered species sanctuary etc... It will come as little surprise that the event was to be a green and eco friendly as could be planned. There was no confetti!, at the simple feast in the field later, there were recycling bins for everything! The 'Green Favour' Her best idea was for the 'favours'. To celebrate the wedding every guest was given a small (recycled) envelope with a certificate, hand made, announcing that a tree was to be planted for every person in the new St. Paul's Wood, Tillingham, and listed the types of tree. There was a nice little poem to go with it! The names of all those attending will also be displayed later on the TWIGS page.
Attached are a few
pics of the boat, before and after, and of the happy couple, who are away
in Greece in a secluded villa, on a tiny island, at this moment in time!
All ready to go! The day was perfect, best was that the predicted heavy downpours all missed us and we had day long sunshine! Interestingly, as the happy couple got into their Jeep to leave, late that night we had 5 spots of rain, then it stopped... they drove through heavy rain all the way to Gatwick! They now have a heat wave in Greece!
We named the boat 'Beachcomber', which if you know anything about them is what they do... with the articles they find they produce the most exquisite items of jewellery and other craft items, that they sell at the Brixham craft fair every week! Waiting for the couple!
A new Seagull for power, made by John
We gave the boat the home port of 'Brixham' where Dave and Jenny have bought an old house and are now based! We have their faces captured as the first saw their transport away from the Castle where they were wed. (They asked me to arrange something 'quirky'! ) As they see their transport for the first time!
They were having bets
as to what it would be, with Jenny going for a combine harvester, courtesy
of Keith, our brother in law's contacts, and Dave figuring on a Rigid
Inflatable on a trailer. (they have both done their safety boat courses
for the work they do with youngsters in Brixham harbour!)
When they first spot
it, as it was hidden round the corner at first, they burst out laughing as
Dave says 'told you so!!' Then a quizzical look comes over Jenny's face,
(she told me later that at that moment she spotted the port of
registry.... Brixham.......)
At this point Darian
gave Dave a long parcel and I gave Jenny an envelope to open.
Opening the card and parcel Dave had no idea still and the odd look on his face when he finds a 'red ensign' on a pole is classic. What the.... However Jenny has now twigged and has found a boat shaped key ring and key.
Jenny has now reads the card to Dave In tears she reads out the card, 'Bon-voyage, just add water'! The hugs and tears and the look on Dave's face, priceless!
Daves' Grin!
They wanted to ride in
the cockpit all the way back to the farm, but were dissuaded... It was
not till much later they got on board to open up the cabin, and find the
goodies inside, even down to a copy of the designers life story, (Uffa
Fox, for those who might recognise the design!) That was donated by dear
friend Doug! To say they were speechless is somewhat an understatement.
We hope they get a few years fun before moving on to something larger!
Onboard for the first time!
They have already rung
me from Greece, to say they have already decided the first thing they are
to do when they return, is go to the Brixham Y.C. to organise a mooring
and enrol for the Day Skippers course! They took the key with them to
Greece!!!
Soon I will be adding
the finishing touches to 'Beachcomber' and arranging her transport to
Devon, after that I suspect normality will seem rather humdrum!
A toast from the bride and groom!
Regards to all,
Normal service will be resumed as soon as our feet touch the ground again!
