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.

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

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.

Nick Webb has been appointed the next Chief Executive of Marston Vale Trust and Managing Director of our operating company (Marston Vale Services Ltd). He will be taking up his new appointment on 1 January 2012.

Nick has outstanding experience in both the commercial and charity sectors – he has started up his own company which he grew and ran for ten years before its sale, by which time it was achieving a £2.4m annual turnover.  In 2008 Nick set up a new charity working with young people (Pro-Action Hertfordshire). This now employs nine full-time staff and seven part time staff and has a turnover of just under a £1M.  Nick is particularly excited by our social enterprise approach as a means of creating the Forest of Marston Vale.

 Nick and his wife, together with their three children, live in Redbourn.

After weeks of planning, much discussion and a large wedge of cash courtesy of GE Transportation and Network Rail, it’s very good to reflect on a brilliant day of tree planting at the Forest’s newest Community Woodland, near Lidlington, last Sunday. More than 3,000 trees were planted by over three hundred enthusiastic people, who turned out - to make a difference, do something worthwhile, enjoy the extremely bracing wind and a fabulous view, and eat an excellent bacon roll.

People came from near (lots from Lidlington) and far (Leicestershire, Oxford) and there were smiles all round – the ground was soft enough for easy digging but not muddy, the sun shone occasionally and it didn’t rain and there was only the shortest break in the bacon roll supply around 2pm; thanks to Sue and Pete who didn’t get a break from the griddle all day.

To all those who came and planted some trees a huge thank you. Although I generally experience a sense of “here we go again” your enthusiasm always makes these days very enjoyable.

The Top Farm site will be busy all week, Thomas Johnson Lower School’s Years 3 & 4 planted 140 trees yesterday, Timberland UK were there too. On Thursday around 100 employees of Home Retail Group’s Marketing Department will join us to wrap up the week and, hopefully get quite  a few hundred more trees in the ground.

If all that appeals and you’re wondering if there’s another chance to have a bash, you’re in luck. Please join us on Sunday 12 February 2012 to finish the second half of Octagon Wood, near Willington. We will post all the information you need here once things are finalised, but if you want us to let you know direct, type your email address into the box to the right of your screen and press subscribe – we will do the rest.

A gallery of pictures on our Facebook page.

It’s that time of year again and in response to the summons for volunteers from Ranger Sven at the Forest Centre, on Saturday 19th November a largish number of us gathered at the Centre on what turned out to be a beautiful autumn day, eagerly awaiting the day’s ‘hedging’ activities – nothing to do with financial markets! For some new members it was their first time ever, for others of us (so called old hands) it was our first hedging session of the season.

As we trudged along in small groups to the work location, maybe some (like me) were trying to recall the techniques picked up last year and realising that the old brain is just not what it used to be. No need to worry though, on reaching the location alongside Station Road, Ranger Sven (mine of information that he is) gave a very interesting overview of hedge laying, why it is done and how, together with a potted history of the art, the tools used and of course the safe use of the same. The regulars at the Forest Marston Centre (Volunteer Assistant Rangers) have been very busy sharpening and re-furbishing the necessary tools to ensure they are in tip top condition for the task – therefore it’s vital that everyone is aware of the damage that can be done in careless hands.

Apparently the hedge alongside Station Road, on the boundary of the Millennium Country Park, is pretty ancient (a few hundred years) so is worth looking after. We were all keen to get stuck in and in a few hours the tangle of hedge, for about 50 metres length, had been cut back, old dead material removed (piles of it) and we could see the wood for the trees so to speak. During the work, ace Volunteer photographer Don appeared with his Nikon camera and took several posed and candid shots of us working, or not, as the case may be. Over the years Don has taken some wonderful photographs of the wildlife at Marston including people working on the various projects so there is an excellent record of events, flora and fauna.

After lunch, it was apparent we could actually get down to some real hedge laying – the moment of truth as it were. Sven gave a demonstration of how it’s done and made it look easy (he always does), then it was our turn. He split us into teams of 4 or 5 – new people with the ‘old hands’ and we were allocated a section of hedge to tackle. Definitely, this work is harder than it looks requiring some skill with use of the tools, so you have to apply yourself to the job in hand and know when to take a breather. That said, it is most satisfying to step back after several large branches or stems have been laid and see how much neater it looks – and this is before the top binding has been done. It starts you thinking about how the other branches will lay, the most suitable ones to keep and which ones to discard – it requires quite a bit of thought and frequent advice from Sven.

All too soon the day is at an end and it’s time to pack up, return to the Forest Centre, unload, clean & lubricate the tools ready for next time – these outdoor activities are the stuff of real teamwork.

Next opportunity to do some conservation work in the Country Park is on Sunday 11 December. Read more…

Nigel (Forest Volunteer)

Don Morris, Volunteer Park Warden, has been at it again and this time it’s more exciting than usual. Armed with a remotely triggered infra-red camera, he’s been trying to catch an image of the otter that we know has been frequenting the Park. We know he or she is around because volunteers are out regularly watching for ’spraint’ (poo to you and me); and often find some.

For some weeks Don’s efforts have produced a small collection of interesting but slightly frustrating images – a fox, woodmouse, a spider and a even slug all feature. But now he has struck lucky.

Don recently appeared in the office looking decidedly pleased and showed us a couple of images. Although slightly blurred in black and white, there is no doubt that the animal pictured is an otter. Don reckons there may be a pair in the Park, which bodes well. The area is well provided for water – there are plenty of lakes, large and small; and the Elstow Brook connects the Great Ouse with the heart of the Vale, so there is a simple route into the area.
We are keeping our fingers crossed and would like to thank Don for these exciting images.

I know it’s still November, but some of you will have been thinking about Christmas for a while and as a tree went up here yesterday, it must be time to suggest you buy yours from the Marston Vale Trust at the Forest Centre. In common with every other sale from the Centre, all profits from our trees are used to create the Forest.

We have some beautiful trees here for sale some of which were grown by the Community Tree Trust. These have root balls and we hope you’ll want to make yours survive the Christmas period and even into next spring. If so, follow these few instructions:
– Plant in a large pot as soon as possible, in a potting compost of some type, just as if you were planting outside.
- Bring the tree into your home and decorate as usual
- Water very sparingly – keeping the compost very slightly damp through Christmas and New Year
- In January, remove the tree from its pot, wet the roots with water and wrap the whole of the root ball in a plastic bag
- Return your tree to us at the Forest Centre. We will return it to the CTT who will ensure it gets planted back into the wild.

Your tree shouldn’t die, shouldn’t drop too many needles and will make a beautiful contribution to a new wood in the future.

All Christmas trees cost £35. Enquire at Forest Centre reception. Available until stocks last.

Common Buzzard mobbed by a Kestrel – MVCP 19th Nov 2011 from Martin Green on Vimeo.

Life’s hard; even at the top of the food chain things can be as stressful as for more lowly organisms. Here’s a wonderful sequence taken by Country Park regular and spectacular photographer, Martin Green, showing a buzzard staying calm in the face of some harassment, apparently by a kestrel, although it all happens too fast to see it. Fortunately, Martin’s camera picked up comments in the background.

I sometimes find myself feeling sorry for kestrels as they receive pretty constant hassle from crows and jackdaws. It seems they can give as good they get.

Thanks to Martin for sharing this with us. Martin is one of a team of amazingly well-informed bird walk leaders who are keen to share their knowledge about the birds in the Millennium Country Park. Visit this page regularly for updates or take a look at our events listing for dates through to next spring. Next walk is on 27 December.

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