Mallinson Ltd - woodwork courses in Dorset. Perfect short breaks for everyone.

With the previously announced courses for early next year filling up rapidly, helped along by a Christmas Gift Certificate rush, we've now published our programme of course dates for next year, up to November.

As ever, all courses have strictly limited place numbers so do please do book your places as soon as you can. Once they're full, they're full!

New Website Now Online

Coinciding with this newsletter, I'm pleased to be able to say our new website is now online. Although an evolution from the previous version rather than a radical change, this incarnation now provides much more information about our courses, and there are far more photos as well. The intention is that it's quicker and easier to find your way around too.

Keeping up with the seasonal theme though, as our web designer always tells us, "a website is for life, not just for Christmas", and so we will be expanding and developing the site over the coming months, not least with more pictures of the woodland workshop throughout the seasons. We'll keep you posted.

The Last Post

If you are planning to give one of our gift certificates (or are being asked what you'd like yourself!) please remember that the last First Class posting day this Christmas is Tuesday the 19th December. That's sneaking up pretty quickly now, so don't delay any longer! (And, of course, the earlier the better.)

Woodland Walls

We're continuing to build and improve the woodland workshop. Last week we had the fun task of digging some land drains to divert any flash-flood water to where we want it to go. As we were working it was tipping down and that made the job a fair bit longer. (Well, to be honest, we spent quite a lot of time sheltering in the workshop and drinking tea). However, on the positive side, the rain meant we could test, modify and perfect what we were doing as we went. We're pretty confident it would now take a downpour of Biblical proportions before we have a flooding problem.

We've also finished building some - say it ourselves - rather magnificent log walls around all the working areas. The idea is that they'll keep any wind at bay and ensure a warm and welcoming environment even if there's a howling gale. I have lost count of how many split logs it took but we're looking forward to saying "grab a piece of wall for the fire" to our guests!

No, We're Not Ignoring You!

However, no matter how comfortable we make the woodland workshop, up at the office we're still relying on modern conveniences ... like electricity. Unfortunately, the gales around the start of the month meant we had some power cuts and that, in turn, meant our answer-phone was knocked out for most of the 2nd, 3rd and 4th December. We know we lost some messages over that time, but we can't tell how many or who from. (This is especially frustrating as it coincided with a great article by Nick Fisher about us, in Shooting Times.) (It's on our new web site, on the "In The News" page, if you want to read it.)

Thankfully, some people have called again but if you're thinking we're amazingly rude for not replying to your message of that weekend, please do accept our apologies. We're not ignoring you - it's the power cut that's the problem! Please call again - we really do want to hear from you!

And that's it from me, for December and for 2006. Before you read up on this edition's "Tree Of The Month" feature below, and the new "In The Woods This Month" feature too, I'd just like to wish everyone a very happy Christmas. Thank you for all your support to date, and we hope to see you down here in the woods come the New Year.

Guy and the team

Tree Of The Month: The Silver Birch

At this time of year, Christmas celebrations coincide with the traditional Winter Solstice festival, marking the shortest day and the longest night. From this point, the days begin to lengthen as the sun is reborn; warmth, light and growth slowly return to the land. The Silver Birch, Betula pendula, is the tree traditionally associated with this time of the year, as one of the trees represented in each of the seasons and festivals of the Celtic cycle of celebration.

The Winter Solstice is the sun's birthday and as such, a celebration of rebirth for which Birch, the regenerator, is a potent symbol. Birch was one of the first trees to return to the bare land following the retreat of the glaciers of the last ice age, and it is still a pioneering tree. Birch spreads so successfully by producing seed in huge quantities; a mass of seedlings will soon spring up, producing the first fragile beginnings of forest wherever there is open land. Conservationists working to maintain open areas of heath land are in constant conflict with these colonising trees, although clearance of these delicate invaders is never popular with the public. Although often regarded as a pest by conservationists and foresters, Birch trees improve the land for the longer-lived trees that will follow, both above ground, by dropping a litter of leaves and fine branches, and below, where nodules on the roots fix nitrogen.

With their traditional powers of renewal and purification, Birch twigs were used in ceremonies to drive out the spirits of the old year; this persisted into more recent times when wrong-doers were birched to drive out evil! Current-day uses for this tree include tool handles and besom brooms, but by far the best use, I think, is the making of Birch Sap Wine, where the sap is tapped from a hole drilled in the tree as it begins to rise in the spring.

Carolyn Brightwater

In The Woods This Month - Light Is Life

This is the optimum time of year for pollarding and coppicing suitable species (Hazel, Willow, Ash, Sycamore etc.). There is still plenty of winter remaining for dormant buds to develop underneath the bark, ready to burst into a profusion of re-growth in the spring.

Once the under-storey of the woodland has been worked, one is able to selectively fell any standing timber that has been chosen for harvest, be it for usable timber, firewood or habitat creation. In the process of thinning the canopy we allow sunlight and warmth to the woodland floor, helping our recently coppiced stools to grow, and nurturing the next generation of upwardly mobile saplings.

Mace Brightwater