The Tottington Woodlanders

Anyone up early on this Sunday morning in June would have wondered what was going on in Henfield Village Hall car park, all these strange folk in cars with wood strapped to the roof racks, vans and trailers. They need not have worried, as it was only those mad Woodlanders off to Brighton to demonstrate to the public and sell their wares.
This year we were joined by our WSCC Low Weald Ranger, Geraldine Fewster, who volunteered (no we didn’t press gang her!) to come and help and see what I had been going on about.

We arrived around 8am and the sun was already shining, also with a change of organisers the layout was different to previous years. The Woodlanders were sited at the top of the park both in and out of the Woodland marquee. No, we were not being awkward or indecisive; we were demonstrating outside and the displays and sales items were in the
marquee.

I reckon with the number of shows we have done, the volunteers now all know how to set up as the time taken seems to get less and we are always one of the first exhibitors to be ready for the public. Brian, Geraldine, Dave and myself were busy making bullrushes, bird feeders and flowers, while Jo, Maggie, Wendy and Kay cut up metal flower petals, looked after the sales items and provided help where it was needed. We also had a chance to catch up with Mark Schofield (you will know him as our website designer). Mark is currently studying and brought along a moth trap and some occupants who had been trapped the previous evening. The Woodlanders could be rightly proud of the display we put on and I reckon that between the start and end of the show we had people looking at our stand virtually all the time. It seems that the credit crunch had not yet hit the sales and this show was no exception as we could only just about keep up with the demand for bullrushes, butterflies and flowers.

The show is also a chance for groups, companies and charities involved in environmental issues to show the public what they can do to help. An example next to us was some sheep which were being shorn; but these sheep also provide an important function in grazing various areas which help with preserving certain habitats. Also one memory I have of the event is the marine exhibition in the big marquee and the stunning pictures of life, which can be seen in our seas around Britain. I think we all tend to forget too easily what is beneath the waves.

This was a long hard day but very enjoyable and it is a show we always come away from looking forward to next year.

By Chris Burchell-Collins