Besom making, the art of wood hopping and a Winter Gathering of Forest School Practitioners

It was fortunate that we had already organized for Terry the besom maker to come in and lead a session whilst I was in Bilbau. Besom making is yet another traditional craft on the endangered list and I was sorry to be missing out on his workshop. In fact sadly I didn't experience the thrills of Bilbau and the European Forest Pedagogics conference either, I was still in hospital. After a ten day wait for surgery, I had finally had the operation. My ankle needed extensive repairs. They installed one long plate on the outer side of my ankle supporting three breaks and a pin on the other side. I then had to stay in for a few extra days as I had reacted badly to the anaesthetic. On the plus side, the big marker pen arrow which adorned my left leg had done the trick and the surgeon had definitely found the correct ankle to operate on..

By all accounts the children had a brilliant day with Terry. All but one made their own silver birch and hazel besom, just in time for Halloween... .Though I think some of them were test driving their besoms as they aren't all in this photo.

On November 5th I got back to Hallr Wood. Although it was only two weeks after my surgery, it was four weeks since my accident and I had been struggling to cope with being stuck indoors. My stitches were out, I had been given a new green cast, my crutch technique was improving. With support from Amanda and Cee I returned to my lovely work place.

We can form such strong connections with places at times. To be there again after four weeks of abstinence filled me with deep joy and relief. I noticed how much had changed, how sparse our bee and butterfly friendly dragon was looking, how the storms had shaken so much foliage from the trees. Although I spent most of my time sitting with my leg up, it was lovely to see the children again and just be there.

None of the children had heard of Guy Fawkes but they enjoyed making a guy and burning him on the bonfire.

Then this last week end, we hosted a gathering of Forest School practitioners from all around the South West. It had been planned since late summer and although I considered cancelling it, everything flowed beautifully. We have a very strong team behind the gatherings which are intended to move to various venues around the South West. This was the third one that has taken place. The multi talented Martin Carter bought and cooked all the food, Adrain Goodhand, Jenny Archard and Mel McCree all supported the arrangements beforehand and my wonderful colleague Martyn Huxter ran around ensuring shelters and tarps were up so we could cope with whatever the elements threw at us..We are also very grateful to Liz Knowles of Muddy Faces who donated a wonderful shelter which we were able to install over our main fire place and which we can take around to other venues as required- THANKS Liz.

Forest School practitioners often work in isolation and opportunities to network and share skills are so helpful and validating. This time we had decided to focus on working with disadvantaged groups and to discuss strategies to deal with challenging behaviour as this is faced by so many practitioners. Harry Nutt from Treecreepers Forest School (how apt is his surname for a Forest School leader!) facilitated the discussions beautifully.
Other highlights of the weekend included willow weaving with Margaret, a story circle with Hannah, hapa zome bunting with Tracey, sling shots with Martyn. And Martin the cook not only fed us fabulously but had us all in stitches with his unruly friend Trevor the Tick...

On Sunday 10th November we held the inaugural meeting of the Forest School Association South West group. The Forest School Association is the professional voice for practioners all over the country and it is steadily growing and developing as a members organization. Regional groups are going to be a major benefit of membership so we are delighted to have got so far with our group.
However the best part of the gathering was meeting so many inspired people working in varying settings from Cornwall to Wiltshire and having the chance to exchange experiences and talk face to face. And at times totally forgetting that I am a forest school leader with a broken ankle..
I hope Dan Best won't mind if I copy this link to his photos which encapsulate the week- end beautifully.   http://www.mobilytrip.com/journals/jegVVQAcJsqpLDEJmuUxBfj7i
The next gathering will be organized by Dan and Play Torbay and will be by the sea!