Cash in on a share of a £10,000 windfall
As the tree-planting season nears a close, the Woodland Trust has unveiled a new round of grants with a £10,000 award scheme for community woodland groups.
During the past 18 months, scores of woodland projects across the country have already applied and received nearly £100,000. But now there is more money available and any groups which have successfully bid for grants in the past may do so again.
Cash awards of between £500 and £1,000 per project are available to help pay for anything from tools, training and resources, to schemes and activities to promote groups’ work. This year’s round of applications will be open until the end of July.
Woodland Trust project manager Paul Bunton says: “The grants scheme has already proved really successful – but we want to do more and want more groups to come forward to apply for money. Funding is there for voluntary groups throughout England and Wales to help improve and develop their sites. We’re also keen to see groups which have had grants before re-apply if they wish.”
Among the groups which have successfully applied for Woodland Trust funding is the Friends of Park Wood, which last year clinched a coveted national award and a £3,000 top prize after converting an overgrown, boggy, litter-strewn piece of wasteland into a thriving traditional English woodland. Elsewhere other teams of volunteers are continuing to cash in grant funding for managing hundreds of acres of community woodlands.
The Trust’s Community Woodland Network website is on hand to help guide groups through their funding applications. As well as guidance notes and application forms, it also features hints, tips and advice on developing a community woodland. To find out more, please visit www.yourwoods.org.uk
