Friends of Gillfield Wood
Practical Conservation Sessions (free events). These are held monthly all year, either at weekends or midweek, with dates advertised on the website. Members can join the mailing list by contacting the Secretary at fogwsecretary@gmail.com.
Sessions are open to anyone who would like to join in. Everyone needs to provide their own gloves along with suitable clothes and footwear.
Everything we do supplements the work carried out by the Council’s woodlands team, meaning much more can be done to improve the wood for its flora, fauna and visitors alike. Typical activities are coppicing, fencing and walling, tree and undergrowth management, path repair and drain clearance and all sorts of miscellaneous jobs.
They are from 10am for 2 to 3 hours on one Sunday in the month on an agreed date with the Sheffield City Council Ranger. A Ranger attends our work mornings with appropriate tasks (light and heavy) and tools. We meet either at the Baslow Road bus terminus, the Scout Hut on Aldam Road, Totley or at the end of Totley Hall Lane. The work mornings are advertised on posters around Totley, in the local press and nearer the date are emailed out. We recommend you bring along your own refreshments.
If you are interested in helping us carry out such work in Gillfield Wood or have any questions, please contact fogwsecretary@gmail.com
We may also arrange the occasional mid-week Conservation Morning where we will not have the help of a Council Ranger but will concentrate on tasks we can do independently. Here we are likely to meet at the Baslow Road bus terminus at 10.00am. Bring spade/shovel and rake if you have them/one. And gloves and flask. We will probably finish around 11.30 but feel free to come and go to suit.
The next PCMs for 2023/24 are scheduled for:
Sun 24th September
Sun 29th October
Sun 19th Nov
Sun 14th Jan
Sun 11th Feb
Sun 10th March
FOGW works very closely with Sheffield Council Woodlands department. Chris Measures and I recently met with the Woodlands Officer, John Gilpin and our Ranger Nell Dixon. We walked the wood and agreed on a conservation work programme for 2022.
All the conservation work we do supplements the work carried out by the Council's Woodlands Team but our contribution means much more can be done to improve the wood for its flora, fauna and visitors alike. Typical activities are coppicing, fencing and walling, tree and undergrowth management, path re-pair and drain clearance and all sorts of miscellaneous jobs. Over the years we have dug out ponds, rebuilt dry stone walls, created the wildflower meadow at the picnic site, planted trees and hedges and had a hand in improving access for all.
Dates are advertised on this website; in the Totley Independent or people can join our conservation work mailing list by contacting me by email at: fogwsecretary@gmail.com
All are welcome and we hope to see a few new faces joining in this year, with the new variations in days and times.
Keep safe and healthy
Andy Brewster
FOGW Secretary