March news from Green Aspirations: it’s all about the coppice!
Welcome to news of all that’s been going on in March at Green Aspirations HQ and further afield. March is traditionally a quiet month for us, but this year has been a bit different! Read on to find out what’s been happening and how you can join in the fun.
Site make-over (in progress!)
We’re always on a mission to improve things on site, so at the start of the year we embarked on a re-design of our main social shelter and kitchen. This is now well underway and looking great so far. We’ve received some funding from Forth Valley Climate Action Hub which we we’ll be using to replace the tarps on the main shelter with a more sustainable canvas covering, which we’re hoping to source from a sail maker, so we’re very excited to see how this works. We’ve also been gifted a new container - following the break-in last year - so we’re shifting things around there, too. We’re working towards a new blacksmithing area, for workshops and demos, and we’re upgrading our water storage and heating systems, and we’re planning on installing some lights to help people navigate around site more easily. It’s all go - and we hope you like the changes!
What's on
Volunteering
After quite a long hiatus on volunteering while we got back on our feet after Covid, we’re now fully back in the swing, with weekly sessions and our new Nature Nurture programme, for anyone who thinks that being in the woodlands might help their wellbeing. And Teenage Dirtbags is continuing on a monthly basis. We’re also looking for volunteers to help with some of the back-office stuff, including photography, social media, PR and funding. Get in touch if you want to offer your expertise.
Find out more
2026 workshops
April marks the start of our on-site workshops, and we’ve been out and about teaching coppicing, broom making, and more. We’ve worked really hard on the programme this year to provide an interesting range of workshops, so check out the selection online. If you’re part of a group looking to host workshops, get in touch - we love getting out and about and sharing our passion for traditional crafts.
The Great Scottish Basket Cases!
We’re hosting our first weekend event dedicated to basket weaving on 16-17 May, and we’re really looking forward to welcoming all you basket cases to site! We have 8 different trainers offering workshops over the weekend, including 5 of the very best basket makers in Scotland. We’ll also be hosting discussions around materials, tools and techniques, so you get be fully engrossed in all things willow.
Charcoal
Easter means the real start of charcoal season, and we’ve been busy burning since the turn of the year. However, as we head into peak charcoal season, we’re nursing two poorly kilns so we’re looking for funding for a replacement. If you have any ideas about who might have a spare £30k, please let us know! In the meantime, we’ll be doing our best to create the best charcoal in Scotland!
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The Wulf and the Hammerwoman
We’re delighted to have received funding to be part of Stirling’s Culture Night 2026 - Carnival of the Wolf - taking place on the evening of Friday 1 May. Storyteller Kirsten Milliken will join Jo in the forge for stories of wolves and blacksmiths. It’s free to attend but please sign up in advance.
Wee Skelfs
It’s nearly the spring holidays, which of course means the start of our Wee Skelfs holiday club. If you have kids or grandkids aged between 6 and 12 years old, and you want to get them away from screens and out into the woods, then Wee Skelfs is the answer. We focus on risky play - an approach that encourages imagination, risk assessment, and problem solving. Dates are open for booking for Easter, Summer and October holidays.
Find out more
It’s all about the coppice!
Image credits: Firstlight Media
Last weekend saw our coppice activities take the next step, with the support of funding from Forth Valley Climate Action Hub. On Friday, we hosted a coppice session at Kirkton Wood dedicated to organisations, welcoming representatives from Green Action Trust, Historic Environment Scotland, Lantra, NatureScot, SEPA, Scottish Forestry, Scottish Wild Beaver Group, Stirling Council and the Woodland Trust, along with the Scottish Thatching, to get hands on with coppicing and talk about how we address some of the challenges, from skills training to policy and more. We’re hoping that this will raise the profile for coppicing and coppiced products more broadly across Scotland and increase the number of coppicers around. Ultimately, we’re hoping to work towards support for a coppice trainee or apprentice. Watch this space for the film we took of the day.
Then on Saturday, we opened up our site for a day of demos and workshops related to coppice crafts, showcasing splitting hazel for weaving and basket making, weaving mini hurdles to learn the techniques, making charcoal and then using that on the forge for blacksmithing, making fascines, and starting to weave a hazel panel. Around 25 people came along throughout the day and - we hope - had a great time!
And while the coppicing season is nearly at an end, we’ve still got some work to do at both our coppice sites. So, if you want to get involved, get in touch. And, if you’re keen to start cutting your own coppice but need some help getting started, we can provide training. So far this year, we’ve worked with Urban Roots and their volunteers at Malls Mire, Toryglen and Crainlarich Primary School teaching pupils and teachers some new skills included hazel hurdles, and we’re off to Cassiltoun Housing Association in Castlemilk next week for some more training.
