Smith's Wood Heritage Project
Warwickshire Wildlife Trust worked in
partnership with the Warwickshire Association of Youth Clubs to
deliver part of the Solihull Positive Activities Programme.
This project worked with young
people from the North Solihull area to participate in conservation
work at Smith's Wood woodland, learning about how the woodland
would have been managed in the past, and having the opportunity to
learn the skills for themselves.
During this time the young people
learned the ancient art of hazel coppicing and put the materials
they collected to good use in making benches, fencing and Christmas
wreaths. They also got to work alongside a heavy horse during the
Oaks and Shires event organised by Solihull Council.
Year 12 pupils from Forest Oak
school also paid a visit to Chelmsley Wood Library to look over the
archive of old maps and documents to discover how much the area had
changed over the centuries.
The video footage gathered with the young
people has been put together to form a short documentary, which you
can see below on this page or at http://youtu.be/aM9snXVJHp0
It is also available at Chemlsley Wood
Library.
As part of their personal development
programme, year 10 pupils from Forest Oak School have taken part in
the project, working with hazel in Smith's Wood and on their school
site to create pea and bean poles for their newly planted
allotment.
The group also built an invertebrate habitat at the Parkridge
Centre and completed the John Muir Award at Explorer Level.
For more information about the project,
please contact Matt Cox on 0121 704 0768 or email matt.cox@wkwt.org.uk.
