BOARDWALK BUILDING at FELIN BACH
BETTER WOODLANDS
FOR WALES PROJECT
The 7 acres of woodland surrounding the two holiday hostels at Felin Bach had been overgrown by laurel and brambles over the years and the paths had deteriorated to such an extent they were dangerous, leaving several acres of the woodland totally inaccessible.
In 2007 we were successful in our application for a Welsh Assembly Forestry Commissioner "Better Woodlands for Wales" grant which, over the past 5 years (and lots of hard work) has given us a woodland that is accessible to all, including wheelchair users; a bigger area in which to provide a wider range of outdoor activities and a woodland that is already slowly regenerating itself with native woodland species. The management plan proposed by Julian of Miller Land Management broke the woods down into four bite-sized pieces, outlining what needed to be done in each section, making it easier for us to tackle each section methodically each year.
The work has been carried out by a few of our own dedicated adult members, local Brownies, Guides and Senior Section girls - some with parents, other family members and friends - and we have been joined by a few of our Guiding friends from across the water on Anglesey too. BTCV (British Trust for Conservation Volunteers) provided the expertise and voluntary workforce for the specialised work of creating the new disabled access pathways around the woods and the boardwalk which now gives us access to a previously no-go boggy area. They have provided us with 50 Horse Chestnut saplings and a woven willow screen, and have been a tremendous support throughout the project, being on hand to offer advice and tool loan. They were also instrumental in building a sustainable partnership with Coleg Menai and their Welsh Baccalaureate students who have done sterling work clearing a lot of the laurel and burning off the brushwood for us.
Tidy Wales and CSV (Community Service Volunteers in conjunction with Morrisons Superstores) have supported us by giving us grants to purchase the tools necessary to get the jobs done and CSV helped to promote our woodland volunteer events to the wider public through their website.
In 2010 we were again very fortunate in being awarded a grant by Environment Wales to further the Better Woodlands Project by funding the reinstatement of the original driveway leading from the car park to the camp field and the building of the boardwalk through the boggy area at the back of the hostel, opening up a whole new area of diverse habitat of educational value with the possibility of pond dipping. This really has been the highlight of the project.
All in all the "Better Woodlands for Wales" project has been a very successful project so far, one we could not have tackled alone and are therefore very grateful for all the help we have had and to all those who have given of their time to see the project through to near completion a very big thank you.
