CRAFTSMAN Dave Jackson hopes to revive traditional woodland crafts with the help of a £5,000 grant from the Malvern Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

Mr Jackson plans to set up a network of local people involved in a wide range of woodland crafts, from coppicing and pole lathe turning to hedgelaying and charcoal burning.

He also plans to run training courses in skills like coppicing, to bring new people into this traditional area of employment.

"Traditional crafts and ways of managing woodland are being revived and becoming more popular after years of decline," said Mr Jackson.

Coppicing is the ancient art of cutting trees back to ground level, to encourage new growth and supply a sustainable source of timber.

Mr Jackson said a lot of people in the Malvern Hills area were already involved in a small way and the network would put them in touch with each other, enabling producers of coppiced hazel to sell to craftsmen and craftsmen to market their woodland products under a recognisable Malvern AONB brand.

Mr Jackson will be running subsidised training courses in traditional woodland skills at the beginning of next year. The week-long courses will cost around £40 and Mr Jackson hopes to encourage people involved in woodland crafts to share their skills. Ultimately, he would like to take on a full-time apprentice.

The Malvern AONB wants to revive coppicing as a way of managing woodland, as it can prolong the life of trees, change the nature of the woodland and encourage wildlife.

Local people involved in any area of woodland crafts who would like to find out more or join the network and appear in its directory, can contact Mr Jackson on 01684 899072 or email info@wildwoodcrafts.com.

10:42am Friday 1st September 2006

Print

Email this