As the curtain fell on the end of a super annual study tour in Kelso, I had the chance to update RSFS members at our AGM about what I’ve been working on in my first year in post, and what I plan to be focusing on between now and our next annual study tour.
Some of my work will hopefully have been quite visible to members, but other parts of it will be unseen although all of it will, I hope, be contributing to the future strength and potential of RSFS. Of course, I wouldn’t have been able to achieve anything without the support of our indispensable RSFS volunteers and colleagues on the RSFS core team and board. This past year, I have been focused on four areas in particular:
- Membership experience: It’s clear that members should be at the heart of all we do, and I’ve been able to introduce some new member benefits: Forest Lights - our new autumn/winter speaker series, our facebook community space called The Glade, a new easier-to-navigate website, and a newsletter rebrand to become the Kernel.
- Next generation: A second priority was to make RSFS a valuable resource for forestry students across Scotland and Cumbria and I’ve been able to strengthen links between RSFS and staff and students at UHI, SRUC and Cumbria in particular. We are producing the first edition in the Autumn of Understorey – a new publication highlighting the work of student foresters, kindly supported by EGGER and F&W forestry. I’ve also been able to launch a rebranded package of student awards and bursaries, including two academic awards, rising star forester, engagement with RSFS, and three bursaries for AST attendance and entrants to FE and HE courses.
- Under the bonnet: I’ve completed a big project of changing our customer management system so that we can better track and communicate with members, and be more responsive to their needs. This integrates with our new website to let us work more efficiently. I’ve also begun drafting and reviewing a number of RSFS policies – everything from a volunteer policy to checklists for running events.
- Collaboration: I’ve had a chance to build on existing collaborations and also forge some new ones. It’s been great to work more closely with the Royal Forestry Society – an example of that is my membership of the new Wellbeing in Forestry Group, where we’re going to focus on joined up support around mental health in particular. There have also been closer working with Forest Research and Soil Association to produce a number of skills workshops aimed at corporate members this summer. Other bodies I’m actively collaborating with include Community Woodland Association, Action Oak, University of St Andrews, Green the UK, and Lantra.
Some memories from my first year in post: (L-R: stepping into the unknown at my first RSFS event in Deeside, repurposing the Ballogie cup for our new set of student awards, meeting collaborators from Action Oak and UHI at the Scottish School of Forestry.
And looking forwards, there is much to do. As well as continuing work in these four areas I’d also like to bring the following projects to the fore-front in the coming year:
- Grow corporate members: Having corporate members has been a great addition to RSFS and I think there is scope to encourage more organisations to join. This is something we’ll focus on in the months ahead.
- Diversify income streams: It’s important to make RSFS as resilient as possible and so I’m looking to diversity income streams so we’re not so reliant on membership income. Chiefly this will involve some more active fundraising and also investigating beginning a corporate volunteering scheme to help bring some corporate employees into our woods and forests.
- Strengthen student links: I want to make a point of going to talk to the new intakes of forestry students, but also make links out to students in related disciplines in other Universities and colleges around Scotland.
- Create an operations manual: I want to distil the information about what it takes to run RSFS into a manual that can be easily shared with new staff and board members. This helps protect RSFS from staff turnover and provides continuity and a foundation to work with.
Besides this, there will be our bedrock of running a number of regional field days, skills workshops and, of course, the next Annual Study Tour, alongside championing our regular publications of The Kernel and Scottish Forestry. The past year has given me a wonderful chance to immerse myself in the RSFS and meet lots of our members right across Scotland (and even some further afield). At every turn I’ve been met with a warm welcome and real enthusiasm and commitment from our members about what the society provides, and where it goes from here. As ever, any member is welcome to get in touch with comments, ideas and feedback at director@rsfs.org.uk