Special Volunteering Day - Barclays

Oxleas Wood -

Friday, 24th April, 2026

This second of five special Barclays volunteering days in 2026 had been organised since early last autumn.  Everyone was looking forward to the day, and indeed, we had several ‘returners’ demonstrating their enjoyment of previous days and a growing attachment to our aims, particularly as many volunteers live outside London itself, never mind Greenwich!

It was, therefore, a great disappointment for all involved when a public transport strike took place on the day, meaning a number of volunteers had to pull out.  However, there was nothing to stop our own volunteers from getting there and the day went ahead as planned with those who could make it - a total of 9 people altogether.

Barclays' Tea, - Ready for Action in the Coppicing Area

The activities continued the work from the previous Barclays’ session, in the coppicing area, and the volunteers got down to the jobs quickly, with individual tuition for those who would like it in using axes, sledgehammer, etc.

By the end of the session most of the waste materials had been collected from around the site and put to good use in the woods, where it will break down naturally over time.  The brash was inserted into nearby dead hedges, providing habitat and safe corridors for wildlife; some of the coppiced hazel poles were turned into fence posts and used as the outer scaffolding for our bench type seats; dried honeysuckle, brash, larger trunks and smaller branches (not straight enough to use as posts) were carefully inserted between the posts to form the curved bench hedges on the edge of the area. 

Plus, of course, the holly waste, which was inserted into the existing dead hedges.  Finally, as volunteers left the site, they each carried binders and posts to our storage areas ready for future projects in the woods.

Posts in place, volunteers have begun to add brash and other waste products to create a bench seat.

Another excellent and productive session with the team from Barclays and another 50 hours clocked up improving the ecology of Oxleas Woodlands.  Best of all, we have another three sessions with them planned throughout this year, the first one of which is fully booked already!

Special thanks to our session leaders for offering to run this session and for sharing their expertise with the volunteers; the contributions to our aims could not have taken place without them.

Now, onto planning and finalising session three!