Fallen trees turned into firewood for elderly

A walk in the woods sparked a community effort that will give the Bailiwick’s elderly residents free firewood.

Volunteers from Louvre Group and Treevolution worked through wind and rain to chop, split and store fallen wood from Le Guet which will eventually be distributed to islanders in need.

The initiative has been organised in conjunction with the Environment Department who felled the trees in 2013.

Louvre’s Martin De La Mare realised that, with a bit of manpower, the timber could be put to good use. ‘When Louvre assisted with the clearing up of the bathing pools recently I noticed that the opportunity to give the timber that was felled back to the community was missed. Shortly after this, when I was walking with my family at Le Guet, I spotted a large stack of fallen trees and I realised that Louvre could help make this happen,’ explained Martin.

The timber was removed from Le Guet last month and chopped into manageable logs ready to be stored. Once it has dried the Louvre team will distribute the firewood to Guernsey’s older and more vulnerable residents.

The Environment Department Field Officer, Marco Tersigni, said: ‘A lot of the wood being cut up comes from six Monterey pine trees which were felled in 2013 due to their poor condition and their location, close to residential housing.  We have a policy of retaining most of the dead wood on site to create a habitat to support wildlife, but in this case an exception was made to allow some of the wood to be taken because of the quantity involved.

‘The Environment Services Unit fully supports this community initiative to turn some of the wood into fuel for fires and to make it happen we have worked closely with Louvre volunteers and Chris Stonebridge, a qualified and insured tree surgeon from Treevolution’.

Trevolution has donated its time, equipment and expertise to help and Louvre has further supported the activity by covering the cost of fuel and refreshments. Louvre’s staff have previously been involved in clearing the area by the bathing pools.

Martin is also keen to extend the offer of wood clearing. He would like to hear of anyone who has fallen wood that can be collected and used as firewood for those in need. ‘If we can put the wood back into the community to help those in need of fire fuel the Louvre team is happy to clear fallen trees from people’s property.’

Anyone interested in Louvre’s wood-clearing activity should contact Martin on martin.delamare@louvretrust.com