Woodland Trust’s free tree-pack scheme re-opens

Photo: Richard Faulks/WTML

More than 50,000 saplings were delivered across the north west of England

The Woodland Trust is re-opening its ever-popular free tree packs scheme on the back of a record-breaking spring giveaway which saw more than 50,000 saplings delivered across the north west of England.

A total of 326 schools and community groups in Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Lancashire, Manchester and Merseyside took delivery of their trees from the end of February to 11 March, with the next round of applications back open for business on 4 April.

In the north west of England, 51,510 trees were sent out to 326 organisations. This includes 7,755 trees to 58 organisations in Greater Manchester

The figures for the north west of England were part of a record-breaking spring UK-wide giveaway. Woodland Trust senior project lead Vicki Baddeley said surpassing the previous spring delivery record by just over 106,000 for a total of 623,910 trees was “wonderful.”

“We strongly believe everyone should have the opportunity to plant a tree, and our spring planters are really showing us how it's done,” she added. “We're seeing such a wide range of motivations for communities to take the simple, positive action to plant trees. They're getting their hands dirty to combat climate change, support local wildlife, green up their local spaces, boost their wellbeing, and celebrate the Queen's Jubilee, to name but a few.”

The trees were sent out as part of the Woodland Trust’s Big Climate Fightback where the UK’s largest woodland conservation charity encourages people to plant trees at events, at home and with their school or community to help fight climate change and create new havens for wildlife.

A total of 3,865 schools and community groups received packs and will be joining the fight by sharing their tree planting stories and photos with us on social media using #BigClimateFightback.

The tree packs have been generously funded by lead partners: Sainsbury's, Lloyds Bank, OVO Energy, DFS, Joules, Bank of Scotland and Sofology.

Baddeley added: “We couldn't do this without the generosity of our funders so our thanks go out to each of them for their vital support. We would advise any interested groups to apply sooner rather than later to secure their saplings.

“The appetite to plant trees is clearly growing as demand for our free trees scheme has never been stronger, so we can't wait to open applications again on 4 April, when we'll have a further 700,000 trees available for planting in the autumn.”

The Woodland Trust is giving away hundreds of thousands of trees to schools and communities. To apply, or see terms and conditions, visit: www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/freetrees