Woods may be the traditional setting for fairy tales, but an innovative Forest Enterprise Wales project is looking for real life stories to reveal the historical role of Welsh woodlands – before it is too late!
The groundbreaking initiative, ‘Forests in the Rural Community’, aims to record local memories and stories and stimulate local communities to create a lasting record of their past. FE staff in Wales are seeking volunteers and it is hoped the project will help engage a wide range of people in the development of their local woodlands.
Hidden under the greenwood trees are the tumbled remains of the past – many a derelict farmhouse, abandoned quarry or mine. Today they may be quiet and silent, but each place has a tale to tell.
The FE project, managed by Dr Caroline Earwood, was established following a recent archaeological survey, which discovered thousands of historical sites throughout Wales’s forests and woodlands. A large number of these sites were once the homes and workplaces of people who are still living and working in the communities today.
Many sites are the last physical reminders of the great economic and social changes that occurred in rural Wales during the mid 20th Century when mines and quarries were closed, wartime installations abandoned and many uplands farms gave way for forestry.
With support from the Heritage Lottery Fund of £50,000, ‘Forests in the Rural Community’ will awaken the stories locked in the forest. Local people have been recruited to act as Community Co-ordinators and are now looking for support and assistance.
Dr Earwood said, “We want to make contact with those who have reminiscences of how the forest was created. They may think that their story is not important but history is a living thing and not just found in books.”
Plans are in hand for oral recordings and old photographs to be stored locally with free access given to all. A master archive will also be deposited in the National Library of Wales, whose staff are assisting in the project.
Tom Jones, the newly appointed Community Co-ordinator for Ystrad Fflur in Ceredigion, said, “The project will hopefully be an enjoyable way of using the nation’s forests and woodlands as local resources and bring communities together. The end result will lead to a greater individual understanding and enjoyment of the fascinating heritage of Welsh forests and indeed their place in our culture.”
If you have a story to tell or would like to help in some way then contact your local Community Co-ordinator, XX.
ENDS
NOTES TO EDITORS
Forest Enterprise is an agency of the Forestry Commission in Wales which manages the nation’s woodlands on behalf of the National Assembly for Wales.
Media enquiries to Forestry Commission Information Officer for Wales, Clive Davies, on 01970 625866, mobile 07788 190922.
For more information about the Forest in the Rural Community project, contact Caroline Earwood , Project Manager, on 01691 671808.
More information on the woodlands of Wales can also be found on the Forestry Commission’s website – www.forestry.gov.uk