FCA Magazine (FCAtoday) - Issue 50: Winter 2013
FC staff Retirement Association magazine. The content summary below was very kindly compiled by Diane Birkett, Bedfordshire. See PDF attachment below the text to view the full document. A total of 77 issues were completed between 1997 and the final issue in 2023.
Issue 50: Winter 2013
Articles
Days at Dean FTS
Harry Pepper has found some 1960s photographs relating to the September 1959 to July 1961 Dean FTS course which show Mike Stark on a tree bicycle and Harry Pepper peeling bark. Another photo was taken on a field trip in 1959-60 to South Wales to see deep ploughing in operation. In the group photo possibly taken by Paul Collis are Brian Hibbard, Gabriel “Gabby” Charles, Derek Willmott, Peter Stubbington, Mick Scutt, Harry Pepper, John Hannam, Tony Graver, David Ford, Mike Stark, Shaun Purcell, Nail Buckley, Phil Drewett and Ted Williams the FTS driver. The final photo shows Roland Thomas with his Foden timber wagon, parked outside Parkend Saw Mill.
The Great Bear Rain Forest
Charles Dickens recalls his visit to The Great Bear Rain Forest in British Columbia.
Glen Estate Aberdeenshire
Jim Christie, a volunteer warden with the Woodland Trust, has made the following request for help. Glen estate, near Edzell in Aberdeenshire, was built in 1795 and many of its trees were introduced around that time. The estate is now held in Trust and the main building is used by a Scottish university for courses. It’s a 200 acre estate with a walled area for the arboretum. The estate manager is keen to keep the estate as well loved and cared for as possible, be it the many buildings, parkland, riverside and arboretum. A tree recording session has taken place this year and over 20 trees (sweet chestnut, yew, beech, sycamore, lime, turkey oak, Wellingtonia, cypress, monkey puzzle, cedar) have all been recorded. The arboretum has a large area not readily accessible, rhododendron having taken over. The resources to care for the arboretum are very limited and the estate manager would dearly like some advice on how to look after it.
Women at War
An article first published in the Scottish Memories magazine shows the women of the Land Army and Timber Corps played a vital part in feeding wartime Britain, yet their contribution is only now starting to be recognised. James Hendrie recounts the history of the WLA and WTC.
Fred Hummel: Memorial Tree Planting at Alice Holt
Arnold Grayson writes about the memorial tree planting at Alice Holt, a tribute to Fed Hummel who died in October 2012 at the age of ninety seven. Fred was at Alice Holt from its start in 1946 up to 1961. Peter Freer-Smith, the Chief Research Officer, said he would be happy to arrange a site and tree. They agreed a Metasequoia from Westonbirt should be provided for a planting on 16th August 2013. On that day the Hummel family came to Alice Holt, together with Philip and Janet Wardle. Peter Freer-Smith and a number of other staff who knew Fred’s work also attended. A photograph shows his son Antony Hummel, Robert Matthews, Gary Kerr, Arnold Grayson, his wife Floriana Hummel and Philip Wardle.
A Great Day Out by the South Wales Group
Ian Blake says nineteen members of the South Wales Group enjoyed a day out at the Penderyn Distillery and Garwnant Visitor Centre in May. The day started at Penderyn, nestled in the foothills of the Brecon Beacons, with a tour around the distillery. It was founded in 2000 by local businessmen and is currently the only one in Wales. It has a visitor centre and shop, and includes an exhibition about key elements of 'wysgi' making and Welsh culture that were important factors in the successful return of distilling to Wales. A photograph shows the Group at Penderyn.
The Lodge Forest Visitor Centre – A New Beginning
Back in the 1950s, Carnegie Trust chairman, David Marshall, was keen that the Trust should do something that would allow everyone to enjoy National Parks. His idea was to develop a building that would serve as a rest stop and focal point for visitors and he convinced the Trust to commit £20,000 to the project. Emboldened by the Trust’s endorsement of his idea, he approached the Peak District National Park. Thinking that it wouldn’t be in keeping with the landscape, the park authority turned the offer down. So David Marshall turned his sights to the Forestry Commission and Queen Elizabeth Forest Park (QEFP). Thanks to his determination and persistence and Forestry Commission foresight, the project came to fruition and the David Marshall Forest Lodge opened in 1960 at a total cost of £50,000. It quickly became a much loved facility and in August 2010 it celebrated its 50th birthday. After falling into disrepair, the building has now been renovated to a high standard and re-opened.
