The Woodland Trust has re-opened its ever-popular free tree packs scheme on the back of a record-breaking spring giveaway which saw more than 40,000 saplings delivered across the East Midlands.
A total of 271 schools and community groups in Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire and Rutland 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 East Midlands, 40,470 trees were sent out to 271 organisations including 11,205 trees to 84 organisations in Derbyshire and 8,520 trees to 69 organisations in Nottinghamshire
The figures for the East Midlands 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". She said: “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.
A total of 3,865 schools and community groups received packs and to join the fight by sharing their tree planting stories and photos on social media using #BigClimateFightback.
Vicki 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"
The scheme reopened on 4th April with 700,000 trees available for planting during the Autumn.
The trees were sent far and wide:
- UK Total: 623,910 to 3865 organisations
- England: 506,415 trees to 3187 organisations
- Scotland: 76,665 trees to 475 organisations
- Wales: 40,830 trees to 206 organisations