Woodfuel courses in East Anglia are being offered at heavily discounted prices for farmers and foresters.

Shuttleworth College near Bedford will provide the venue for an ignite renewable energy training programme for woodfuel heating systems in March.

The courses are funded by Woodfuel East and are available to eligible trainees at a sudsidised prices.

Will Richardson, of Rural Development Initiatives Ltd, said: “In countries such as Austria and Denmark, woodfuel boilers are commonplace and in rural areas most people use them. Take-up in the UK has been rapid in recent years, given that woodfuel is often half the price of oil or LPG.”

Ignite courses were more recently run at the Green Light Trust near Bury St Edmunds with farmers and foresters taking advantage of the specialist knowledge on offer and the reduced rates thanks to funding from Woodfuel East. Anne Peacock, Property and Estate Manager at the Chaldean Estate, Hertfordshire attended the course back in September to gain information on setting up a new firewood supply venture and said of the course ‘a well balanced course providing relevant information on the woodfuel supply chain. We’ll use the knowledge gained to help set up a new firewood supply venture from the estate in 2012’.

The next course to take place is the three day Lantra Awards accredited ‘Woodfuel Production and Supply’ which will run from March 27 to 29 and give trainees a thorough grounding in woodfuel production and supply. Hatley Park in Cambridgeshire will play host to the one day Woodfuel Quality Standards course on March 19. The three day course, for eligible trainees, costs �140 and the one day courses �55.

Woodfuel East is funded by the Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE). The programme is jointly funded by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development and DEFRA.

To book a place or get more details of either course, contact Erica Spencer on 0845 226 2890 or erica.spencer@ruraldevelopment.org.uk