A reminder that we are looking for volunteers (new and old) to join us this Sunday morning. Meeting at the log circle at 10.00am.

Virtually all the roads for Sunday are closed off due to that Velothon thing, so why not try helping a local charity owned community woodland out as a family day out. Come up and see what Blaen Bran has to offer – especially if you’ve not been there before! You are allowed to bring picnics with you and we have the resources to make a woodland coffee or two!

Families are welcome – there are many tasks that can be done by young and old and we love teaching woodland management skills to everyone!! We wont be able to fulfill the 900 year lease with our current committee so we need some young people appreciating the community woodland now and show them the work that goes into maintaining it so they can help when they’re older. When the current volunteers are on mobility scooters in 10 years the woodland might disappear forever and become a housing estate because we haven’t maintained the land to the required standard on our lease…

We love all volunteers, even those who can only help us for 10 minutes whilst walking your dog, as it allows our more committed volunteers who may have been helping for hours to have a break!

Please wear appropriate footwear (boots or wellies), sensible clothing and keep an eye on the weather forecast. Any safety equipment, such as gloves and safety glasses, will be provided depending on the tasks you are doing.

Children will have to be accompanied by an appropriate adult.

We have a lot of trees to plant and would appreciate lots of volunteers to come up and help to do it… All ages, family groups and pets are welcome – we’ll find a job for most people – and if your pet’s a good digger we’ll get them doing some too 🙂 !

These trees and hedges will last for decades, so isn’t it be a nice thought that when you are walking in the woodland years from now, that you and your family could have the satisfaction that you planted an area of it!

The event is being arranged for Sunday 28th February. For more details look at this calendar post.

Thanks in advance!!

Blaen Bran Community Woodland and the Friends of the Earth are holding a social evening on Monday 29th February 2016 at 7.30pm at the Bush Inn, Upper Cwmbran. It’s in our events calendar here.

There will be a mix of different quizzes and games (general knowledge quiz, music quiz, hoy bingo, dingbats, anagrams, and some other stuff we will come up with 🙂 ) which will be 50p/person a go. There is a ticket price of £5 to attend (which has not been affected by inflation since Oct 2014!!) which covers a roll and chips plus a free game (plus undefinable atmosphere, of course!)

Tickets will be available at the Bush Inn later this week (or contact us to reserve some) – encourage your friends to come along and support these worthy causes!

We will be holding a walk around the woodland in mid-March which will let you find out some information about the the history of the woodland.

Around the Mynedd Maen mountain area which our woodland is on, there has been evidence of settlements back to the Iron Age. Caerleon was close too which was a major Roman fort, and evidence has been found that the Romans were mining coal – and the farming of animals to provide food for the fort was here too.

You don’t realise the history on your doorstep sometimes, so come along and find out!

When the date is confirmed it will be put in the events calendar.

If you would like a 2016 Blaen Bran calendar with some lovely photos there are still some left. Obviously we dont really want to bin them and would appreciate some advertising locally, so if you are interested in having one let us know here.
A donation of your choosing towards the woodland would be appreciated, but is not necessary if you can collect it from Cwmbran. All proceeds will go towards projects in our much loved woodland.

HELP REDISCOVER MINESLOPE COLLIERY

10th

You are cordially invited to BBCW

Next Monday through to Wednesday – 1st, 2nd and 3rd October – horse loggers will be at work in the woodland once again. As they are only here for those three days, we unfortunately cannot arrange a demonstration but all are welcome to see them at work from 9.00 in the morning to 5.00 in the evening. We strongly advise you to stay on the tracks and keep animals and children under control.

They will also be milling wood. Anyone interested in volunteering to help with the milling will be more than welcome, especially on the Monday and Wednesday. Contact Dave on 07787525875 or call at 2 Mineslope Cottages if you are interested.

We hope to hold a barbecue at the log circle on Thursday 23rd August, just before the Bank holiday. We will provide a barbecue, a fire and seating, you bring the food to cook on it and any drink you require. I believe some people are going to bring musical instruments for some entertainment.

The gate by Ebenezer Chapel will be open from 6.30 so cars can be brought in. If anyone needs transport to the actual site due to a disability please let me know. We do have a marquee but obviously the weather is out of our control. Let’s hope we can finally hold an event this summer!