Join us for our Annual General Meeting at the Green Wood Centre, the home of the Small Woods Association.

Lunch & refreshments

The Embers Café is catering for us and will be providing a delicious light lunch along with refreshments on Saturday.

Opportunities

Swap notes with fellow woodland enthusiasts, meet SWA staff and trustees, and find out exactly what goes on at the Green Wood Centre. There is also an exciting raffle this year!

Tool, kit, and book swap

We will also be arranging a tool, kit, and book swap, a popular feature of previous AGM events. If you have tools or books that you think will be of interest to other attendees, please bring them along and you might find something that fits your needs and interests in return.

Agenda

Saturday

9:30  Tea and coffee

9:45   Welcome | Chris Duncan, Secretary

10:00 Small Woods Annual General Meeting | John Blessington, Chair 10:45 Comfort break, tea, and coffee

11.00  Keynote speaker | Professor Katie Field – The Wood Wide Web

Dr Katie J. Field is an Associate Professor in Plant-Soil Processes and a BBSRC Translational Research Fellow in the Centre for Plant Sciences at the University of Leeds. Katie’s background is in plant and fungal physiology, using field ecology coupled with physiology to untangle how carbon and nutrients are exchanged between crops and their fungi partners and how this may be affected by future changes in climate and management.

11.45 Speaker | Hilary Allison, Forestry Commissioner: From a small wood to the big picture

Hilary is a Small Woods member, as well as a member of the Forestry Commission’s national council, having previously been a senior manager at the Woodland Trust. Hilary will talk to us about how having an intimate connection with a small woodland helps to inform her contributions to the big policy questions she must tackle as a Forestry Commissioner..

12:15 Speaker | Ian Baker: Small Woods in focus

Small Woods Association is 35 years old this year and Ian will lead a session looking back at our origins and forward to how our role might develop, given the growing importance of trees and woodlands. Ian will point to a growing role for SWA in woodland biodiversity, innovation, and practical management and how the growth of Small Woods from the bottom up can help to protect our woodlands and ensure they play a stronger role in localities for their communities and environments.

12:45 | Esmond Harris Award for Small Woodland Innovation

Esmond will speak about the award and the intentions for it in the long term, followed by revealing the 2023 winner.

13:00 Lunch

14:00 | Workshops - Each workshop will run three sessions during the afternoon.

Workshop 1: Woods in Trust | Ian Baker

Workshop 2: Woodland condition assessment demonstration | David Reeve

Workshop 3 : Biochar – its uses and benefits | Simon James

Workshop 4: Demonstration of charcoal retort kiln | Chris Doody

Workshop 5: Social forestry | Amie Andrews

Workshop 6: Pests and diseases | Forestry Commission

16:00 Panel session and discussion (1 hour)

18:00 Barbecue and social

Sunday

10.00 Visit to Loamhole Dingle Woodland (grid reference: Sj 6648 0540)

The woodland sits within extraordinarily rich and varied landscape in Upper Coalbrookdale. Much of the woodland has been undisturbed and has the feel of the original wildwood about it. We will be looking at the ‘Fungal Form’ amongst this beautiful untouched area.