Morvern Community Woodlands (MCW) has gone from strength to strength since the community purchased Achnaha Wood eighteen months ago. The sheer number of voluntary hours put in is quite amazing. MCW leads forest activities in the woodland for the school children each month, we have held a host of well attended training, arts and social events, and we’ve installed a composting loo. The woods are regularly swept of leaves and tidied, fences and stiles are fixed, Rhododendrons and other invasive plants are pulled out and then there is the odd barbeque too.

As a committee we take the responsibility of owning the woods seriously. Over the last year it has become clear that MCW is not doing enough to cover basic costs needed to maintain the woods as they currently are. So, we have put our heads together and come up with a number of changes to help ensure that the woods remain accessible, well maintained and in the hands of the community. The first change is that we will be changing our membership from a one off to a yearly subscription. We need to confirm this change in our next EGM but we expect that the cost of being a MCW member will be £5 a year. This will cover admin costs, insurance and basic maintenance. Our events will still be open to members and non-members alike as will the woods, but we need to ensure we have enough income to maintain Achnaha. We will also be installing a donations box in the woodland for less regular visitors to Morvern as an easy way to contribute.

MCW has made the difficult decision to revise our list for pensioners’ firewood. We can now only make deliveries to people who live on a permanent basis in Morvern. The wood is sourced from windfall and local donations and the sheer number on our firewood list has grown so much that without this change there is a danger that it will become unsustainable. We know that for some people that extra bit of wood mid-winter makes all the difference and we don’t want to charge for it, but any donations towards it will be gratefully accepted and will go towards the cost of the upkeep of the woodland and the fuel cost for the deliveries and chain sawing.

We are currently putting together applications to extend the path network, drain the area around the shelter and fix the roof so that we can keep holding events and training sessions there.

Talking about events….. MCW would like to invite everyone to come and celebrate autumn with us in Achnaha Woodland during our Falling Leaf Party on Saturday the 19^th of November from 5pm onwards. For anyone who wants to help us maintain the woods, there will be a volunteer day during the day, also on the 19^th. Hope to see everyone then!