Ruislip Woods Open Day 2008

The day of the 11th annual Ruislip Woods Open Day in May dawned sunny and warm. The Lido is a very busy place on a hot weekend and as a result the Open Day had an enormous number of visitors. They were a mixture of those who had come specifically to see the event and those that were surprised to see the marquees and exhibitors but took full advantage of the entertainment. The organisers were fortunate to have the same generous budget as last year provided by the London Borough of Hillingdon and decided to repeat the same general format that only the dedicated few who had braved last year’s inclement weather had been able to appreciate.

Green Policeman Three large marquees contained fourteen exhibitors, amongst whom were: The Thames and District Herpetological Group with their reptiles which are always popular with the children, Natural England and both the Ruislip and Hillingdon branches of the Natural History Society. A new exhibitor was the Pinner and Ruislip Beekeepers Association who brought a cut away hive with them. Their team were so numerous and enthusiastic that the RWT stand rather regretted our adjacent position as we had to struggle to avoid being eclipsed!

Throughout the afternoon visitors were also entertained by a series of events : the Green Man Story Teller, a display of birds of prey by The Falconry Centre, The Phoenix Morris Men, The Adams Axe Men. Towering above the crowds was a Green Policeman demonstrating his amazing balancing skills on stilts by shaking hands with passing toddlers and encouraging everyone to be environmentally friendly. The birds of prey proved especially popular. Part of this display involved a Harris hawk which flew under a tunnel of arms made by the children. Whilst not being minutely controlled by their handler, the birds tested the courage of members of the audience by perching on their heads.

Once again the craftsmen provided popular demonstrations of their crafts, George Mist showed his broom making skills, the charcoal burner smoked gently in the sunlight and the wood mizor made short, if noisy work of cutting tree trunks into planks.

One new attraction this year was chainsaw sculptor Tom Harvey. He began his sculpture of a large face at 11am and completed it during the day. It was fascinating to watch Tom at work and see how his sculpture developed throughout the day. You can see the finished sculpture in the Woodland Centre at the Lido.

Catering was provided by 2nd Ickenham Scouts whose efficiency would shame most professional outfits. They arrived in their lorry at 8am to erect their large catering tent, from which they served a barbecue and gallons of tea to people sitting at the tables set up under the trees.

Colin and Eileen Bowlt started off the programme of walks by leading a walk at 10.30 am around Mad Bess Wood, relating its history and wildlife. During the Open Day Celebrations three other guided walks took place. Paul Losse from Natural England led one around Park Wood and Colin And Eileen Bowlt led a second walk, this time across Poor’s Field looking at the heathlands and grasslands and the Ramblers Association led a 4 mile ramble.

The Ruislip Woods Open day is organised jointly by Ruislip Woods Trust and London Borough of H.illingdon.

Open Day 2007
To see what difference the weather makes, see the account of what happened the year before.