10000 Children - 10000 Trees - For You

Dear supporters,

We know that times are tough at the moment, but there are still reasons to smile. 

One of those reasons being all of the great work that, with your kind support, we have been able to achieve. Here are some of the ways that your donation will have contributed to growing woodland, growing community, and growing understanding.

Tree planting:

The start of the year saw the whole of year 7 from a local secondary school come up to Harmony Woods to add their own trees - that’s about 120 more children - and this is the first year they have taken part in our annual tree planting fortnight!

The community also showed excellent support. We held a second community tree planting day in early March, where families, adults and young people helped to plant 50 trees (each representing a graduate from a local nursery school), and helped to finish all of the beating up (replacement of last year's failed trees).

We also ran a Plant-For-The-Planet Academy at the beginning of March, where 50 local children trained to become Climate Justice Ambassadors. The Academy is part of a UN Environment Programme initiative, where young people learn about the causes and consequences of the climate crisis, develop their own climate action plans, practice public speaking and plant their own trees. We provided 70 more trees which were planted at the local golf club in Andover who generously hosted the event.

Towards the end of the month and just before the UK went into COVID-lockdown, our Monday work team managed to get the last remaining trees into the ground, bringing another fantastic season of tree planting to an end.

Outdoor learning:
One could argue that February has been the star of the show this Winter. A super busy month, not only were we tree planting as mentioned above, but we also held one of our biggest outdoor learning events yet as part of our sustainable forestry schools project, ‘One Ash’.

120 school children from Andover Trees partner schools plus 60 adults - teachers, volunteers, crafters, foresters and other guests - all came together on the Englefield Estate to witness the felling of the ‘One Ash’ tree. 

Students also planted 30 new trees and watched craft demonstrations by representatives from the Sylva Foundation, the Hampshire Coppice Group, and the Englefield Estate forestry team. Demonstrations included making firewood, pegs, paddles and hay rakes.

After the timber from the ash is distributed, crafters will document their process of work for the children to follow and learn from.

Building up to the day, in 2019, the children had already visited the Ash and another mature woodland (on the Trinley Estate) as part of our ‘Meet The Trees’ outdoor learning programme. On these visits, children learned about different kinds of trees, the ecosystems that they support, the benefits and disadvantages of felling trees and the importance of sustainable forestry. More importantly, a previous visit to the ‘One Ash’ meant that the children could form an emotional connection to the tree - seeing it as a living thing and developing an appreciation for it before it was felled.

The full blog post plus some great pictures from the tree felling day is linked with this report.

Since the COVID-lockdown began, we have postponed our schools and community engagement project work. However, we are looking to continue to engage local youth with nature by putting together some activities that can be done at home.

Other work to note:

• A wildlife surveying project is being planned in Harmony Woods with our interning graduate ecologist. 
• The general woodland maintenance has continued on a weekly basis, volunteers working solo instead of in the usual work teams, including work to the pond. 
• Next year's trees have been planted in the allotment and distributed to schools.
• We’ve been getting together (pre-COVID) to practice our green crafting, including coppicing, ready for selling hand-crafted products at the end of the year! 
• A new section of hedgerow was planted by a group of volunteers from the Andover Co-op
• 100m of new hedgerow has been completed by the secondary school students since the start of the year
• This year's wildflowers could not all be planted in the wood due to the lockdown and 100s have also been planted in volunteers' gardens. Seed sowing kits have been distributed to families around town to allow propagating to be carried out at home, so that the autumn wildflower planting can go ahead.

On a final note, we would like to briefly mention GlobalGiving’s Climate Action Campaign.

During April 20-24th, Andover Trees United are taking part in a Climate Action Campaign, where every donation given to our project, '10000 Children - 10000 Trees - For You', will be matched by 50%!

Of course, you have already given so generously and we are incredibly grateful for your support.
However, If you are able to, please consider 'voting' for us by making a donation (of any size) and, if you can, advocate for us by sharing our mission with a family member or friend or work colleague. Even a quick mention on your social media would mean the world to us.

