Posts Tagged ‘Willow Coffins’
WinterWillow prodution team have just relocated to new premises in Cambridge.
We are just south of the Newmarket Road, on the Barnwell Business Park.
Winter Willow, Part of WinterComfort, Unit 21, Barnwell Business Park,
Off Barnwell Drive, Cambridge, CB5 8UZ
Travelling into the city down Newmarket Road? Just past the City Airport – find us down the A1134.
(Truck image: Alan_Cook_Removals Ltd: geograph.org.uk)
We are holding a Green Burial Awareness Day on Saturday 19th November 2011. See more on our awareness page here.
There will be a wide choice of information , advice and practical sessions on the ‘green’ burial movement – all held between 11.00am and 3.00pm at Barton Glebe Woodland Burial Ground, Barton, Cambridgeshire, CB23 7BN.
You can see the burial ground on the map with the link below.
We hope you will let us know if you can attend, we have funeral directors, craftsmen and women, as well as bereavement care specialists and humanist celebrants in attendance.
Come along and find out more, in a practical and supportive environment.
Contact Tracy at WinterWillow on 01223 518140 or use the contact us page on our main WinterWillow web site to reserve your place at this fascinating event.
The WinterWillow team…
We are out and about in the next few months with our coffins.
WinterWillow are delighted to have now confirmed attendance at the following coffin related events.
10-12 June 2011 National Funeral Exhibition – Warwickshire http://www.nationalfuneralexhibition.co.uk/
22 June 2011 – The Arbory Trust – Open Day at Barton Natural Burial Ground http://www.arborytrust.org/index.html
9 & 10 July 2011 – London Funeral Exhibition (incorporating the ‘Handled with Care’ Coffin Exhibition – Epping Burial Ground http://www.londonfuneralexhibition.co.uk
24 September 2011 – Bennetts Funeral Home Open Day, Brentwood, Essex http://www.bennettsfunerals.co.uk/areabennetts-funeral-directors
For regular updates on the exhibitions and shows we are attending why not bookmark our WinterWillow events page – you can find it here.
Thanks for visiting us – The WinterWillow team
We are in the throes of creating the next generation of our WinterWillow web site.
The design brief was to make the space lighter, more readable, with a better use of visuals and to simplify the navigation.
A short brief that, like all simple statements, includes some complexity in delivery. However, a new version has been posted to our servers and please feel free to comment on the birth of this new willow creation.
There will be more changes in the weeks to come as we refine the content and develop our collaborative ideas on coffin marketing and our basketry business.
Watch the willow…
In The Guardian today Ian Tucker writes about the collaboration between the Eden Project and Homeless Link that will create the biggest garden ever built at the Chelsea Flower Show.
The garden and its accompanying displays will have been created by the energy and creativity of at least 400 people with experience of homelessness. A 100 people from prisons across the UK will also have added their input to the project.
The garden, Places of Change, is financially supported by the government-funded Homes and Communities Agency, the Department of Communities and Local Government, and the London Employer Accord.
WinterWillow will be displaying a woven willow eco-coffin at the garden, as part of our work for WinterComfort for the Homeless.
Maybe we’ll see you at the Chelsea Flower Show next week?
You can see Ian Tucker’s article here. There is also a video about the creativity and involvement of people in the garden who have experienced homelessness here.
We are delighted to announce that WinterWillow, part of the charity WinterComfort for the Homeless, will be presenting a willow woven eco-coffin at the Chelsea Flower Show this year.
Running from May 25th to May 29th 2010, Chelsea offer visitors an amazing array of floral displays, trade stands and visitor attractions. We are proud to be a part of the horticultural festivities this year.
We use only the best English willow in the making and craft of our eco-coffins and wider basketry items. The cultivation and sustainable cropping of willow is an abiding theme with the WinterWillow team.
Using no nails, metal fastenings or chemical based adhesives – our woven eco-coffins are a perfect piece of English craft for Chelsea – fully in sympathy with the ethos of the show, the care of living things and their sustainable use.
WinterWillow will be sharing a space on the Places of Change stand, along with other social enterprise and Spark Challenge organisations.
If you visit the show you will be able to see an example of one of our woven willow eco-coffins throughout the show week. The WinterWillow team will be in attendance on Wednesday 26th May 2010.
Do visit us at the show if you are attending. Every item we take orders for goes directly to support the work of our charity team at WinterComfort for the Homeless. We look forward to seeing you there.
We mentioned in a previous blog entry our attendance at the Natural Burial Conference at Sheffield University.
You can see a full conference report, with some of the questions the debate raised on our main web site.
It was a great event, with much lively debate and new research evidence about the motives, considerations and development of those providing services and using natural/woodland burial as an option in their final ceremonies.
The conference audience was an eclectic mix of funeral directors, woodland site owners and managers, clergy, academics and recently bereaved individuals who had agreed to take part in the research exercise. This body of academic work was funded by the ESRC for three years.
The closing conference session was by the Chair of the Association of Natural Burial Grounds, whose work is complimentary to the Natural Death Centre.
If you are provoked to comment on our musings – then use the comment button below and let us know at WinterWillow.
How were social enterprises doing in 2009?
This research paper from The Social Enterprise Coalition offers us a view of the movement.
You can download the 2009 survey results and analysis here.
The social enterprise movement and the businesses and activities that make up the sector are doing well it seems.
Not only are social enterprises remaining profitable during the long recession, but the key players in the organisations surveyed remain optimistic about both their ability to trade and be profitable, as well as remaining confident about the future.
Interestingly, the survey suggests that social enterprises in terms of their outlook and returns are more closely modelled on SME organisations generally, rather than other charitable, third sector bodies - who undoubtedly benefit from the enterprise model accordingly.
If you have any observations about WinterWillow after reading the report – use our comment button below and let us know. We’ll be glad to hear from you.
You may need a free copy of Adobe Reader to see our document.
Roger, our weaving tutor and his team, were recently out and about across the fens looking at new supplies of willow.
You can see from this picture, where Roger is chatting with local landowner Olivia just before the harvesting began, that red willow is in season and will allow us to make baskets of contrasting colours for sale at our upcoming events.
If you would like to volunteer or to help in willow production at WinterWillow use our contact us page on the WinterWillow web site and let us know.
You’ll be made very welcome.
Thank you to Cassie for the kind permission to use this photograph.
During March 2010 WinterWillow will be attending the Natural Burial Conference at Sheffield University.
The conference looks to examine …the cultural, social and emotional implications of natural burial.
Part of the Natural Burial Project, the research is being undertaken by the University Department of Landscape and the Department of Sociological Studies .
The study, part of a three year project funded by the Economic and Social Research Council is attempting to look at the ways in which natural burial affects individual choice, how it affects the emotions, how it may be symbolic of our return to greener, more sustainable practices and how we might remember loved ones differently.
We think it will be interesting to see how our research as a social enterprise in the green funeral field and our interaction with our funeral profession partners marries with the findings of the research team. We’ll let you know how we got on after the event.
