About us

Who we are

We are a group of volunteers, formed in 1992, who look after Tottington Wood: thirteen acres (5.26 hectares) of ancient woodland next to the village of Small Dole, near Henfield in West Sussex. We are a registered charity (no. 1061932) and the wood is a designated Local Nature Reserve.

Our aims are simple: to maintain the coppiced woodland for the benefit of wildlife, to keep ancient skills alive, and to share the wood with anyone who wants to learn about it. We work with hand tools wherever we can, keep fires to a minimum, and let the wood set the pace.

Through the winter you will find us coppicing hazel on Sunday mornings. In summer we take our pole-lathe and greenwood crafts to local fetes and shows, run wildlife surveys, and get together for the occasional social. Whatever we cut goes to good use, from bean poles and hedging stakes to charcoal burned in our own kiln. As well as leaving brash as a habitat for wildlife.

Our history

The Woodlanders began with a public meeting in February 1992, sponsored by Upper Beeding Parish Council, after Richard Lord, a young forestry graduate, saw what the neglected wood could become. Richard led the first work parties; Ken Schrouder became our first chairman and the driving force of our early years, with Jean Avery as first secretary.

That November, English Nature granted the wood Local Nature Reserve status, and during National Tree Week the group planted 439 whips of native trees around the pond. A guided walk leaflet followed in 1993, a Certificate of Achievement and £500 grant from the Shell Best of Britain awards in 1994, and Tree Warden status in 1995.

There have been sadder chapters too. We lost Ken Schrouder and Margaret Mackley in 1998, and the Margaret Mackley Memorial Path, opened in May 1999, remembers one of our own. By the turn of the millennium the group had featured on BBC Radio 4, and we have carried on ever since: same wood, same winter Sundays, and more than thirty years of new growth.