PHOTO OPPORTUNITY: Upper Sirhowy – Tuesday 24 June
Princess Anne, the Princess Royal, will be joining in with creepy crawly hunts, woodland arts and bird box making on Tuesday 24 June as the Upper Sirhowy Community Woodland project celebrates its completion.
Her Royal Highness’s visit is part of the Cydcoed Celebration Week in the village of Hollybush - and the whole community is expected to turn out to welcome her.
The Princess was to have joined the community last year, but bad weather postponed her visit. She promised a return visit, and on Tuesday she plans to keep that promise.
The £250,000 134 hectare Argoed Community Council project – which has created tracks, paths and trails to make the woodlands more accessible and an outdoor classroom for schools - was funded by Cydcoed - Woodlands for All, the £18 million Forestry Commission Wales programme funded by the European Union (Objective One) and the Welsh Assembly Government.
“This exciting project has made a huge difference to the valley, providing a focus for all kinds of new activities,” said Argoed Community Council chair Garry Lewis.
A full week of events includes a ranger walk, creepy crawly hunt, a mountain bike training day and a photographic exhibition which charts the progress of the woodland creation project.
The events have been organised to showcase a range of improvements that have transformed the popular woodland site into an important community asset as well as an educational resource for local schoolchildren.
And on Tuesday afternoon, 24 June, HRH the Princess Royal will be greeted by the team who made the project a reality – as well as youngsters from Markham, Penllwyn, Ynysddu, Cwmfelinfach and Bryn Primary Schools.
She will see bird box making led by Markham Resources Centre, mountain biking activity from Ynys Hywel outdoor activities centre, an Orienteering Stand with pupils from Libanus and river dipping.
She will also be shown a new footbridge which has helped open up the woodland, the new outdoor wooden shelter used for play and learning as well as woodland art activities.
“This Upper Sirhowy project shows just how valuable community woodlands can be,” said Trefor Owen, Director of Forestry Commission Wales, who is attending the event.
“Opening up the woodlands creates all kinds of new opportunities for play, learning and outdoor exercise – as well as bringing the community closer together as they join in and get involved in the project.”
The scheme complements a range of related projects aimed at regenerating the upper Sirhowy Valley through enhancing and making the best use of the area’s main asset, the local landscape.
It is one of 160 community woodland projects that Forestry Commission Wales's Cydcoed programme has supported over the last seven years, helping create 37 new companies limited by guarantee and 39 new community enterprises.
The programme has financed 163,000 metres of new paths and trails, 42,600 metres of mountain bike trails and brought 37,500 hectares of woodland into sustainable management.
The local community is in control of each project, and the experience of managing their own environment has enabled those communities to gain new skills and confidence.
Contact: Barbara Anglezarke, Cydcoed Programme Manager – Tel: 01873 850060
NOTES TO EDITORS
The Argoed Community Council project links up the whole woodland area with a series of new trails and tracks. Small open areas for seating and to provide views have been cleared, trails widened for horses and nature areas created to encourage greater biodiversity. Two woodlands – Coed y Llanerch and Hafodrisclawdd – have been brought together by upgrading a disused railway to form the new Upper Sirhowy Community Woodland. Seven miles of circular routes with interconnecting paths and tracks linking up bridlepaths and trails have been created. An outdoor classroom, together with a new educational workpack on the woods, is included in the project. Markham Primary School has worked closely with Argoed Community Council on the project and other local schools use the woodland as an outdoor classroom. A log circle with a temporary shelter provides the focal point for learning that ties in with the national curriculum. A sculptor has designed and created special gateways into the new community wood, and a professional video of the whole project has been made.
Cydcoed Woodlands for All is an £18 million Forestry Commission Wales programme, funded by the EU (Objective One) and the Welsh Assembly Government which promotes Welsh forestry for community development.
Forestry Commission Wales is the government department responsible for forestry policy and looks after the 320,000 acres (130,000 ha) of public forests owned by the Welsh Assembly.