Slasher Magazine Summary: Publication No. 210 - June 1965
The digitisation of the Slasher was undertaken by, and images courtesy of, the Forest Research Knowledge and Information Management staff based at both the Northern Research Station in Roslin, Scotland and Alice Holt in Surrey, where the original copies are currently located.
The content summary below was very kindly compiled by Diane Birkett, Bedfordshire. See PDF attachment link below the text to view the full document. A total of over 400 issues were produced between 1948 and the final issue in 2010.
New Chairman
Mr Leslie Jenkins will be joining the Commission as Chairman next month.
Resignation
Mr H.A. Turner will be leaving the Commission after 15 years to take up a role with the Ministry of Land and Natural Resources.
Appointments
Mr M. Compton joins the Commission as Head of Administration and Finance. He was previously the Principal Finance Officer at the Ministry of Agriculture.
Mr Andrew Watt will be the Head of Forest Management.
Mr G.B. Ryle relinquishes his title of Deputy Director General and becomes Head of Harvesting and Marketing until his retirement later this year.
Mr J.R. Thom, Director, England is for the time being to oversee Research.
Promotions
Mr John James, Chief Education Officer since 1958 is to become Conservator, North Wales.
Mr G.D. Rouse, Divisional Officer in South West England since 1955 is to take up a Conservator post at Headquarters.
Mr P.F. Garthwaite, recently appointed the Commission's Wild Life Officer, is to become a Conservator at Headquarters.
First Pulpwood Tree Felled
The first pulpwood tree for the new Fort William pulp and paper mill was ceremoniously felled at Inchnacardoch Forest this month. It was marked by Sir John Stirling of Fairburn, former Commissioner, then a workman felled it using a power saw, and with other trees, it quickly helped make up the first lorry load. Sir John signed the first consignment note and then history was well and truly made as the vehicle moved off down the forest road.
Some stockpiling is required before the mill begins to operate later this year and this month the Commission will be supplying 4,500 tons of pulpwood. By September this will have reached 8,000 tons a month and by the end of 1966 full scale working will have been reached at a monthly rate of 16,000 tons or more than 500 tons a day.
Praise was given by Sir Henry Beresford-Peirse, Director General on the role of the timber trade on the Highland economy.
The gathering at the ceremony included Major D.C. Bowser, Commissioner and Chairman of the National Committee for Scotland; Major Sir William Strang Steel, Commissioner; Mr T. Taylor, Commissioner; Mr John Dickson, Director, Scotland; Mr H.A. Maxwell, Conservator, North Scotland; Mr G.I. Mackenzie, Conservator, East Scotland; Mr J.W.L. Zehetmayr, Conservator, West Scotland; Mr G. Forrest, Chief Land Agent, Scotland; Mr E.G. Richards, Head of the Marketing Section and other senior officers.
Obituary
Mr E.J. Cutter, Clerical Officer, Cambridge Office collapsed while at work last month and died shortly after admission to hospital.
Birthday Honours
Mr L.G.F. Cross, Head Forester, Bramshill, South East England, has been awarded an M.B.E.
Mr D.M. Watt, Head Forester, Monaughty, East Scotland, until his retirement in March, has been awarded an M.B.E.
Mr Charles Venables, a member of the Commission's North West Regional Advisory Committee since 1951, has been awarded an O.B.E.
Oak Tree and the Victory
The Commission's Research Station was asked to supply an oak tree for planting to mark the bi-centenary last month of the launching of HMS Victory, on a site near the permanent dry dock of this famous ship. Alice Holt Lodge provided a 6-8 feet Quercus robur grown from seed collected from the gardens of Chartwell, home of Mr Winston Churchill. This origin was recorded on the plaque which commemorated the planting.
Valuing By Glider
Mr H.J. Hooper, Assistant Land Agent, North East England makes a claim to the most unusual method of travel in the performance of his duties with the Commission. He recalls that in Wales a Forest Officer tried to use a helicopter for carrying out his inspections, while in Scotland travel by steam and row boats is not unusual.
Recently, Mr Hooper had to value some land at Sutton bank near Helmsley, Yorkshire. He used a glider from the Sutton Bank Gliding Station. He comments though, that "Winging around in leisurely silence at a height of 2,000 feet or so, I found it somewhat difficult to place a rental value on the respective field enclosure".
Worcester Sauce
Mr M.C. Shirley, District Officer, writes about a product of Wyre Forest which is essential to the manufacture of Worcestershire sauce. Much of the hardwood coppice is prepared for planting by local small wood contractors and towards the end of the process, neat bundles of birch twigs often appear on the ground. These are prepared by a local craftsman aptly named Mr Birch, who supplies them to a Worcestershire sauce factory at Stourport-on-Severn. The twigs are floated on top of the huge vats of sauce to provide a habitat for the vinegar bacteria which are essential to the process. Shredded plastic has been tried as a substitute but the resulting loss in piquancy rules it out.
Mr Birch also makes attractive oak chip baskets. Another product of this coppice working is refinery poles. They are usually of oak, though other hardwoods are acceptable and are used for copper refining in the Black Country. The poles are thrown into vats of molten copper and the immediate escape of the vaporised sap in fine bubbles purifies the metal. No mechanical alternative to this method has been discovered so far.