Volunteers plant 1,350 trees as our campaign starts to grow
A volunteer group which was looking for landowners to provide space for 2,000 trees to be planted has been overwhelmed with offers of help.
The Cambridgeshire Tree Planting Community was able to plant 1,350 at the weekend after two farms in Willingham offered their fields and more than 100 volunteers turned up to plant the trees.
It follows the Cambridge Independent’s appeal last week, as part of our Plant a Tree Campaign, aimed at getting 10,000 trees planted across Cambridgeshire this year.
Duncan Starr-Boltt, who set up the group, said: “We had an amazing response. Thank you to everyone who turned up. Together we made such a big impact at the weekend. The 1,350 trees will provide a habitat to so many animals and birds and make a really good impact on the environment.
“We were able to plant 700 more than our target because we had more than 100 volunteers. It was perfect weather and a fantastic way to spend a Saturday.
“Thanks to all of the publicity, we have been offered enough land to plant the remaining trees.”
Now that all the trees have been found a place to grow, the group is encouraging anyone keen to keep the tree-planting momentum going to source saplings from The Woodland Trust.
Duncan said: “We are hoping to hold Big Plant Out day in March where we will be encouraging landowners to source their own trees and contact us to see if we can match them with volunteers to help with planting.”
Large packs of trees are available at subsidised rates from The Woodland Trust, where experts can advise on the right type of trees for the land and offer everything from small shrubs to fruit trees and very large trees such as oaks (see woodlandtrust.org.uk).
The Woodland Trust is also giving away hundreds of thousands of trees to schools and community groups this year as part of a nationwide campaign.
The trust wants to make sure everybody in the UK has the chance to plant a tree, delivering them in March and November of this year. It is taking applications for trees to be delivered in November 2020 as part of its ongoing Big Climate Fightback.
All schools and communities need to provide is the six-digit grid reference for the land ton which they wish to plant using a grid reference finder on the Woodland Trust’s website – and, of course, they will need permission from the legal landowner.
Get in touch
Are you planting a tree? Let us know using one of the following methods:
- Email newsdesk@iliffemedia.co.uk and put Plant a Tree Campaign in the subject line.
- Call our news team on 01223 320322
- Post on the Cambridge Independent Facebook page
- Tweet @CambridgeIndy and include the hashtag #PlantATreeCampaign.
If you are a school, community group or business, we’ll be pleased to take pictures.
Or you could send us your own photographs.
Remember to tell us how many trees you are planting, and where, so we can add them to our tally!
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Free trees available for schools and community groups from Woodland Trust
