OAKLEY Woodlands Group:Marked World Environment Day on Saturday with the first day of a week of charcoal burning.

Funded by the Environment Action Earth initiative, this is an opportunity to learn about the ancient skill of making charcoal from coppiced hazel.

The burning will take place all week in St John's Copse, St John's Road, so drop in if you're curious.

Volunteers to monitor the kiln are welcome, and the charcoal (which is made from sustainable woodland timber) will be on sale at £3 per bag.

Please call Brian for more details on 780810.

VILLAGE design statement: Thanks to all the hard work put in by those involved, the statement has been adopted by the borough council as supplementary planning guidance.

A text version will soon be available on the borough council's website and, by September, it is hoped that an illustrated version will be on the parish website and distributed in the community.

To find out more, and to help in the design of the printed version, you can attend the planned workshop in St Leonard's Centre, Rectory Road, from 2pm to 5pm on June 12.

Still needed are photographers (especially high quality digital), local artists (to draw anything from maps to landscapes), and anyone with experience in desktop publishing and layout.

For more details, e-mail Peter Cornforth at bitey.dog@btopenworld.com or John Burbidge-King at jburbidgeking@btopenworld.com or telephone 782019.

PARISH council meeting: On Thursday, at St Leonard's Centre. The public session starts at 7.50pm.