John and Darian
Monday 28th May 2007. Wet and windy weather for the Bank Holiday! I have just lost a weeks sailing, hope the weather improves as there are a few important events coming up! We have a family wedding, linked to this site as there will be a tree fund donation in the names of all the ladies attending, nice thought. My daughter is very environmentally aware, she works in a bird sanctuary part time and her and her future husband are involved in eco tourism. He is also a tree warden! Fingers crossed for 21st June then! Nearer home we have the Flower Show in July, the 28th. TWIG will be there and we hope you will all come forward to sign up now. The wood is going ahead and we would like as many people as possible to come to our stand and give us their ideas as to what they think the woodland aught to contain. thinking caps on all round! I have just had a couple more seedlings handed to me, all welcome, we will add them to our little tree nursery.... John
Wednesday May 9th 2007 At the recent steering group meeting it was revealed that all was now moving ahead smoothly and we could expect to be planting this coming winter! This is great news to all those involved and as it becomes more generally known we can hope for more to come forward to add their names to the list of TWIGS! We intend to have a stand at the Flower Show again, this time with a much more positive approach, getting people to be more involved, not just say they think it is a great idea. which they did last year! As a result of the suggested donations to TWIG by my family following the death of my mother, donations amounting to nearly £600 have been raised, and are still coming in. In addition a further sum has been earmarked for a 'carved fallen tree bench' to be sited in the wood. I have also been approached with a nice idea from my daughter, who marries on Mid Summers Day. She would like to present a 'Green Favour' to each of the ladies attending her wedding. It will be a certificate stating that a donation towards the planting of saplings in the new 'St. Paul's Wood will be made on their behalf as a memento of the day! Each of the recipients would be later named here and on the TWIGS list at the site! We could have other similar ideas soon for fundraising etc. what we are not going to do is plant a tree in memory of a person, as that tree might have to be thinned out or may die naturally. Instead we may consider adopt a plot ideas... If you have any young saplings in your garden and can pot them up and water them all summer, we would like to be able to use them this winter. Only native UK species though, no monkey puzzles! John, Chair of TWIG
Tuesday 27th March 2007. Yesterday we had the funeral and thanksgiving service for my dear old Mum, Eva Lynn. She was one of the first to donate to the project. It was decided that TWIG would be the charity of her choice instead of flowers, and we are staggered at the response. We knew she was popular, but even so! I have not yet totted up the cheques, but it is several hundreds of pounds. In addition the close family are to organise a 'Fallen Tree' bench to be made, carved and eventually placed in the wood, hopefully in a quiet grove of trees.... This has proven so popular with all who have heard about it that there is a possibility we will have more similar donations from other families to remember their loved ones, a lovely thought. However it was pointed out that we might end up with more benches than trees if we were not careful, so maybe the placing of benches is one aspect we will have to look at carefully and after a certain number, there should perhaps be an alternative, dedicating an area or the like? We are hoping the Legal Eagles are beavering away at the moment on the final details so we can get organised on the ground later this year. John
Saturday 17th March 2007. Sorry for delay updating this page, but as you can imagine I have been a little busy of late, with the sad passing of my mother. Her funeral is not till Monday week, as members of the family have been out of the country. However to date over £200 has already been received in donations to TWIG. All who have contacted us have commented on the idea of donations to TWIG instead of flowers. They really approve of the idea. It was with some trepidation it was suggested, but it seems it was a popular move with all of my mother's friends and the organisations she was involved with, from the local guilds to the W.I. We have not yet replanted the tree at the Village sign on the Southminster Road, but hope to shortly. It is a container grown tree so is safe to plant still. Bradwell Road
I have visited the Bradwell Road site where the mature Elms were felled last summer. I tried to count the rings, but failing light defeated me, I believe these trees were in excess of 100 years of age. I could see no signs of Dutch Elm in the sap rings either, what a shame. The remaining trees are now protected by TPO's. We have had concern expressed by residents of Birch Gardens, that there is a rumour circulating regarding the status of the Willow there. If there are any further snippets of information coming to light supporting the rumour, we might ask for a Tree Preservation Order on this tree too. Isn't it sad that we have to consider doing this.... John
Thursday 1st March 2007. Sadly I missed out on the Willow pruning and mulching as my dear old Mum passed away yesterday. Thanks to those who have already contacted me. My family have thought that TWIG might be the charity that donations might be sent to by the rest of the family, as Mum as you may know, was one of our first donors. I thought it maybe fitting if we could plant a small group of trees in her memory with a bench nearby inscribed to her. She loved the outdoors, was a keen walker, in her day and loved the idea of a wood beside the St. Peters Way. From her of course I developed my love of the outdoors, and contacts with forestry and general farm and land work as a young lad. I shall miss my sometimes twice weekly visits to her, doing the shopping and buying the hundredweights of bird food I had to weekly distribute. I look forward to the day when we can hang bird feeders in the trees in our wood. John Sunday 25th February 2007. With a slightly stiff back from a gently tweaked muscle, no more... I can report that yesterdays planting was a great success! See the 'Past Events' page for more! Belinda, William, Darian and I, helped about 30 Mayland people and the TWIG banner and leaflets were well visible. a good effort!
