The volunteers, Magda (Poland), Katerlin (Hungary), Gonzalu, Xavier, Ander (all from Spain) and Barador (Hungary) arrived on site at about lunchtime on Friday 4th August. Gwynfor and Aoron (tai calon and Green Earth) showed them how to load the charcoal kiln (funded by the Police Crime Commissioners proceeds of crime grant).

When it was fully loaded, Gwynfor fired it up, and copious amounts of smoke billowed out of it. We left it for an hour after informing the fire brigade that we had a controlled fire in the woodlands. We left it for an hour after informing the fire brigade that we had a controlled fire in the woodlands, and proceeded and mulch all the fruit trees.

Gwynfor and Aoron sealed the lid and the ports, put the chimneys on, and occasionally rotated the chimneys to get an even burn. We all had chips from the Hilltop chip shop (as everyone was soaking wet and cold; it had rained the whole time) and Gwynfor made a brew in the billy kettle to warm us up. They then did a bit of thinning and wildlife habitat-making in the woodlands near the steps to the pond.

We abandoned the ship at about 4.30 pm and, after hot showers and dry clothes, repaired to Susy’s for dinner.

The kiln produced about 6 bags of charcoal and parchar when it had cooled the following day and we look forward to trying it out on a barbecue. We are very happy with the trial run.

The volunteers very kindly returned the favour by cooking a meal in St. George’s church on their last night in Tredegar, with dishes from all their three countries. We thank them for all their help and wish them well.

We have lots of other things going on as well. Please message or email Susy if you have availability and are interested in volunteering with us at info@sirhowyhillwoodlands.co.uk.