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Report on the recent Bushcraft Group Conference: Spring 2024
By Mel Grenfell, IOL Bushcraft Group Executive Committee Member

Set in thirty-four acres of beautiful ancient, coppiced woodland, Danemead Scout Centre in Hertfordshire provided the perfect backdrop for our spring conference. We welcomed sixty participants, twenty-eight women and thirty-two men, along for a weekend of bushcraft learning, sharing, practice, discussion and support. Oh, and eating - did I mention the food…? 
Our fantastic presenters provided workshops diverse in nature, from primitive skills to tool-use, tarpology, heritage crafts, game preparation, and online course creation – there were fifteen workshops in total, ranging from one to three hours long. Our delegates consisted of outdoor professionals working in bushcraft schools, outdoor centres and Forest Schools to youth workers and bushcraft enthusiasts. 

We managed to set up five workshop bases, a covered campfire circle and a campfire catering area on the Friday afternoon. The site boasted many mature hornbeam, holly and silver birch trees and the clearings provided perfect areas for our workshops. On Friday evening we welcomed the delegates with a two-course South African themed menu, all prepared and cooked over fire by Kev Palmer and Bracken van Ryssen. It was a wonderful opportunity to renew friendships and make new ones, cementing the community feel of the event. After eating we headed off to the campfire circle for an ‘AloneUK Q&A’ session with our keynote speaker Naomi Allsworth and fellow AloneUK participant Alan Bale. Naomi and Alan spent over four weeks surviving alone in the Canadian Arctic for the first UK TV series of ‘Alone’. It was fascinating to hear about their experiences of having to survive and thrive under challenging conditions; both the bushcraft skills and the mental resilience required are not to be under-estimated. Delegates also got to hear about the practicalities of filming and the logistics of managing a production of such scale. 

On the Saturday morning our delegates devoured a ‘mountain-man breakfast’ (it was delicious), signed up for the workshops of their choice and headed off to the bases with their waterproofs firmly in place. By lunchtime they were excitedly sharing their experiences and crafted items. A choice of two soups was served from the campfire and then the delegates headed off for afternoon workshops with a rainbow greeting them on their way. On Saturday afternoon Kev and Bracken ran a workshop called ‘Cooking Using Dutch Ovens’, which 
then provided an outstanding evening meal of ground oven roasted pork or nut roast, haybox braised cabbage and new potatoes, followed by creamy rice pudding. Fully content, we then headed inside for the keynote talk from Naomi Allsworth - ‘Embracing the Wild: Thriving as a Woman in the Outdoor and Bushcraft Industry’. Inspirational, thought-provoking and moving were just some of the words that delegates used to describe Naomi’s presentation. We finished the evening with our non-monetary raffle of items crafted or collated by 
delegates - there were some amazing prizes. 

After a very cold night for those who were camping, the delegates embarked on their final full-length workshops with the sun shining down on them. The lunch menu was Moroccanthemed and cooked with limited use of utensils - much of it on or over the embers - a final foodie-flourish from Bracken and Kev. To round off the event, we ran the popular express workshops, which were five lots of ten-minute workshops with 
delegates moving from base-to-base at the sound of a whistle. 

Afterwards we met together indoors one last time to thank everyone for their participation and enthusiasm, and we were overwhelmed by the positive feedback. Everyone pulled together to take down the bases and cracked on with the clearing up. 
The delegates left the site looking enthused and thoughtful (and slightly muddier than when they’d arrived…), ready to put into practice the new skills and knowledge that they’d acquired over the weekend. 
Now for a few weeks off before starting to plan the autumn conference...