Category Archives: The Woodlore Team

Forget Christmas – Now is the time for Chestnuts…

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(…if you can beat the squirrels of course!)

The following post was kindly provided by Woodlore Aspirant Instructor Sarah Day

During a walk around a local wood, I noticed the ground was littered with thousands of ripe chestnuts – while I picked some of those (extricating them from their spikey cases with the toe of my boot) more were falling out of the trees; luckily none hit me – I imagine it would have hurt! It makes me wonder how people would have extracted the nuts thousands of years ago when most folk would presumably have been barefoot or wearing soft moccasins – maybe they just squashed the cases with a log then picked out the nuts?

Ripe chestnuts peeking from their husks

Ripe chestnuts peeking from their husks

It was interesting trying to notice clues as to which husks held the best nuts. Obviously some of them were bigger, but I found the best way to tell was to look at the back. Where the nuts had grown to a fairly good size there was a cross of un-spikey husk showing – some of these held 2 or 3 good sized nuts. The other clue was to avoid husks that were browner in colour, as these had mostly fallen before the nuts were ripe or had already been raided (and rejected) by squirrels; I concentrated instead on husks that were still light green.

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Memories of the Woodlore Nordic Skiing expedition

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Nordic skiing course

Woodlore Nordic Skiing Expedition

With the Woodlore Winter Expedition courses fast approaching in early 2012, we asked Woodlore Head of Operations Dan Hume to write us an article of his memories from the Woodlore Nordic Skiing course.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have very fond memories of my time spent in Norway in February 2008. Perhaps it’s a course that almost lurks in the shadows and goes unnoticed but it really was so much more than I expected and truly was one of the best weeks I’ve spent outdoors.

Brian Desmond who led the course, is a very experienced person in his field and he introduced the group to the basics of skiing over several days, pushing some members of the group onto more difficult terrain when appropriate. We had time to practise our newly learned skills whilst being amongst breathtaking scenery.

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Woodlore’s new Head of Operations and Quartermaster

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Keith Whitehead, Dan Hume and James Bath of the Woodlore Team

Keith Whitehead, Dan Hume and James Bath of the Woodlore Team

It is with sadness that we announce that long-time team member James Bath will be bidding farewell to Woodlore later this year. Since joining the company in 2006, James has become a key member of the team, ultimately earning the role of Woodlore’s Head of Operations in 2010. In 2009, James became one of only two course leaders to reach the level of Fundamental Instructor, alongside fellow leader Dan Hume.
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Ask a Woodlore Instructor – Dan Hume

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Back in July, we invited you all to take part in an interview with one of Woodlore’s Fundamental Instructors and newly-appointed Head of Operations, Dan Hume. Many of you got involved and kindly sent us your questions, which we then whittled down to the best 20 entries. During a break from leading our courses, Dan sat down with us for a chat and gave us his answers:

 

  1. In your current role at Woodlore, what is the most satisfying element to your job? (Question from Mark H.)

    Seeing clients leave with new found knowledge and the confidence to go off on their own.
  2. And what is the worst thing about bushcraft and being an instructor in it? (from Mark O.)

    I can’t think of anything, I just enjoy it so much.

    Dan Hume

    Woodlore Fundamental Instructor Dan Hume on our Arctic Experience course

  3. What has been your biggest challenge to overcome whilst at Woodlore, and what has this taught you? (from David J.)

    The biggest challenge I have found is teaching clients while I’m at such a young age, where most are older than me.  It has taught me to be more confident about my knowledge and to continue to learn as much as I can. Continue reading →

Your chance to interview a Woodlore Instructor – Dan Hume

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Dan Hume

Woodlore instructor Dan Hume on our Arctic Experience expedition

For the dedicated Woodloreans out there who have been following our blog since its inception last year, you may remember that last summer we asked all of you for your thoughts on how we could improve our blog.

One of the ideas put forward was for an ‘Ask a Woodlore Instructor’ post, whereby we would take questions submitted by you and put them to one of our instructors. Well, it may have taken us a year to get round to it, but here we are!

Dan Hume, one of Woodlore’s Fundamental Instructors, has very kindly offered himself up as our first interviewee, and will be answering a selection of your questions on topics chosen by you.

During his career at Woodlore, Dan has led our Fundamental Bushcraft, Woodsense and Traditional Living Skills courses, as well as assisting on our Arctic Experience expeditions. Later this year, he will be leading our Wilderness Navigation and Journeyman courses for the very first time.

If you’d like to get involved, all you need to do is post your question as a comment below (we’ll keep all of the comments hidden before picking the best ones to put forward to Dan).

The person who submits the best question, as chosen by Dan himself, will win a £10.00 Woodlore Voucher.