Lynford Hall Now
Recently, Simon Malone visited Lynford Hall, the Forester Training School which closed in the late 1950s, and shares some photographs of the building and surrounding grounds as they are now.
Cliff Featherstone’s Arctic Star Award
Cliff Featherstone has been awarded the Arctic Star. He is one of hundreds of Arctic convoy veterans of the Second World War who have been honoured by the British Government for their part in delivering supplies to the Soviet Union. Cliff was a 19-year-old radio officer on the Lowther Castle when it was torpedoed as it sailed between Iceland and Murmansk in May 1942. He was picked up from a lifeboat by a small destroyer that accompanied the convoy. He still has his record book recording service on 9 different ships between 1941 and 1945. He joined the Dean FTS in 1946 on the first full two year course after the war, and on completion returned to Dalby, becoming a Grade II Forester in 1950. After some years, he was put on Private Woodlands in Yorkshire and after further beat work on Osmotherley and Wykeham, He was promoted to Chief Forester in 1972 and went to Kielder. His final post was Thetford from where he retired in 1987. A photograph of the 1946-1948 Dean course shows: - Frank Skinner; Norman McIntyre; Bonny Austin; Jack Permain; Charlie Russell; Stan Betterton; John Derbyshire; Ken Mills; Peter Woods; Bert Howland; Roland Baltitude; Cliff Featherstone; Mike Salmond; Wilf Ridge; Jim Field; Norman Fowler; Dick Crawford; Ken Lewis; Peter Gerrard; Howard Ingram; David Bromley; Raymond Young; John Offord; Ken Wills; Derek Rayner; Fred Hann; Pincher Martin; Robert Baird; Fred Hinton; Fred Barling; Jim Bruce (staff); Harold Jones (staff); Tom Edwardson (Head of school); Pop Hale (staff); Arthur Eckton; Taffy Maddocks; Ben Olney and Arthur Tackney.
Red Deer in Folklore
Chris McCooey explores the folklore associated with the Red Deer, and its usefulness to Highlanders from prehistoric times to the Victorian era. The Red Deer (Cervus elaphus) is Britain’s largest wild land mammal but it is only in the Highlands that they have remained truly wild. Originally a woodland animal, Red Deer would have roamed all over the Caledonian forests. When the climate changed during the Ice Age and the natural trees disappeared, followed centuries later by the Clearances and the introduction of sheep, Red Deer adapted to life on the open mountains and moors.
Letter to the Editor
Pat Patyot writes from the Island Conservation Society in the Seychelles with a request to find F. Strawbridge who was a forester there from 1958 to May 1961.
Book Review
Continuous Cover Management of Woodlands – A Brief Introduction by Rodney Helliwell.
Rodney Helliwell says his intention is to provide a brief introduction and explanation of the basis of continuous cover forestry. It will be primarily for owners and managers of woodlands, but will also be helpful to others who have an interest in how forests and woodlands are, or could be, managed. He starts with the concept of natural woodland saying that it can regenerate in different ways. He gives as examples regeneration after catastrophic events or after death of small groups or individuals. In the management of woodlands he notes the different systems of coppice, clear felling and the alternatives based on small group or individual tree removal. The latter, termed continuous cover forestry (CCF), has become widely used in European countries in the last two or three decades.
From the Editor
A comment from Richard Toleman.
Obituary
Tributes have been paid to Norman Watson, one of the first ever SAS recruits who has died at the age of 88. Originally from Walkerburn, Peeblesshire, he joined the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders in 1942. For 36 years he worked as a Forestry Ranger with the Forestry Commission.