Slasher Magazine Summary: Publication No. 59 – November 1952
The scanned images of the Slasher were produced by and courtesy of the Forest Research Data and Information Team staff based at Roslin, where some of the original copies are located. The Forestry England Information Knowledge Management Team and New Forest Heritage made available copies of The Slasher from their collections. Brian Mahony of the FC Retirement Association devised and coordinates the Slasher Project and has been instrumental in locating many missing editions and coordinating the searches to locate all the earlier publication numbers.
The content summary below was again very kindly compiled by Diane Birkett, Bedfordshire. See PDF attachment link below the text summary to view the full document. A total of over 420 issues or publications were produced between January 1948 and the final publication in 2010.
The Harrow Train Crash - Two Colleagues Escape Injury
Two of our colleagues, both on the staff of Director, England, were passengers on the local train involved in the disastrous triple crash at Harrow and Wealdstone Station, in which 112 people lost their lives. They are Miss E.M. Lowes, Executive Officer and Miss C. Tilley, Clerical Officer. They were in the front of the train, which was stationary at the time of the crash and were unhurt.
"We had both used this train for more than a year," Miss Tilley informed us, "and on the morning of the disaster I deliberately went right to the front so that I could quickly leave Euston Station. Our compartment was crowded, with six persons seated on either side and a number standing; suddenly there was a crash and we experienced a great deal of buffeting, but fortunately no one in the compartment was hurt. I did not realise at the time that there had been a collision, for we heard surprisingly little noise; my first impression was that the boiler of our engine had burst, for we could hear the rush of steam which probably came from the engine of the Manchester express. Miss Lowes and I had both crossed over the footbridge which was swept away in the crash". Miss Lowes was travelling in the second coach, the windows of which were badly smashed.
Another who regards himself as extremely fortunate is Mr Derek Smith, Executive Officer at Headquarters. He has frequently used the local train but on the day of the crash decided to catch an earlier one.
Opening of Another Forest Village - New Community at Dalavich
Built to house the growing labour force at Inverliever Forest, Dalavich forest village on the west shore of Loch Awe, in Argyllshire, has been officially opened. The ceremony of opening the village and the new school was performed by Sir Bruce Campbell, Lord Lieutenant of Argyllshire. The Director of Forestry for Scotland, Sir Henry Beresford Peirse said the occasion marked the beginning of considerable development planned by the Forestry Commission in association with the timber trade, with a modern sawmill and drying kiln among the innovations.
Inverliever was the first State Forest to be formed in Scotland and now has about 2,400 acres under plantations. It is a highly productive forest, having yielded, to date, some 45,000 tons of timber; the annual output is now 6,000 tons, and this figure is expected to increase to a maximum yearly output of 10,000 tons.
The population of the area has increased due to the employment given by forestry. In 1908, the year after the land was acquired by H.M. Office of Woods, the total population was 55. In 1912-13, when 600 acres had been planted, the population had increased to 87, to which forestry contributed 33; and earlier this year the total population had risen to 285, of which 232 represented forest employees and their families. Inverliever Forest now gives direct employment to about 100 men and women.
At Dalavich 31 houses have been built and a further 17 will be built in the near future. A village shop and other amenities are planned. There are 111 children under 16 in the area, about 100 being the children of forest workers.
Among those watching the ceremony was one who must surely be the Commission's tallest employee. He is Ben Crowe, a native of Birmingham, who is seven feet one inch tall and, before his demobilisation three years ago, he was the country's tallest National Serviceman. He takes size 15 boots, has a 48 inch stride and weighs 17 stones. He hopes soon to enter a Forester Training School.
The William Forsyth Cup - Won by the Fire-Fighters of Byland Beat
The men of Byland Beat, Ampleforth Forest, North East England, were presented with the William Forsyth Memorial Cup by Conservator Mr C.A. Connell. The Cup will be awarded annually to the Beat within the Conservancy which is judged most efficient in forest fire protection and fire-fighting. This silver trophy was purchased from subscriptions to the William Forsyth Memorial Fund, which was inaugurated as a tribute to the late William Forsyth, former State Forest Officer in the NE Conservancy, who always took the greatest possible interest in fire protection matters and died in 1950.
The finalists were the Byland Beat, Ampleforth; Plashetts Beat, Kielder; and Redesdale, Harwood, Hamsterley and Langdale Beats. Each was tested by the State Forest Officer, Mr Peter Garthwaite, and judged on the initiative, skill and commonsense and general efficiency of the competitors. It has also been possible to meet from the Fund the cost of erecting a memorial cairn to William Forsyth. This has been raised on high ground on Mount Common, in the Kielder Forest for which he always had a deep affection.
