The following is an extract from our chat at the Royal Welsh Show with Mwmac's Gethin Hughes. You can watch the full interview on our YouTube channel. 

WITH a range of stations on Mwmac's stand, all designed to show possible safety scenarios, the main draw was a winch tied to a Dyneema Rope and attached to a Scots pine, replicating an assisted felling.

“There is a growing demand for the training of these sorts of skills," said Gethin Hughes of the training provider. "You could say it has come from insurance purposes, but also, how do you prove you are a competent operator if you haven't been trained to a standard? 

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"We want to pull people in to have discussions about why these skills are used. We want to get people's thoughts and to try and pull it apart, which is a great part of having a discussion with the public and contractors.

"Many come in and say they might do it a different way, but we all have the same aim: to do it in a safe way." 

Pronounced “Mooo Mac”, Mwmac has been offering land-based training and assessments for over 30 years.

The training arm of the company was initially established by Chris and Anne Hughes in 1986, as Woodland Skills Training Centre, delivering short courses to a niche sector of the industry within the local area of Powys.

The company quickly became highly-regarded throughout the UK and Europe as delivering high-quality training and assessments to the industry.

Gethin continued: “Assisted fell is one of those underestimated things that everyone does, but the question is: ‘Are we doing it correctly?’

"This is why we are putting it out there. Let's do it correctly rather than just winging it and potentially having problems."