Dinner -Speaker Intro by Eric B is Niall Whyte - Fellowship - Stephen B & Bob T

 Although not a member of Rotary, Niall was well informed about the Duns club, his father having been one of the founder members and a one time President.

Niall gave a fascinating talk on his company, telling how he became involved in the supply of kiln dried firewood, and the journey he has been on.

After 30 years in the forest industry, and partly prompted by the bad winter of 2009/2010, Niall Whyte came to  recognise that the Borders lacked a reliable supplier of firewood that could be provided promptly, ready to burn and be delivered in a tidy fashion.  The business started locally, then grew to cover the whole of the Borders, and now supplies wood fuel to both domestic and wholesale markets across the country.  The Real Firewood Company is the 3rd or 4th supplier in the UK.

The term ‘kiln dried’ has become well known, and Niall’s company supplies kiln dried hard wood logs.  He explained that the lower the moisture of the logs, the hotter they burned. The density also affects the burn, with low density giving a slower burn.

The company imports the logs from Latvia and other Balkan countries, and as well as supplying their own customers also distributed to other merchants.  The market is very vibrant, growing by about 20% per year.  Much of this is the result of the 20,000 domestic heating stoves which are installed in the UK annually.

Niall’s company a;so wells  Wood Briquettes, which are compressed hardwood and softwood sawdust briquettes, manufactured without additives. These are of an even lower moisture content and denser than logs therefore burn at a higher temperature. Ideal for chimnea’s and pizza ovens as well as your stove or fire. To satisfy the growing wood pellet market we also sell  Wood Pellets. These are 6 – 8mm long pellets, pre packed in 15kg bags delivered either by full pallet, half pallet or in bulk. All their products are sourced from well managed sustainable forests.

Niall was thanked for avery  interesting and enjoyable presentation.