Behind the Iron Curtain - A Forester in Poland
One of our readers, Forester E.J.D. Wilkinson, of Maresfield, South East England, reports on his recent travels on the Continent and to Poland. During the last war, he was a prisoner in Poland, having been captured by the enemy in France in pre-Dunkirk days.
He writes, "I travelled by air from Northolt to Berlin, then by train to Warsaw. I had the opportunity to visit several Polish forests, and saw some very large areas of beech and, where the soil is sandy, as it is in much of the country, a great deal of Norway spruce and Scots pine. I shall not say much about conditions in Poland. The Poles have to work very hard indeed for poor wages, the Englishman is far better off than he thinks he is. It was a relief to get to Vienna, although there I found many Russian soldiers and I was made to get off the pavement by a Soviet soldier who carried a sub-machine gun! My journey on from Vienna, which eventually led me to beyond Passau on the German border, was about the most thrilling I have ever experienced. The diesel-electric train covers many miles through mountain ranges, all thickly forested; it took curves and bends, and went downhill, at terrific speeds and I wondered that it kept on the rails and that the rails kept on the sleepers. The beauty of the mountains, some more than 7,000 feet high, was awe-inspiring. Sometimes the track followed a contour half way up a mountain, sometimes it went through a narrow pass or over a viaduct, with a rushing river way below, and then it went through the heart of Bosruck mountain in a long tunnel. All the way (tunnels excepted!) it was trees, trees, with strips of natural regeneration here and high forest there. It was nearly all spruce.
"There was a long wait at Semmering, at the end of the Soviet sector, and here Russian soldiery went through the train, looking at everyone's papers. Four persons in my carriage were taken off, not having the correct documents. On leaving Semmering I was privileged to enter the driver's compartment; this had wide observation windows, and a notice above the driver read 'This train must not exceed 120 kilometres an hour' (75 m.p.h.), but I am sure it was ignored.
"At Linz I boarded another train, which was made up of a truly international mixture of carriages — Hungarian, Polish, Yugoslav, Austrian, German, Italian and Belgian. I left this train some time after crossing the German border at Passau, to look at a State forest comprising, in the main, naturally regenerated pine. Resin is obtained from thousands of the growing trees by tapping and placing a cup at the base.
"I returned home by train from Regensburg, via Frankfurt, along the Rhein valley to Cologne, then via Brussels and Ostend."
The Non-Stop Cableway Now Working in Scotland
While on a recent visit to Scotland, a reader saw the first "Lasso" cableway to be operated in this country. This cableway is Swiss made and differs from anything hitherto used here as it employs the principle of a continuously moving, endless cable on which timber, which must first be cross-cut in the woods, can be hooked at any point. Special clips are used for the purpose of attaching the timber and unloading can be carried out without stopping the cable. Motive power is supplied by a winch. The cableway is suspended on pulleys which are easily attached to standing trees by a simple chain device. It can be taken round corners, so to speak, and up and down hill, and can move up to about 1,500 hoppus feet of timber per day. The cableway in question was seen at Aultsigh, on the shores of Loch Ness, and was being used by a timber merchant.
News From Wales
The Office of Director, Wales, has many keen golfers, two of whom distinguished themselves in local tournaments this year. Mr E.R. Huggard, Planning Officer, won the Bown Cup and has been presented with an inscribed replica as a permanent reminder of his feat.
Mr J. Raftree, Messenger, won both the Sir George Fossett Roberts Cup and the Coronation Cup.
Plain English (Extract from a Forestry Lease): "The right to take water from the well at or near the Point A marked on the said plan". "Note. The point A referred to in the foregoing reservation is the point marked X on the said plan marked B".
Why not use a key?: An A69 received at the Welsh Directorate Office recently asked for "1 Slasher, 8" for the opening of Village Hall"
Local Colour - Or The Forest Fire Plus
Talk of fire being the Foresters' worst enemy! We were left in no doubt after reading the following account in a local newspaper of a recent fire in one of our forests. ‘‘Nearly a quarter of X Forest, famous beauty spot, was destroyed yesterday when fire swept over 50 acres of the forest. Fire brigades from two counties and squads of Forestry Commission employees fought the flames which, fanned by a high wind, threatened the remainder of the forest. Hundreds of wild animals were burnt to death as they tried to escape from the burning undergrowth and birds dropped to the ground like flaming torches. Thousands of valuable trees were destroyed in the forest, which is owned by the Forestry Commission. But firemen kept the flames away from farms and cottages in the area. A new scheme worked out between the fire authorities and the Forestry Commission, which provided for large static water supplies at selected points in the forest, was put into operation for the first time. To supplement this supply, fire brigades rushed four water tenders, capable of carrying hundreds of gallons of water, to the forest. The firemen used walkie-talkies to co-ordinate fire fighting throughout the sprawling forest. No one was injured in the fire. The extensive damage to the trees has not yet been estimated".
