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Nick Webb, Judith Feline and Tony Talbot celebrate 20 years of the Forest

Past, present and future Managing Directors of the Marston Vale Trust joined numerous others, including many past-employees, last Wednesday 14 December, to celebrate twenty years of the creation of the Forest of Marston Vale.

The evening started with  the welcome return of Judith Feline. Judith guided the creation of the Marston Vale Trust and the staff team’s departure from the relative comfort of Beds County Council’s employ. Those were often difficult times through which, in addition, Judith guided the Forest Centre and Millennium Country Park’s construction. For those with memories long enough, John Craven and Bob the Builder might sound a familiar note.

Members of the current Forest Staff Team spoke briefly about their experiences of working for the organisation and formalities concluded with presentations of an inscribed spade to departing Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Tony Talbot; and a carved ash bowl to departing Chair of Trustees, Mrs Fiona Chapman, MBE, DL. Mrs Chapman will stay on as Chairman until the end of March 2012 whilst Nick Webb, new Chief Executive gets himself established.

It was very good to see so many old faces and to enjoy the generally very positive vibe of the evening. Thanks for coming.

Here’s to the next twenty years.

Pink Ladies Night at the Forest Centre

Around 250 people came to the Forest Centre to enjoy a Pink Ladies Night last week, buying  jewellery, food, artwork, clothes and much more from a huge range of stands spread around the Forest Centre’s Lakeside Cafe.

The evening raised £1850 for Breast Cancer Awareness. 

Everyone involved had a great time and especially appreciated the impressive contribution made by Dean and other members of the male Cafe team (pictures too graphic to exhibit here).
Thanks to everyone who came and helped to raise such an impressive total.

If you missed it, you might like to know that there’s a repeat already in the planning stage Wednesday 28 November 2012. To receive regular email updates on this and everything else that’s planned at the Forest Centre and throughout the Forest, fill in your address in the box to the right.

More information about Breast Cancer Awareness

Lifting new solar panels onto the Centre roof (image Don Morris)

As part of the Marston Vale Trust’s commitment to making a real contribution to combating climate change, we are fitting solar panels to the roof of the Forest Centre.  These panels will cover over 400m² of the roof and are expected to generate 40,000kWh of electricity every year.  This will mean that over a quarter of the Forest Centre’s annual electricity usage will be coming from solar energy. 

The solar panels are the latest step that the Trust has taken in creating a more sustainable future.  We already heat the Forest Centre and our hot water with woodchip and have achieved ISO 14001 accreditation for our environmental management system following a whole series of measures, including low energy lighting and increased recycling.

We are always looking for ways to improve the efficiency of how the Forest Centre and all of the Trust’s activities are run and hope to be harvesting wind energy next year after completion of a wind turbine in the Millennium Country Park.

The Woodland Trust has developed a national project that will create woodlands to commemorate this once-in-a-lifetime happening – Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee. We are thrilled to have entered into the swing of things by joining forces with the Woodland Trust to register the new Community Woodland we are planting near Lidlington this winter, as a ‘Jubilee Wood’. This means that the new wood will be associated with the Queen’s Jubilee for very many years to come which is a great honour.
We are very grateful to the Woodland Trust for their financial contribution to the creation of this new woodland. Find out more about Jubilee Woods.

Help us create it!

We need you to help create this new Jubilee Wood. Are you free on Sunday 4 December? If so, why not get involved? You’ll enjoy it and feel a part of the Forest and a Jubilee Wood – how to take part

A specialist checks for great crested newts and other wildlife

Preparations continue for the installation of the Marston Mill wind turbine in the Millennium Country Park. Works are likely to begin early in 2012. The Marston Vale Trust is committed to the environmentally led regeneration of the Marston Vale and considers that wind energy has a significant role to play in creating a more sustainable future for the area.

Public information days held at the Forest Centre in 2005 and 2006 showed there was excellent local support for the project with 87% of respondents considering it an ‘excellent’ or ‘good’ idea and less than 10% considering it to be ‘not a good idea’. The Trust received planning permission last year to install a single wind turbine in the Millennium Country Park.

Benefits to the Forest

The wind turbine will have a hub height of approximately 85m (roughly the height of the Stewartby chimneys) and a maximum blade to tip height of 120.5m. It will produce enough energy for the Forest Centre and over 900 houses. The surplus will be sold to the National Grid, providing valuable income to the Marston Vale Trust which will be used in its work to create the Forest of Marston Vale.

Comprehensive environmental studies have been completed to ensure that potential noise and shadow flicker impacts at residential properties, and potential impacts on the wildlife of the Park are limited to an acceptable level.

