10000 Children - 10000 Trees - For You

New Opportunities for Young People in Nature

In April we welcomed a new ecology intern, Megan. Under the guidance of our graduating intern, Alex, Megan was inducted into data collecting by helping to set up new survey transects for 2022. Since then, Megan has recruited a number of new survey assistants, run a bioblitz event and led wildflower and bat walks.

Together with long-term volunteer Sarah, Megan and Alex have continued to support the Nature in Harmony Exchange Project, bringing the first 2-year cycle to a successful conclusion. This summer sees the first group of young people complete the two-year programme, culminating in an expedition to the Corcovado Foundation in Costa Rica (an organisation that we met through GlobalGiving in 2020). As I write this, the intrepid youth team are heading home after their 2-week adventure, details of which can be found on the Blog link below. We hope you will take a look, as it is in part your support that helped to establish the youth programme, without which this trip could not have happened.

PRACTICAL WORK

Work in the wood and on the allotment continued with seasonal tasks – wildflower seed sowing and growing, planting surplus tree whips (including 100s rescued from local nurseries that were otherwise destined to be destroyed), managing invasive plants, checking deer fencing, installing new gates and fences and checking on newly planted trees and hedgerows.

As a new venture, one designed to make best use of surplus timber from the cabin build whilst bringing people together in the wood to learn new carpentry skills and make items to take home, we set up 'Timbershare'. Over the last 6 weeks, children and adults of all ages have worked with skilled carpenters to make bird and bat boxes, stools and chairs. 

A SUMMER OF CELEBRATION – projects are completed

In 2017, ‘Six Trees and Six Flowers’ was established, a programme whose core aim is to support tree-planting schools to combine the arts and nature to improve emotional connections to, improve awareness of and inspire a desire to take positive action to care for the natural world. All projects are designed to involve and flow out into communities beyond the schools.

Partly to support the schools’ programme and partly in celebration of 10 years of woodland creation, we secured the services of renowned musicians Paul Sartin and Jackie Oates and sound artist Justin Wiggan to lead ‘Voices in Harmony’. Jointly planned by the artists and Andover Trees United, Voices in Harmony led children and adults on a musical journey in celebration of woodlands, including the Ash Trees from which Andover partly derives its name*. Your donations helped us to bring together children and adults to celebrate in song amongst the trees, the results of 10 years of everybody’s hard work. On July 16^th, the Voices of trees and humans, backed by the exquisite fiddle playing of Paul and Jackie and accompanied by skylarks overhead joined together in Harmony.

We hope to be able to share images and videos with you shortly. Until then, we wish you all the very best and thank you for your generous support that helps to make our work possible.

* Andover: A crossroads for millennia, small groups settled here, creating homesteads and fortifying areas on the hilltops but all that really survives of those pre-Saxon times is the town's name: from 'Onna-dwfr', 'Anna-dwfr', or 'Andefera', 'the river of the ash trees’.

Links:

• Youth Team heads for Costa Rica... and other blog posts