Posted on: September 20, 2011
We are looking for a committed person to support our winter tree planting work with communities in Bristol and beyond. You will need to be able to work with a range of community groups to plan schemes and plant trees. If you can spare 15 hours a week, want some great experience and to make a real difference, please download the attached file and give Jon Clark a call on (0117) 963 3383.
Community Trees Officer_9.11
Posted on: August 18, 2011
You’ve heard about Forest School – now come and experience one! This course offers the opportunity to develop confidence, skills and knowledge in order to work with groups in an outdoor setting. The course will be taught at Lawrence Weston Community Farm in North West Bristol by Jon Attwood from the Forest of Avon Trust. 
Over the two days you will:
- Experience a Forest School session
- Explore the benefits of using a Forest School approach with groups of all ages.
- Learn practical skills and activities to use with groups in an outside setting.
- Develop an understanding of how to work safely in a woodland environment.
This level 1 course is suitable for anyone with an interest in leading and supporting groups in a natural outdoor setting. The cost of the course is £190.00.
This course also provides a stepping stone for those who want to go on and take the Forest School Leaders Course Level 3 (due to be delivered in July 2012- Please call for more details)
For further information please contact Jon at the Forest of Avon Trust: jonattwood@forestofavontrust.org 0117 9633383. To book contact Kerry at Lawrence Weston Community Farm: kerry@lwfarm.org.uk 0117 9381128.
Comment from previous delegates;
“I loved the experience of being outside, this has made me really enthusiastic”
“Meeting others, fun practical activities that allowed me to be a child again”
“The resources that have been brought in are fantastic and have supported the activities brilliantly”
introductiontoforestschoolnovember2011
Posted on: June 30, 2011
Inside The Wild About Tree Tent, Crowds gather to sample the activities.
On Saturday 18th and Sunday 19th June 2011 The Forest of Avon Trust took part at the Festival of Nature in Bristol. Preparations began on Thursday to dress the marquee. Our marquee, called “Wild about trees” was shared with Bristol City Council and Avon Gorge and Downs project based at Bristol Zoo. Huge thanks go to John Lewis Cribbs Causeway Visual Merchandise Team who very kindly brought to life our visions for the sensory woodland and produced the displays, signs and interactivities for our woodland trail. Activities were on offer such as feely boxes filled with forest material, sounds & smells from the woodlands all designed to tempt visitors to share with us their views and feelings when in the woods. A memory tree shown above, invited those who had gone through the sensory boxes to share their memories that were prevoked as a result by writing them down onto a sticky flowerpad. These were then placed onto the branches of the tree. Some of the memorable experiences written down were:-
“Discovering wild strawberries in a wood in Yorkshire when I was 9″
”Walking up a river through the woods in our boots”
“Playing hide and seek in the woods with my friends and coming home smelling of forest”
Thanks also to Almondsbury Garden Centre for the loan of some fantastic plants to decorate the marquee and to Timberland from The Mall at Cribbs Causeway who eagerly volunteered to help run the actvities. They also donated a pair of Earth Keeper Boat shoes that were used as a prize draw for those who completed a feedback form and were won by Matthew Hanbidge from Bristol.
Posted on: June 20, 2011
Wellsway Secondary School worked with neighbours Chandag Junior in Keynsham to plant boundary hedgerows this spring. Trees were provided under the Trust’s Free Trees scheme.
Posted on: April 15, 2011
Trust Directors at their recent AGM resolved that the Trust should pursue being gifted appropriate areas of woodland, where these were deemed to be surplus to the public forest estate. The Trust would also continue to seek to influence the considerations of the expert panel on the future forestry policy, including through the national programme of Community Forests.
The Forest of Avon Trust is also actively working with woodland owners across Bristol & the West to provide advice on grants to help them to continue to provide/ enhance public access and improve the biodiversity of their woodlands. To date, this has been funded by the Forestry Commission and is practically addressing both the needs of owners and the desire for people to continue to visit and enjoy local woodlands.
To help us continue this work, please join us as a Friend.
