Celebrating Bob Wilson’s Legacy: A Day of Community, Nature, and Craft
On November 24th, the Slieve Aughty Centre came alive as CELT hosted a heartfelt day to celebrate the remarkable contributions of the late Bob Wilson, co-founder of CELT, whose lifelong work and vision for a sustainable future, supporting traditional crafts, environmental education and nature restoration continues to inspire.
The event entailed a day long series of walks and talks exploring Ponds, Wetlands, Afforestation and Managing the land to enhance Biodiversity, that drew a diverse crowd, united by their love for nature and respect for Bob’s enduring legacy.
Thanks so much to everyone who joined us for our day long celebration of the life and work of Bob, honoring his legacy and unique contribution to Ireland's environmental movement and cultural heritage, by establishing CELT in 2002 with the first Weekend in the Woods Festival of Traditional Crafts in Co. Clare; and continuing to grow CELT as a nationally renowned environmental education organisation, and creating the Weekend in the Hills Festival of Traditional Crafts now held at the Slieve Aughty Center in Co. Galway.
We were delighted to share this celebration with Bob’s brother, Jim, and his many friends and colleagues, who joined us in the day of of curated events and guided walks and talks on the new Afforestation and nature restoration plan at the Slieve Aughty Center, which continues Bob’s vision for biodiversity and nature restoration in the Sliabh Aughties and beyond.
Bob loved and lived for community events and gatherings that created any opportunity to bring people together, to explore our entanglement, interconnection and interdependence with the natural world and the living landscapes around us. Over the years CELT walks and talks focus was on inviting people out into the fields and woodlands, to renew, reconnect, and reimagine our relationship and interbeing with the living world, the rivers, fields, trees, forests and hedgerows, and relearning with our native trees and woodlands a more connected and regenerative way of life.
Bob’s dear colleague Andrew St Ledger of the Woodland League, who sadly passed away last year, reminded us again and again, that we were once a Forest people, as Ireland was once covered by 80% Woodland and Atlantic Temperate Rainforest. Both Bob and Andrew knew deeply of the importance of restoring our native forests and of our connections to them.
Bob’s Tribute day featured a special presentation and exploration of the current potential for reimaging the local landscape around the Slieve Aughty Centre, and the possibilities under a new inspiring afforestation and nature restoration project for the area, devised by Afforestation Manager, Forester, and CELT Director Julius Silvan, with the support of funding from the Community Foundation of Ireland.
Julius gave a presentation into the ecological surveying and BAP that has taken place at the Center, and on the afforestation and rewetting projects currently being planned for the site. As a result we were delighted to be joined by Steve Bass of Hedgerows Ireland, who shared an inspiring demonstration of the traditional craft of hedge laying, with a key focus on the importance and role of hedgerows in the Irish landscape, and why rejuvenation is necessary to keep our hedgerows healthy for longer. Due to the specific nature of the site at the Slieve Aughty Afforestation and Nature Restoration Project, the day-long series of talks also included renown wetlands expert Feidhlim Harty, who shared his wisdom on managing water in the landscape at the centre and the many opportunities for developing ponds in the wetlands, alongside the methods for enhancing biodiversity, increasing trees and hedgerows,
The Tribute day also featured a showcase of CELT tutors, master greenwood craftsman Sean Walsh, Kate Hayes, with her beautiful natural sacred amulet sacks and shamanic craftswork, Dave Swift of renown heritage organisation An Clíomh, with his beautifully crafted leather work, as well as a series of wonderful walks and talks and stalls presentations by local foraging expert Olwyn Williams and Maria Buitenhuis with her beautiful skin hides, who also offered an immersive Forest Bathing session in the local Slieve Aughty Center woods.
The day ended with a special tribute to Bob at 4pm, where we planted a tree in the newly established CELT Nursery, and everyone gathered to pay tribute, sharing memories and celebratory stories of his contribution to their lives and communities..
This special gathering was supported by the Forestry Promotion Programme, of the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, the Irish Environmental Network, and the Community Foundation Ireland Biodiversity Fund, was a resounding success, uniting community, education, and hands-on experiences to honor a true environmental pioneer.
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