Woodland's new notice boards.

In the early days of the woodland, Jim Grogan and his band of volunteers were obliged to do everything on a shoestring. They may officially have been a Parish Council Sub-Committee, but the Parish Council had no money to fund the project: indeed, the Gardening Licence was obtained from the Highways Agency on the strict condition that no claim for funding would be made from the Parish Council. However, Jim Grogan was a great one for begging favours of people and, when Delamere Forest replaced some old notice boards, Jim persuaded the Forest authorities to save them from the bonfire and instead have them installed in our woodland. These 'pensioned-off' boards have served us well: standing there for over ten years before they have finally succumbed to decay and have had to be taken down.

At the same time as Trustees began to anticipate the demise of the old boards, the Trust acquired the "new" part of the woodland, adjacent to the Saxon Heath estate. It was clear that we would need a board for this section of woodland also and so we began to try to source three new notice boards. I have to say that the process was initially dispiriting – the prices of manufactured boards (of quite mediocre quality) were exceedingly high and the initial offer of having them made in the workshops of a local college came to nought. Then, into the picture came Tony Gibbs.

Tony is a retired cabinet maker who visits his sister in Tarvin. He thought that producing three notice boards would be an interesting project and he agreed to make them for little more than the cost of his materials. The first one was finished in the early Summer of 2019 and proudly displayed at Tarvin Fête, being subsequently installed in the Saxon Heath woodland later that year. Then Covid19 struck and the second board, fitted close to Broomheath Lane, was not installed until Autumn 2020. The second 'lock-down' delayed things even further and so the final board, the one close to Hockenhull Lane, only went up in early March 2021. It was decided that each board should have a sign on it, bearing the title of the Trust, together with the logo. These were made by 'Cestrian Signs' of Pool Bank. The finished boards look really good and they should serve the Trust for a great many years – perhaps even exceeding the longevity of the previous boards (which served Delamere Forest well for many, many years before their relocation to Tarvin).

Our grateful thanks go to Tony Gibbs and Cestrian Signs for giving us a set of notice boards of which any community could be proud. A very sincere "thank you" is in order!

Charles Bradley
Director and Secretary
Tarvin Community Woodland Trust Ltd
Registered Company No. 9349416, Registered Charity Number 1163180