A number of site investigations have been completed over the past weeks. Boreholes will guide the exact design and construction specifications of the turbine. If you visit the Park, you will notice that an area of hawthorn scrub has been cleared leading to, as well as in the area of, the proposed wind turbine. This is to construct a new surfaced access track and foundations for the turbine and construction pad. The clearance was carried out at this time of year to avoid nesting birds and also to minimise disturbance to great crested newts which live in the Park. These newts are a European protected species so all measures must be taken to avoid any damage or disturbance to them. During this clearance phase, an ecological consultant, licensed to handle newts, was on site supervising the work. Scrub was cut down to a height of 15cm, the area hand-searched for newts (or any other wildlife) before being fully cleared to ground level.

Better pedestrian access

The new track will remain for future maintenance works. It will double as a surfaced route, perfect for wheelchair and buggy users, into a part of the Park which is currently more difficult to access. There will inevitably be some disruption to visitors when the construction begins but this will be kept to an absolute minimum to ensure the project is completed as sensitively as possible.

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Wedding Fayre at the Forest Centre on Saturday 16 October [images Brian Bayliss

Third successful Fayre

This Fayre will build on the successes of three previous events at the Forest Centre since 2009, since when the Centre Team has attracted additional wedding businesses and found out even more about what you need to ease the process of organising a wedding. 

Making your life easier

Let’s face it, planning the big day can be fraught. A wedding is an occasion that just has to be right and that can be a burden, even for the most organised of us. The Forest Centre’s Wedding Fayre could be the answer for you. By bringing all the services you’ll need into one place on one day, the whole process could become less of a trial and your challenge to get it right, an easier one. 

Ideas in abundance

Throughout the day, you will have the chance to meet and chat to experts – weddings are what they do best. Even if you know what you want, you’re bound to pick up some bright ideas. And if for you the whole thing is a mystery, don’t despair; experts will be on hand to guide you through every stage. There will be planners, designers, printers, ballooners, florists, beauticians, hair stylists, discos, hirers of fancy cars… 

Centre for hire

Of course, if you are in need of a venue for your wedding that offers a beautiful location, superb catering and the best possible service for you and your guests, don’t forget to talk to Forest Centre staff about our wedding packages. And don’t forget that all profits from your wedding are ploughed back into the creation of the Forest of Marston Vale. 

And a little something for the bride to be…

Just to make the day irresistible, we would like to offer every bride to be a glass of bubbly. Don’t miss out. 

For more details contact call 01234 762613

The Marston Vale Trust, the charity behind the creation of the Forest of Marston Vale will hold its Annual General Meeting on Wednesday 14 December 2011, 5.30 for 6pm, at the Forest Centre, Marston Moretaine.

This is an opportunity for anyone who has an interest in the Forest, to meet our trustees and find out more; there are usually presentations by members of the Forest Team on particular highlights of the year and plenty of time to chat and ask questions afterwards.

Everyone is welcome, but space is limited so if you would like to come, please let Tony Talbot know in advance by calling 01234 762601 or emailing tony.talbot@marstonvale.org

the Forest Centre catering team (and some others)

We’ve always known that the Centre’s Lakeside Café is a great place to eat and now it’s official. Central Bedfordshire Council’s Environmental Health Food Team awarded the café and kitchen the top, five stars in March this year; a wonderful tribute to the hard work of the whole catering team. It’s also an assurance for every visitor that the café and its kitchen are well managed and scrupulously clean.

The Central Bedfordshire Award Scheme

Together with publishing on the Internet Food Hygiene scores based on a National Guidance and Code of Practice Central Bedfordshire\’s Environmental Health Food Team has developed a 5 Star award scheme based on parts of the Code of Practice. Most people are familiar with the 5 Star concept and this allows the public and businesses a quick method of establishing compliance with legislation.

This scheme permits premises to be benchmarked against the same criteria namely: hygiene, structural and confidence in management.

Read more

Woodchip delivery for the Forest Centre boiler

For a couple  of years now, the Forest Centre has been heated by burning woodchip. This switch from gas to biomass heating  is saving roughly 30 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year.

It has until now been difficult to find woodchip to burn and we have been bringing it to Marston from Suffolk. Fortunately we recently secured a supply from Bedfordshire’s own Woburn Estate. We reckon this is giving a net saving of around 1,825 miles in haulage/vehicle movements each year; a net carbon saving of  around 2.2 tonnes of carbon dioxide per annum.

On cost, the haulage from Suffolk, was costing as much as the wood chip itself. By using locally supplied chip, we’re reducing haulage costs and distance, supporting local employment and rural business, helping reduce carbon emissions and saving money in heating the Forest Centre. Good news all round; for the environment, local employment and road congestion!