John Friday 23rd February 2007. Please note Saturday not Sunday for Mayland!! Next Wednesday at St. Nicholas school, 1.30 volunteers for spreading wood chip mulch and trimming the willow dome! Andy Day in charge!
See you there at both events! John Thursday 22nd February 2007.
Community Woodland Planting this Saturday!! Sadly not Tillingham, but nearby Mayland! We are going to donate some of our larger trees, grown from seed here. they are too large now and need to go in before another summer. So bring a spade and the family to Mayland, behind the Primary School in Katonia Ave. Meet at Lawling Fields car park at 10 am. Our Wood? well we have had more good news and look forward to planting later this year, if all the legal stuff gets sorted OK. John
Wednesday 14th February 2007 Valentines Day, hope you all got cards too! Heard that Jono in Mayland are having a Community Planting Day on Saturday 24th February. I though we could go and lend a hand, and what's more not go empty handed. we have a number of large trees in pots that need planting out this spring and where better than a new woodland on the Dengie! I will circulate more info when I have it. wish it were our wood they were going into, but we still wait! Mayland were given their land by a super supportive and far seeing Parish Council...... John
Saturday 10th February 2007. Reminder for all the Steering group of TWIG, we have a meeting on Monday 26th at 8 pm. we hope to have the latest from St. Paul's then plus we are welcoming the new M.D.C. tree officer Jackie, who is joining the group. welcome Jackie. Now the snow has gone and it is mild again, time to get the wellie's on and check the ties on the trees we have planted.... and if the soil stays unfrozen, time to plant if you have anywhere we can... I have one to plant in the hedgerow near here to replace a tree that was knocked over... Might also offer to take one along to the Southminster Road, before the Asheldam bends on Neil Cowell's land, where the young tree was felled by a vehicle leaving the road, in the snow and ice this week.... John Tuesday 6th February 2007. Well this page is getting edited more often than I thought it would..... I have just had this in from Andy Day, he was searching the net for TWIG and found this.... http://www.blackwater-valley.org.uk/twig.htm Not only is there another woodland group called TWIG, but their local river is a River Blackwater too. I have mailed them and we hope to swop links! Have a look, they are a woodland group in the Surrey Area. Great minds think alike they say! John
Sunday February 4th 2007. A sailing friend has just sent me this snippet, it relates to the governments plans for energy, makes interesting reading.. I do not always agree with all Greenpeace do, but I have often found that later they have proven to be so right.. makes you think anyway.
Here in the Dengie we soon could be surrounded by 12ft tall Elephant Grass, no views of any windmills then. Why? well if the government gets their way to use the National Grid connection and decides to build a new power station burning 'bio fuel' the alternative 'Renewable source', Elephant Grass is one of the favourites... Of course another good fuel is selected household rubbish, worried about lorry movements, well how about hundreds of dust carts every day? We will need to plant even more trees to block out the view of the grey Elephant grass! John
P.S. had this in from our partners the Green Light Trust. How green are you?
If you would like to work out your carbon footprint, this link to a Guardian article will show you how… http://environment.guardian.co.uk/ethicalliving/story/0,,1997277,00.html Regards,
Makes for an interesting exercise. We do quite well here, except for the oil fired heating.... John Saturday February 3rd 2007. It has just been announced that 'Global Warming' is happening faster than anyone predicted and fast action has to be taken to reduce the further increase of warming and it's effects. Instead of 2 degrees Celsius they are now talking of 6 degrees in the next 100 years, so Coconut Palms have to be considered! John
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| Telephone: 01621 778859 | ||||
| mail: enquiries@twigs.org.uk | ||||
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