Volunteers across the north have grown 5000 saplings as part of the Seeds 2 Trees project.
The saplings were collected by the team at Living Woods who run the project, after delivering seed packs two years ago. They will now be labelled and taken to a tree nursery prior to planting in the right locations.
It’s a highly successful result for the woodland creation and management team who have since delivered seed packs in the autumn of 2023 and again last month.
“We are thrilled with the enthusiasm of our volunteers,” said project manager Lara Young. “Along with many individuals who took part, we also had 17 schools involved and a dozen other organisations. Schools and families will receive educational resources every half term that invest into the growth of understanding and the empowerment for action. We look forward to our ongoing partnership with schools and our visits there.”
A lorry load of saplings
Seeds2Trees is a Living Woods project to enable people of all ages, across local communities, to grow UK native trees from seed, for future use in our community-focused tree planting schemes.
“We are helping to grow more trees, creating woodlands, and improving our natural environment, enabling the wider community to become part of the solution, and giving agency to people as we work together to tackle the climate and biodiversity crisis,” said Lara. “It’s all about putting the right trees in the right locations.”
Among the businesses who helped are Northern Structures Ltd who assisted with our collection and distribution process considerably with the provision of a lorry, on three Sundays when we set off around the region.
Huge thanks to Cummins, Darlington, the engine technology specialist, who have adopted SEEDS2TREES as a project. Staff gathered to prepare and collate all the supplies for our third round, they have supplied all the boxes, and subsequently two of their staff set off in a lorry to collect over 100 saplings for us. We now have 28 growers among their staff team. Thank you to Stuart, one of our Round 2 growers who has helped us form this partnership.
Other businesses who helped financially or gave corporate support for the educational resources include NETTA (the North East Timber Trade Association), Parson and Crosland (steel suppliers in Middlesbrough), PD Ports, JAG Technical Services, Nova Construction, and Oakham Metal Products.
The project was also assisted with match funding from the Aviva Community Fund, and with help from the Hadrian Trust Charity, and the AnvilMan of Northumberland.
The project manager also thanked individuals who helped with the collection and the distribution process, including Ken and Gill, Robin and Mealva, Michelle, Joanne and Neil.
For more information about the project see the website.