This has the makings of a really interesting article, so we’re excited (and maybe a little worried) to see what sort of questions we get!

ENTRIES ARE NOW CLOSED

Office bod on the loose

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Woodlore's Wilderness Navigation course

Woodlore’s Wilderness Navigation course

Office Team member Becky had some time out of the office in April to attend our Wilderness Navigation course.  Here’s what Becky had to say about her experience;

“Back at the beginning of April I was let out of the office for a week (thanks boss) to attend the Woodlore Wilderness Navigation course. I like a bit of a ramble at the weekends as well as the odd longer distance walk but my understanding of the map and compass were at best basic before this course. I was a little nervous about camping out in the woods rustic style for a whole week (I haven’t slept under canvas for more than the odd night for about 20 years) but with help from the Woodlore Outdoor Team I settled to it very quickly.

Course Leader James (Woodlore’s very own Head of Ops) promised great weather – apparently that particular course is always blessed so I packed sunscreen as well as Ultrathon. For the first couple of days the sunscreen didn’t get a look in as we got to grips with the basics of Navigation sometimes in the rain, wind and drizzle and after dark too. The weather wasn’t all bad those first days as I do recall the sun on my face as I attempted to walk across a meadow blindfolded!

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How can I work for Woodlore Limited?

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Do you fancy working outdoors within a professional and dynamic team?

We are pleased to announce the launch of a new page on our website concerning recruitment with Woodlore Limited.  The idea behind this page is to give more information about the recruitment process for field staff at Woodlore and how staff progress once they have joined the team.   We are often asked how people can work in the outdoor team, and this page – whether you’re a keen teenager wondering about the future or someone of working age – is the first step of a potential new career. 

We recruit staff on an ongoing basis, so please feel free to take a look at the new recruitment page to find out about what we are looking for and how to apply.

How Woodlore’s First Aid Training paid off

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Recently, Woodlore field staff member Adrian Newton e-mailed us to let us know that the first aid training provided to him by Jamie and his team at Fusion Medical Limited, during Woodlore’s Training Week, had really paid off.

Luckily the incident did not occur on one of our courses, but at Adrian’s place of work.  It just goes to show, accidents can happen anywhere and you never know when you may need this life-saving training! 

This is what Adrian had to say;

“Hi everyone in the office,

Hope everyone is well. I just wanted to pass on my thanks to Woodlore and Jamie for all the first aid training you have given us. I got to use it for real yesterday when a scaffold collapsed at work with a friend, Stewart on top of it.

Stewart fell twelve feet, hitting his head on the way down. I wasn’t the first person there and Stewart had been moved to a safer place away from the scaffold. He was conscious but had blood pouring from the back of his head. I got him to remain in the position I found him, sitting upright, keeping his head still. I was worried about a neck or back injury. He complained his back hurt but there was nowhere flat to lie him down. I stopped the bleeding with every bandage in the first aid kit. Standard kits for the workplace really are rubbish. There wasn’t even any surgical gloves let alone anything to support his neck.

The paramedics arrived and gave him a thorough examination. They put a brace around his neck and were happy enough to walk him off site. He was x-rayed at the hospital and had twelve staples in the cut. He’s back at work today. Damn! He’s got a hard head.  

Thanks again to the company for organising the courses for us and if it’s at all possible, could you send my thanks to Jamie. It could have been a lot worse, but thanks to you guys I didn’t feel overwhelmed dealing with it.

See you all soon.”

If you are interested in attending a first aid training course, Woodlore, teamed with Fusion Medical Limited, have several excellent courses running, ranging from a 2-day to week long courses:

Woodlore’s Wilderness Emergency Medic Courses

All of our first aid courses are approved by the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh and provide you with a certificate.  We  include mainly scenario-based learning as, after many years of teaching experience, we find this is the best way to remember such vital information.

Woodlore’s Staff Training Week

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On the 18th – 20th March this year, Woodlore held an induction weekend for the new field staff whom we recruited in the winter.

The new staff were put through their paces learning the ropes of setting up and taking down camp, learning where the sites are that we use for courses, as well as the routes to local supermarkets and hospitals.

On this note, we would like to welcome Rob Bashford, Mark Booton, Ross Burt, Steve Corbyn, Iain Gair and Susan Hipkin to the team this year, and we wish them all the best for the forthcoming season.  Some of you may remember Rob from a few years ago, who has now returned to Woodlore after a couple of years pursuing other avenues.

With the Induction weekend over, the new hands were then joined by the rest of the outdoor team for the annual Training Week.  As well as a good chance to catch up, the week offers valuable training and refreshers in vital areas such as first aid:

Just one of the first aid scenarios

Just one of the first aid scenarios

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