The report lacks only such descriptive phrases and words as "great conflagration" and "holocaust". Readers will, however, be glad to know that the said fire resulted only in the loss of three and a quarter acres of almost valueless oak coppice and some birch, out of the total forest area of more than 3,000 acres; fire appliances could not get within a quarter of a mile of the fire and only beaters were used. According to the District Officer, two rabbits were found to have had their fur singed.
Newcomers
Assistant Engineer W.C. Anderson to D(S);
Clerical Officer J. Rawson to NE(E);
Executive Officer M. Martin has returned from H.M. Forces to Headquarters.
Transfers
District Officer R.A. Innes from H.Q. to Fort Augustus, N(S);
District Officer J. Stirling from Knapdale, W(S) to Auchen Castle, Moffat, S(S);
District Officer F.H. Webb from Llandrindod Wells, N(W) to Borth, N(W);
District Officer D.H. Wallace from Cardiff, S(W) to Caerphilly, S(W);
District Officer E.S.B. Chaplin from Princes Risborough to Stamford, E(E);
Head Forester B.H. King from Micheldever, SE(E) to Arundel, SE(E);
Forester W. McClymont from Glenhurich, N(S) to Strathconon, N(S);
Forester B.H. Sainsbury from Burley, New to Hurn, New;
Forester T.W. Thomas from Gwydyr, N(W) to Beddgelert, N(W);
Forester R. Twallin from Alton, SE(E) to Shere, SE(E);
Forester G.I. Rudge from Brechfa, S(W) to Brecon, S(W);
Forester S. Davies from Thetford Chase, E(E) to Dean;
Forester S.J. Law from Shere to Charlton, SE(E);
Forester A.G. John from Chepstow, S(W) to Tintern, S(W);
Forester W.H. Williams from Tintern, S(W) to Llandeilo, S(W);
Forester M.P. Salmond from Redesdale, NE(E) to Doncaster, NE(E);
Forester E.H. Leutscher from New Forest to Thetford Chase;
Forester J.H. Thomas from Crychan, S(W) to Tintern S(W);
Forester K.D. Harvey from Charlton to Micheldever;
Forester W.E. Morgan from Giedd, S(W) to St. Gwynno, S(W);
Foreman A. Leishman from Newcastleton, S(S) to Tinnisburn, S(S);
Foreman J. France from Rothbury, NE(E) to Kielder, NE(E);
Foreman N. Drysdale from Kilsture, S(S) to Carrick, S(S);
Assistant Engineer F.C. Egerton from Coed-y-Brenin, N(W) to Gwydyr, N(W);
Clerical Officer R.G. Harris from Woking SE(E) to Research, Alice Holt;
Clerical Officer D.J. Tyre from Research, Alice Holt to Woking, SE(E);
Clerical Officer A.C. Stammers from York, NE(E) to Headquarters.
Marriage
District Officer E.J.M. Davies, Aberystwyth, and Miss Beti Evans, Clerical Officer at the National Agricultural Advisory Service, Crosswood Hall, near Aberystwyth, have married.
Obituaries
Mr Tom Penny, a former Forester in charge at Lennox Forest, West Scotland has died suddenly aged 66. He joined the Commission in 1920 as a forest worker at Inverliever. In 1925 he was transferred to Ardgartan and in 1931 was promoted to Foreman in charge of Lennox, reaching the grade of Forester II in 1938. He retired from the Commission early in 1950 and took up part-time duties on an estate owned by Col. Ewing of Arngomery, Kippen. He was working on the estate when he collapsed and died.
Ganger J. Griffiths, who went to Kinver Forest, North West England when it was started in November, 1948, has died suddenly aged 61. In the war years Mr Griffiths served with H.G.T.P.D.
Mr Anthony Simpson, a former employee of the Commission, who served for many years at Alice Holt has died aged 83. He joined the Office of Woods in 1908 as Head Woodman, and was transferred to the Forestry Commission in 1924. He retired in 1933. Mr Simpson was awarded a number of bronze and silver medals by the Royal Scottish Arborical Society, one being for the invention of a wire fencing machine.
Mr H.C. Ventress, a forest worker with 26 years' service has died aged 57. He began work on the Dalby Beat of Allerston Forest, North East England and helped plant the slopes which are now being felled on their second and third thinnings.