After a filthy wet first day at the Blenheim craft fair, spirits are up at the OneOak stand as the sun is shining today.
Interest in the project has been good and it is has been interesting talking to the many people who grapple with the notion that felling a 160 year old can be sustainable.
The most common question is usually “why this tree – was it diseased or had it fallen down?”. The answer, “because it was ready”, then normally starts a good discussion.
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See us at the craft fair at Blenheim Palace this Bank Holiday weekend
Saturday 29th – Monday 31st May
Find out more about the fair Art, Design and a Taste of Summer
OneOak DVD
Our 30 minute OneOak film, which follows the tree at the felling in January to the sawmill in March 2010, is now available.
It was filmed by a fantastic crew of volunteers (Charlie Beesley, Chris Baines, Bryn Walls, Sarah Simblet), generously supported by the University of Oxford’s Media Production Unit. It was edited by Conrad Weiskrantz.
It is available to view on our film page. We are also making available DVD copies that we are selling for a modest £5 at the various shows at which we are exhibiting this year.
ShareA second original piece of music, inspired by the OneOak project, is now available.
‘Wood’ is a personal response by musician and composer Faith Elliott to the work of her father, furniture designer Derek Elliott. A recent exhibition at which this piece was launched, included a display of boards from the OneOak tree. The music consists entirely of sounds made from wood, from working wood or from wooden musical instruments. Other musicians playing on the piece include Sam Alty and Jerome Warlow. Faith is currently the musical director of Giffords Circus.
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SYLVA would like to congratulate Truck, the organisers of the WOOD 2010 Festival, for yet another fantastic weekend filled with music, activities and talks - all in celebration of trees and wood.
SYLVA’s Alistair Yeomans talked to an estimated 60 plus festival goers, firstly by revisiting the 10 oak trees that SYLVA planted at last years WOOD 2009 Festival - part of SYLVA’s education programme. Each of the trees was planted with a message attached, promoting the important roles that trees play in the natural world and the contribution they make to the way we live our lives .
Alistair’s talk expanded on each tree’s message and described how trees provide the following range of important products and services: AIR conditioning; WATER purification & flood abatement; SOIL anchorage & nutrient cycling; ENERGY through biomass; WOOD products; ECOLOGICAL habitats; ECONOMIC development; beautiful LANDSCAPES; CLIMATE stability; & FOOD, fruit and nuts.
Then Alistair teamed up with Landshare’s Tom Curtis, an expert on woodland ecology, to talk about and walk the festival goers through the beautiful wooded landscape at Braziers Park.
SYLVA look forward to supporting WOOD 2011 and hope that the weather is as superb as it was this year.
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The new Sylva display centrepiece
An exhibition on the OneOak project will be held this weekend, 29-31 May 2010, at the Art, Design and a Taste of Summer show at Blenheim Palace.
We will be showing some of the films we have had made about the project and will have staff from Sylva on hand to talk about the project and our wider work. We will be joined by OneOak residential artists Sarah Simblet and Rebecca Hind, and by wood carvers from the Oxon & Bucks division of the British Woodcarvers Association.
We will also be launching our fantastic and unusual competition to guess the weight of the OneOak tree. A raffle will be held with some great prizes.
To find out more about the show see Art, Design and a Taste of Summer.
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Link to the Ancient Woods guide
There are many woodland interest initiatives and NGOs and we at the SYLVA Foundation value the variety and diversity of these initiatives.
This said, we also feel strongly about avoiding duplication of information and actively look to link with strong research and woodland management guides and information.
One such publication that has recently been published is the Woodland Trust’s Ancient Woods – A guide for woodland owners and managers.
myForest aims to ensure that the user account features that are provided for owners, managers and agents can be used to support the mapping and management of Ancient Woodlands as set out in this excellent guide.
Well done to the Woodland Trust and to Tom Curtis (the author) for producing such a clear and useful guide.
ShareNature is repairing herself at the woodland where the OneOak tree was felled in January 2010. Foresters at Blenheim Estate have also given nature a helping hand by leaving habitat piles. Piles of branchwood have been left to provide homes for wildlife, for small mammals such as voles, and for insects and fungi that thrive on decaying and dead wood. These piles of wood will also return essential nutrients to the soil and help the next generation of trees to grow.
When the massive OneOak tree was felled the woodland instantly changed. The absence of the majestic spreading crown of the OneOak tree was stark although more winter sun warmed the woodland floor. Marks in the leaf litter from forestry tractors and hundreds of trampling feet were still visible two months later.
Now that Spring has arrived the transformation of the site is well underway. Bluebells are in full bloom and the first fronds of bracken unfurling, even in between the tractor treads and around the stump of the OneOak tree.
We look forward to returning in the Autumn to plant the next generation of oak trees. Click on the images below to see more.
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Enter our free competition and you have a chance to win some super prizes. Simply try to guess the weight of the OneOak tree.
For perhaps the first time ever in science, an entire mature oak tree has been weighed; from the massive main trunk down to the smallest twigs at the tips of the branches. Scientists from Forest Research have now completed their calculations on the OneOak tree and we now know the entire weight of the tree … but we are not telling you – at least not yet!
Prizes include beautiful wooden hand crafted items, made from the wood of the OneOak tree by leading traditional woodworker Martin Damen. Winners will also receive a Year’s Subscription to Living Woods magazine.
What do you think the OneOak tree weighed?
Read more and Enter the competition
Sylva has been awarded a LEADER grant to support woodland owners in mapping and managing their woodlands in the Southern Oxfordshire LEADER area and to provide a platform for reconnecting the local wood-chain. Our myForest Service will be the main tool for supporting this work.
SYLVA have teamed up with the Oxfordshire Woodland Project to work on the enhancement of South Oxfordshire’s forestry sector and to achieve the range of social, economic and environmental benefits that go hand in hand with sustainably managed and productive woodlands.
Through the myForest service, the project aims to promote the Southern Oxfordshire LEADER area as a “beacon” of forestry and as an example of how local links between woodland owners and wood-using business can be fostered to achieve sustainable rural economies.
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 Charity registered in England and Wales 1128516 and in Scotland SC041892 Company limited by guarantee 06589157 Copyright © 2009-12 Sylva Foundation. All rights reserved. |
Sylva Foundation, Manor House, Little Wittenham, Oxfordshire, OX14 4RA Tel: 01865 408018 |
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