Events

Visit the Roman Road in Hodgemoor 27 July

Visit the Roman Road in Hodgemoor 27 July

Marcus Bicknell
Those of you who attended Nigel Rothwell’s talk in Seer Green on the Roman Road between Verulamium (St Albans) and Silchester in April may be interested to know that he will be leading walks around Hodgemoor Woods, including visiting the road, on 27th July. This is part of the Council for British Archaeology’s Festival of Archaeology and is in conjunction with the Buckinghamshire Archaeological Society. Booking is essential as the number of attendees is restricted. However, the walks are open to the public and can be booked either from the Festival website at https://www.archaeologyuk.org/festival/festival-event-listing/hodgemoor-woods-heritage-and-wellbeing-walk.html, or directly with Buckinghamshire Archaeological Society at https://bas1.org.uk/bas-outings-july-2025. There is a small charge for non-BAS members of £5 – cash or card (assuming the technology doesn’t let us down).
The walks are 3.5 km and 3 hours, on woodland paths. All information is also all provided at the Festival booking site.
Hodgemoor donation to Thames Valley Air Ambulance

Hodgemoor donation to Thames Valley Air Ambulance

Marcus Bicknell

On Saturday 10th May the Thames Valley Air Ambulance, at their Stokenchurch HQ open day, received a donation for £500 from the Hodgemoor Riding Association, Frank Everest, Susie and Marcus Bicknell. Our photo shows, Nicola Bishop (Community Fundraising Manager) and Ruth Dunkin (Head of Community & Events) of the Thames Valley Air Ambulance with Marcus Bicknell (chairman) and Susie Bicknell (secretary) of the Hodgemoor Riding Association. £300 of the donation was from Frank Everest whose fee for maintenance work in Hodgemoor Woods he wanted to give to charity. Frank at Waylands Equestrian is a great support to the riding community. £200 was from Susie and Marcus.

We can strongly recommend you attend one of the open days of the Thames Valley Air Ambulance (Open Days 15 Aug & 12 Dec https://www.tvairambulance.org.uk/hq-open-days) where you can get to understand the extraordinarily high medical skills deployed by the organisation across Berkshire Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire on an average 9 times a day by helicopter and by car. Their objective and specialisation now is to co complete as much treatment as possible on the scene of the incident including surgical operations, setting wound fractures and administrating advanced drugs. Of their 3000 interventions per year 65 are equestrian related. We horse riders remain grateful for the knowledge that they can come to help if required.

The charity is totally funded by the community it serves, receiving no government or lottery funding – there are lots of way you can support from making a donation, taking part in an event or even leaving a gift in your will. In addition volunteering is a huge help to the charity, whether as a one-off or more regularly. The team would love to hear from you to discuss any of the above further and can be reached via fundraising@tvairambulance.org.uk

The Hodgemoor Riding Association has raised over £300,000 since 2000 to encourage horse-riders away from busy traffic and into the woods and horse trails in the Seer Green, Jordans and Chalfont area. www.hodgemoor.org.uk

Look at the media release or forward it in pdf: Thames Valley Air Ambulance Hodgemoor donation 10May2025

HODGEMOOR TREC: NOW SUNDAY 21 APRIL 2024

Marcus Bicknell

NEW DATE FOR THE HODGEMOOR TREC: SUNDAY 21 APRIL 2024

After consulting with entrants and members, we’ve homed in on 21 April. People seem busy for the May dates and, although 8 and 9 June were possible, 21 April suits us better as by June our hayfield will be growing like mad, and holding the Trec in it would be a bit disruptive. And it was wise to postpone from Easter Saturday because our field, as at 23 March, is still a bog with more rain to come.

So do hope lots of you will come to this new date! Takes place at Homefarm Orchard, Chalfont St Giles HP8 4FF. Competitors enter singly but can go round with a friend. There is a
choice of either 2 or 3 phases, the 3rd phase including an orienteering route in and around Hodgemoor Woods. The obstacle course (1st and 2nd phases) will be emailed to entrants so they can learn the course which saves time on the day.

Entries close Wednesday, 17 April in the evening. Note that numbers are limited, first come first served; your entry form must be accompanied by payment to establish your entry.

Please download the entry form in MS Word here.

hodgemoor-trec-entry-form-21-april-2024

Hodgemoor Trec – Easter Saturday 30 March 2024

Marcus Bicknell

Come for an enjoyable go at Trec. Where? Homefarm Orchard, Chalfont St Giles. When? Easter Saturday 30 March 2024.

Competitors enter singly but can go round with a friend. There is a choice of either 2 or 3 phases. The obstacle course will be emailed to entrants so they can learn the route which saves time on the day. Entries close Monday 25 March in the evening.

Please download the entry form in MS Word here. Note that numbers are limited, first come first served; your entry form must be accompanied by payment to establish your entry.

hodgemoor trec entry form 30 March 2024

 

Clearing the water run-offs on the trails in Hodgemoor Woods

Marcus Bicknell

On Friday 13th October 2023 our friend Frank Everest will be using one of his mini-diggers under Forestry England supervision to clear the silt and debris from about 50 grips along the trails in Hodgemoor Woods. Thank you Frank

    1. A grip is what Forestry England call a water run-off, that is a hollow in the earth next to the trail into which rainwater can flow. Why are they important? If water lies on the trail then the passage of cyclists and especially horses turns the surface into mud and breaks up the hardcore hoggin if which the surface is made. Such degradation massively shortens the life of the trails on which the Hodgemoor Riding Association has spent over £250,000. You can see the detail of these sums on our web site at HodgemoorRidingAssociation_21year_income_deployed
    2. With the passage of time silt and debrtis runs off the trails and fills up the grips, rendering them useless. See the four images at the bottom of this page. Regular emptying of the grips is therefore essential. We will be giving attention to those on the steep parts of the trail, notably at the Mount, where diagonal channels lead rushing rainwater away from the path. The places where work is needed have been indcated with yellow marker on 10 October (right).
    3. We can remind members that at the request of Forestry England cyclists have been permitted to use the horse trails, without contributing money, since 2017. Cyclists are not allowed anywhere else in Hodgemoor, neither on the footpaths nor free-riding.
    4. The minutes of our last AGM recorded “370 metres of trail repairs were done in October 2019 at a total cost was for £29,800 to which the Association contributed £15,300, about half. Forestry England agreed to pay half this time because of new regs imposing on us a contractor which was more expensive than our regular one. You can see a map at https://hodgemoor.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/hodgemoor_trail_works_2019_map.pdf · With income of about 5,000 p.a., the Association would by 2024 have about £28 ,000 available with which we could rebuild 350 metres if the rate is still £80/metre (if FE do not contribute). Forestry England would prefer to wait till 2024 and do more metrage as the last works were disruptive. With that in mind, the the Chairman and Secretary proposed next works in 2024, for economies of scale. The meeting agreed.”
    5. How are we doing with trail repairs? We request members (and walkers and cyclists) to let us know where you think work is needed. Susie and Marcus are compiling a list which will be submitted to Forestry ENgland shortly after the AGM of Monday 20th November. Speak now! Your help is much appreciated (and of course useless if after Nvember!). If a member would like to suggest expenditure of club funds ouside Hodgemoor then please do so. We do have reserves, as published on https://hodgemoor.org.uk/downloads/, Treasurer’s Reports