In times like this, we’re reminded of how interconnected we all are. Thank you for being part of our community. Without you, none of it is possible.

Stay safe and well,

The Andover Trees United team.

Links:

• Our website
• Environmental education in action!

The past month has been positively overflowing with tree-planting, community events and volunteer days. With just under 1000 local school children supported by 60 volunteers, 500 new trees were planted in the wood - including 25 disease-resistant Elms!

Tree Planting Fortnight and National Tree Week

Our annual tree planting fortnight began on Saturday 16th November with a community planting day. The early winter sun was shining on Harmony Woods as we were joined by residents from Andover and surrounding villages for a morning and afternoon session of planting. Once the whips were in the ground many people stayed on to help beat-up the unsuccessful trees from the last season of planting.

From then until Friday 29th November, just under 1000 children from 22 local schools added their own trees to the wood, some arriving with trees that they have been nurturing in their school gardens over the past year. 

Now planted, these trees extend the woodland by a further 500. With 200 more to be planted by schools after Christmas, 100 more at our Plant-for-the-Planet Academy in March 2020, and another 200 for hedge planting and beating up - to be done during community and workdays January to March 2020 - this will take the total number of trees added to the wood during this season to 1000!

Despite a few soggy days, the fortnight ended the same way it had begun: filled with sunshine, excitement and enthusiasm - a great success! 

Alex Walker from Portway Junior School, thanked our team for a brilliant morning saying that the children were positively “buzzing” after their morning in the woods. Very well done to all the pupils from our participating schools for their astounding contribution to the woodland, whatever the weather. And a big thank you to all the organisations, volunteers and generous donators who gave their time or money to support them. Your efforts are enormously appreciated!

We had a fantastic team of regular volunteers who worked from the daily set up at 8am each day, through till the last tools had been put away 7 hours later! In total, 60 different people gave their time in the wood over the course of the fortnight to help the sessions run smoothly and to support the children to plant their trees. This 60 includes returning volunteers and new recruits, employees from Abel and Cole, the British Army, the Coop Depot, college students and secondary school students from Harrow Way and Winton who came to plant their own trees as well as support the younger primary school children. Invited guests and VIPs included the Mayor of Test Valley Cllr Martin Hatley, Cllr Phil North, Director of Woodland Creation for the Woodland Trust John Tucker and Lorna Cumming-Bruce from Semble.

Cllr Phil North, leader of Test Valley Borough Council said "It was great to join pupils from local schools to help plant the next section of woodland between Augusta Park and Enham Alamein. Planting trees doesn't just create fantastic landscapes which is important for biodiversity, it is absolutely vital in tackling climate change. My thanks go to Wendy Davis and all at Andover Trees United for all they do in planting and maintaining this amazing woodland."

Gemma Regniez from The British Army Communications Team added ”Our team had a fantastic morning helping out; it’s a great opportunity to use our volunteering days. We’re encouraging more of our colleagues to take part!” 

As well as being mid-way through Planting Fortnight, the 23rd of November was also the start of National Tree Week, where organisations across the whole of the UK plant trees to enhance the British landscape, help protect biodiversity and combat climate change. Thanks to a grant from The Tree Council, we were able to acquire 25 Dutch-elm-disease resistant Elm trees, one for each of our partner schools. Meaning that the local children are not only creating a community woodland, but they are reintroducing a much-loved tree back into the landscape.

December & January

We had a wonderful evening in December as we celebrated the end of another fantastic year of work at our Lantern Procession and Tree Dressing event in Harmony Woods. It was a magical atmosphere as friends old and new came together to celebrate with trees, mulled wine, mince pies & music.

We have also been working with the community in the allotment – sorting and labelling the new tree whips and planting next year’s trees into our nursery.

In the coming weeks, schools that could not attend Planting Fortnight will be visiting the wood to plant their trees. Around 100 more trees will be added by the end of winter, meaning another 200 children will be outdoors connecting with nature.

Thankyou!

We would like to give a special thanks to you for your continued support. I hope you can see what a fantastic impact your donations are having, and on behalf of the whole team, we hope you had a wonderful holiday season!

Links:

• Our website