WDVTA Events and External Events
Contents
WDVTA events
The WDVTA organises events for members and non-members throughout the year - an interesting mix of walks, talks, training and visits.
After some events we publish related documentation, presentation slide sets or videos. These can be found on our Publications page.
With kind regards
The Events Team| WDVTA Events schedule |
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Annual Winter Walk with Pub LunchSaturday 6 January 2024, meet time 10.15Meet at the Bearwood Road end of Coombes Lane, it is not a car park but there is quite a lot of parking space on the RH side of the Lane. Please carshare where possible. Satnav will be sent to those booking. Approx 2 hour walk in part following the Coombes Circular Trail Lunch 12.30 at The Poachers Pub in Mill Lane Warm up by the roaring log fire and enjoy time to chat and eat with friends old and new. Poachers presence not guaranteed! Menu will be circulated in advance for booking numbers as not everyone stays for lunch. Our walk will be led by Derek Oxbrough, WDVTA treasurer who lives in Barkham. Areas that are local to us are often unexplored and always offer something new to see, Derek kindly offered to lead this walk as he knows it well and that there will be a lot to see and interest everyone. We do hope you can join us. Please add a mobile phone number when booking so we can call you on the day or just before in case of any problem, hopefully no blizzard forecast. Book for Winter Walk |
External events
Here we list some external events that may be of interest to members. Please note that WDVTA cannot take bookings for external events. For event details or reservations you should contact the organisers directly.
| External event schedule |
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Trees and Biodiversity : projects funded by TOEWednesday 29 November 2023, 7.30pmRTWN is pleased to invite you to their annual lecture, held on Wednesday 29th November 2023, during National Tree Week. The lecture “Trees and Biodiversity : projects funded by TOE” will be delivered by Rachel Sanderson, who is currently Head of Community Grants Programme at the Trust for Oxfordshire's Environment (TOE). Rachel is very knowledgeable and has worked in nature conservation in nearby Oxfordshire for 20+ years, including for the Chiltern Woodland Project. The lecture will be held in Room 3 (the Stones Room) at RISC, 35-39 London St, Reading RG1 4PS. There will be tea, coffee and biscuits available. |
National Tree Week25 November to 3 December 2023Please do check out the Tree Council's National Tree Week website where you can find planting and other events of interest to members and non-members alike. |
Arboricultural Association - Winter Webinars |
Review of 2022
Our events programme has always been arranged around four main areas, some that overlap: walks, visits, talks, and training. As well as being an opportunity to become better informed about the protection, management and the benefits of our wonderful trees, our events have offered wonderful opportunities for WDVTA members. There’s the chance to meet, enjoy each others’ company and benefit from the shared wealth of members’ experience of trees and the natural world.
Events planning has continued to be somewhat affected (albeit to a lesser extent) by concerns about the still circulating coronavirus. In spring we held our annual AGM by Zoom again. As well as the usual business of the association the meeting featured talks from Wokingham Borough Council staff Laura Buck and Duncan Fisher who both work in the Green Infrastructure teams. Laura’s talk was about the planting of 250,000 trees now underway across the borough. She outlined the development of the Tree Strategy for Wokingham and to which WDVTA has been invited to contribute. Duncan Fisher is heading the Local Nature Recovery Strategy and gave a talk about the work being done within the borough.
In spring, Martin Woolner delivered his very interesting, fact-filled talk ‘Life in the Leaf Litter’ to a live audience at St. Paul’s Hall Wokingham. It was gratifying to see members back together for a talk although turnout was lower than previously as people began to resume ‘normal service’.
Our summer event was to have combined training with a walk and visit to Kew as Dr. Glynn Percival showed us how to identify signs of tree diseases and pest damage. We decided to postpone the event as travel to Kew was difficult because of a train strike with members feeling cautious about car sharing, a normal practice in earlier non-covid times.
In the autumn we enjoyed a really fascinating woodland walk through Paddick’s Patch where we looked for fungi. To say that our walk leader Keith Boseley is a knowledgeable enthusiast would be an understatement! Keith told us how to spot associations between certain trees and particular fungi. This was a requested repeat of a really popular event. As we entered the gate we were greeted by a perfectly formed little Earth Star peeping through the undergrowth.
Several very successful plantings also took place throughout the year with members very much involved. These were splendid events in their own right. Community orchards were planted in and around our area including one supported by members Barry and Claire Andersen and Sarah Swatridge who all provided help and expertise in Charvil. The Queen’s Green Canopy Project celebrated the Platinum Jubilee in 2022 and Barbara Stagles worked with others to bring this project to fruition.
We ended the year with our regular Winter Walk. This year we met on an early December morning outside St. James the Great Church, Ruscombe, where we admired the fine TROBI (Tree Register of the British Isles) yew tree. Stephen Loyd, local coordinator for the area and lead tree warden, led our walk where he outlined the woodland management practices used to maintain the nearby wood. Afterwards many of the group headed for Burattas at the appropriately named ‘Royal Oak’ for a very enjoyable lunch, a good way to end our year.
We look forward to seeing you, old and new friends of WDVTA, for events planned for 2023 and we hope there will be something for everyone.