JOHN HANNAM
Vernon Scripps
will be so jealous
Heartbeat’s renowned opportunist Vernon Scripps has not had
too much success at making the millions he dreams of. Most of his
schemes have not got off the ground. In real life, actor Geoffrey
Hughes, who plays the character on television, is now a part of a new
Island company, Wood End Enterprises. This certainly won’t make
him millions but it is helping the Island become more self-sufficient
in certain timber products.
Geoffrey Hughes, who has had Island connections for well over twenty
years, is so keen on this new venture, with his wife Sue and Danny Horne, a
woodland conservationist, he has resisted numerous offers of more television
and stage work. Now that his new local business is up and running he has
agreed to return to Heartbeat for a few episodes and to make the Royle
Family 2006 Christmas Special.
Three years ago Geoffrey and Sue bought a 23 acre woodland on the
outskirts of Newport, without even looking at it. The area had been initially
Now the woods are being managed
the bluebells have already
started to grow.
Geoffrey with his new business
partner Danny Horne carrying
bags of kindling.
planted back in the seventeen hundreds. In more recent times the wood
was in the hands of the Forestry Commission and planted with blocks of
conifers, Monterey Pine, Corsican Pine and Douglas Fir. After planting, the
wood was left abandoned and unmanaged.
With the guidance of experts, in particular, Danny Horne, a woodland
conservationist and stump grinder, the plantation is being regenerated. The
felling of trees is a necessity to restore the woods to a mainly broadleaf
coppice. To help offset the cost of regeneration the new company has
brought in machinery to convert the waste timber into saleable products.
“We are a small island with plenty of timber resources and yet we are
importing kindling, logs, woodchip and wood mulch. It just doesn’t make
sense.
“With this enterprise we not only have a chance to improve the environment
but also help to make the Island self-sufficient in certain timber areas,” said
Geoffrey.
Currently he is trying to get local stores and garden centres to stock Wood
End Enterprises’ very competitive bags of kindling.
Already the regeneration clearing work has led to the return of natural
growth which will escalate in years to come.
Realistically, Geoffrey realises he may not be around to see the real success
of this long-term plantation work as it will take many years to come to
fruition.
There is no doubt that since moving to the Island Geoffrey Hughes has
found great personal enjoyment working in his woods. Suddenly, he didn’t
miss spending forty eight weeks a year filming Heartbeat.
In a remarkable acting career Geoffrey has become one of the most famous
faces in Britain. He’s come a long way since the broken arm of an assistant
stage manager, at a Stoke repertory theatre, meant he was given longer than
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