The Pines began in 1967 when, on a bright spring day Gerry Ryland accompanied our founder, Bert Reeves, to our site near Longhope on the edge of the Forest of Dean.

Gerry was CCBN President at the time and had first met Bert and his wife Rose when they visited Western Sunfolk to play miniten. At that time they were members of Bristol Solarians, now called Tara. Even then Bert was determined to start his own club and was always scouring the press for any land for sale.

When he found our site, having first rejected another near Randwick because of poor screening, he fell in love with it and bought it for around £350. Although he liked to tell folk it cost thousands!

In 1972 the members got together to purchase the site from Bert, so that it could truly become a members club and it has steadily developed over the years since then. But always remaining in  sympathy with the surroundings. We have pictures of Gerry officially ‘opening’ the new toilet in 1993, our 21st anniversary. That's Gerry standing in the doorway with a glass in his hand!.

The toilet, rather cleverly, uses rainwater collected from the clubhouse roof and stored in tanks to provide a proper flush, thereby avoiding the need for mains water. The waste then flushes into a septic tank buried nearby.

Our clubhouse has seen some changes over the years. In 2000 we demolished the old kitchen end, which was very cramped and starting to subside, replacing it with a full width kitchen area, complete with fitted units, a sink and calor gas cooker. Then, two years ago we replaced the front of the left-hand end following an attack by vandals.

Most recently we have installed lighting and a couple of sockets, powered by our new generator. Together with our wood-burning stove this now means we have an all-year, day or night facility.