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HRH The Prince of Wales visited Herriard Park near Basingstoke to launch the European Social Funded greenwood new entrants training scheme. During the event the Prince was shown an area of hazel coppice woodland on the estate and met a number of coppice craftsmen, watched demonstrations of their skills and saw a wide range of coppice products on display.

Also included in the Prince’s visit was a tour of the offices of FileNET Ltd, which has its North Europe Education Centre in restored Victorian buildings on the estate, and which supported the project by providing free IT training to the greenwood trainees. The Prince watched a coppice craftsman being trained in computer skills, and saw a demonstration of the Wessex Coppice Group web site.

At the culmination of his visit, His Royal Highness officially launched the Greenwood New Entrants Scheme, for which Wessex Coppice Group successfully bid for funding under the European Social Fund (Objective 3).

In officially launching the scheme, the Prince of Wales stressed the importance of supporting coppice craftsmen and encouraging new entrants into the industry to ensure its continuity into the future.
"It is encouraging to see how the Wessex Coppice Group is managing to find ways to keep existing people in the trade and, what’s even more important, to encourage new people to join it, which I think is the great challenge," he said. "This is the way to make hazel coppice a sustainable 21^st century industry."

The Prince acknowledged the essential role of new technology, when he said,
"In a world in which marketing is becoming ever more important and some element of business training is essential for anybody to succeed, woodcraftsmen can too easily get left behind and that is why I am particularly pleased to launch this wonderful greenwood initiative today. I think FileNET deserves every possible congratulations for so readily offering their help to train the craftsmen in computer skills."

His Royal Highness went on to say,
"Our woodlands are part of this nation's rich cultural and environmental heritage, and for too long have been neglected and wasted. Now at last there’s an opportunity to do something. Woodcraftsmen are an essential and vital part of that heritage. They need our help and I do hope that this scheme today will become a model for other parts of the country to follow."

Among the invited guests at the Prince of Wales’ visit were local dignitaries and representatives from the various organisations, which support the Wessex Coppice Group’s work. These included: Hampshire County Council, West Sussex County Council, Countryside Agency, Forestry Commission, SEEDA, European Social Fund, Stangers Environmental, Carillion Infrastructure Management, Cranfield University and FileNET Corporation Inc.