Cabin Opening December 2023
On Friday 8th and Saturday 9th December, Andover Trees United held a special Cabin Opening celebration weekend, inviting funders, supporters, the construction team and volunteers who had helped over the 3 years of the build to view the ‘nearly finished’ Cabin - the new off-grid woodland classroom and visitor base in Harmony Woods.
The Cabin Build
It has long been a vision for ATU to build an off-grid, sustainable classroom, field-study base, and community / volunteer base - one that is sensitive to its surroundings and fits in the landscape. Consultations with the local community and schools reached the conclusion that the lack of indoor space handicaps the work of the charity and its vision. We secured many grants and donations from a variety of sources (list of funders here), including local fundraising events, to help us build it. Once complete, The Cabin will further the work we do, and create more opportunities for the charity and its beneficiaries.
The project began with a collaboration between Andover Trees United and The Carpenters' Fellowship in 2021. They constructed the frame by hand-processing timber - cedar and larch felled locally in Harewood Forest. The construction involved several community events – axe-hewing, frame-making, and raising the frame – where volunteers assisted by taking part alongside the carpenters or as ground support. Volunteers came from the local community and across the UK, one even travelled from Spain! The build showcased sustainable, low impact building techniques, and offered a week's apprenticeship with one of the Carpenters.
Following completion of the timber frame, a roof was added, which now supports solar panels. ATU volunteers installed pipework to divert rainwater from the roof to the wildlife pond, removing the need to top it up with mains water in the ever-increasing hot and dry weather. A carpenter was appointed, Ben Startup, to complete the structure. Volunteers, skilled and unskilled, were supported at all stages. The aim, first and foremost, was to achieve a weather-tight, secure structure, creating the thermal envelope of the building, including external walls, windows, shutters, and flooring.
Due to the rapidly increasing cost of building materials, the funds raised against the 2019 budget were insufficient to complete the internal work and work was put on hold from March-July 2023 to allow fundraising to continue. Although incomplete, the building provided basic shelter against the elements over late winter and early spring 2023, enabling key activities to proceed which would otherwise have been cancelled. The most recent round of fundraising has given us a usable building that can provide a warm space over the winter. However the interior of the building is still not yet fully fitted out and the basic solar array and battery storage need extending - so we are still fundraising.
If you would like to donate towards the internal fitting out of the Cabin, you can do so on our Global Giving page: https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/woodland-classroom/
By building this facility, the charity will be able to grow beyond its current operational level. We hope that people will have enjoyable experiences, develop skills, improve their wellbeing, reduce their environmental impact, understand how local actions have global consequences, and be empowered to lead their community towards a more eco-conscious lifestyle. This versatile facility will transform the community-planted woodland, making possible year-round schools’ visits, training programmes, craft workshops, business meetings, and a space for volunteers.
We are also very excited to announce that the Cabin recently won the CPRE Hampshire Sustainable Communities Award 2023! (See News Report ‘ATU Receives CPRE Hampshire Sustainable Communities Award’)
Cabin Opening Weekend
Funders and those who had supported the build by providing goods or services or substantial individual donations, were invited to a formal opening event on the morning of Friday 8th December. Among the attendees were Lady Louisa Portal (Deputy Lieutenant of Hampshire), Cllr Gordon Bailey (Deputy Mayor of Test Valley), Cllr Robin Hughes (Mayor of Andover), Henry Oliver (Director North Wessex Downs National Landscape), Jasmina Georgovska (Jane Goodall’s Roots & Shoots UK), Kit Malthouse MP and representatives from supportive local businesses including Stannah, Simplyhealth and Jewsons. The morning included a formal welcome, introductions and a short presentation, followed by refreshments and time for networking. A full list of funders and supporters can be found below. We are extremely grateful to everyone involved; this project would not have been possible without the support.
On Saturday 9th, an informal drop-in festive coffee morning was held for anyone who had volunteered with ATU in the last two years. It was wonderful to finally be able to invite everyone inside the Cabin, to marvel at its transformation, and to look forward to the events we have planned for it in the coming year.
Celebrations continued in the afternoon and evening of the 9th, when we were delighted to welcome back members of the Carpenters’ Fellowship, Tim Potts, Viktor Martz, Tom Gallon - who had led the frame design and construction in 2021 - and Joe Cooper as well as mobile timber miller Will Wallace and some of the many volunteers who have helped with the build along the way, to show them what we had done with their magnificent frame and introduce all the carpenters from the various phases of the build to each other.
List of Cabin funders and supporters
Hampshire County Council
Test Valley Borough Council
Postcode Lottery
Bernard Sunley
Garfield Weston
Stannah
CLA Charitable Trust
Abri (previously Radian)
Andover Town Council
Tesco Bags of Help (via Groundwork)
Ocado (via BizGive)
Virgin Media O2 (via Neighbourly)
New Street Dental
Simply Health
Plantopia
Neighbourly Community Fund
Anton Jurgens Charitable Trust
Ford Britain Trust
Global Giving Donors
Claire Henderson
Jessica Hills Art
The Test Way Walkers: Ben, Andrew & Shane
The Carpenters Fellowship
Jewsons
Wessex Woodland
East Bros
Alan Barbone, HETAS engineer
Steve Brady, plumbing
Fireplace Warehouse Andover
Deltic Electrical Solutions