Welcome to West Dunbartonshire OWL Group
We are a small team of volunteers who work within West Dunbartonshire and the surrounding areas, and we want to help connect everyone working to get groups outside locally to share ideas and experiences. We’re in the process of trying to relaunch the group as it only got going just before the pandemic and then fizzled out a little because everything was restricted and people’s circumstances changed.
As we try and get things going again please be patient with us.
For the time being we are keeping people up to date via our Facebook page and the occasional email to those that have completed the survey and confirmed we can keep their details on file (see more information below).
Your temporary committee is:
Chair: Charles McVey
Treasurer: Mary-Anne Collis (MAC)
Secretary: Suzanne Musleh
Membership to the group (free) is open to practitioners, teachers, early years practitioners and organisations who deliver Outdoor Learning in and around West Dunbartonshire. Becoming a member will give you access to courses, skill sharing events (to both learn from and share knowledge with others) and network events to improve you skills and confidence in working outside with your groups. It will also give you access to equipment that we have.
We are actively looking for more members. If you are interested in joining you can get in touch through out contact details below or join us on our Facebook page.
You can sign up as a member here:https://forms.office.com/r/Wv039aKW8f
Events
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The Lost Words
June 22 @ 10:00 am - 4:00 pm
Balloch Castle Country Park
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Storytelling
June 7 @ 10:00 am - 1:00 pm
Balloch Castle Country Park
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Hapa zome / leaf bashing
June 3 @ 4:00 pm - 5:30 pm
Balloch Castle Country Park
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Flower pressing
May 29 @ 4:00 pm - 5:30 pm
Balloch Castle Country Park
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Cyanoprinting
May 22 @ 4:00 pm - 5:30 pm
Balloch Castle Country Park
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Relaunch and Reconnect
August 29, 2024 @ 4:00 pm - 5:30 pm
Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park Head Quarters
| Title | Publish Date | |
|---|---|---|
| 250116.new committee meet | 28/1/2025 |  |
| 250326.committee meet | 10/04/2025 | |
| WD OWL Privacy Policy | 15/05/2025 | |
The Lost Words
In 2020 the group received funding to run sessions and create a shared resource based on The Lost Words book created in 2017. www.thelostwords.org
It is a ‘book of spells’ (poems) that seeks to conjure back the near-lost magic and strangeness of the nature that surrounds us.
It partly came about as nature related words were being taken out of children’s dictionaries and it’s hard to connect with something if you don’t have a name for it.
They are called ‘Spells’ rather than poems – designed to be spoken (or sung!) out loud in order to summon back these words and creatures into our hearts.
Due to a few different things this project hasn’t happened yet but we are looking to complete the project in 2025. The funding will be used to do the following:
– Run Skill share/CPD sessions of activities
– These sessions will mainly be based around creativity, expressive art and literacy and highlighting and using items from the community resource.
– Create a Community resource which can be borrowed by members.
The vision for the Community resource is that it will focus on 5 of the spells
Bramble
Dandelion
Fern
Ivy
Magpie
These have been chosen as they are the most likely to be seen by children around their homes and local areas.
Each resource box will have a different set of equipment for you to use to explore the natural world. Each kit has been designed so that it can be used with a class of 30 children either working in small groups or pairs. Examples of some of the equipment are: flower presses, hapa zome/leaf bashing, cyanoprint kits, binoculars and bird resources, these can all be linked with Literacy, Numeracy, STEM and an aspect of the Expressive Arts.
The plan is to have the project completed in 2025 with the community resource being a legacy which will be available to group members to borrow long in to the future.
If you are interested in helping to create this resource, have any ideas or activities that you have used previously that would link in well with this please contact the group.
We will be launching an art competition in the Autumn of 2025 and running the skill share sessions over the summer term so keep an eye out for details of these events.
Treasurer - Mary-Anne Collis (known as MAC)
wd_owl@hotmail.com
Gallery
Get involved with this group
Please visit the WD OWL Facebook page or get in touch via email to wd_owl@hotmail.com