Friends of Westonbirt Arboretum awarded £190,000
In what must feel like a very nice early Christmas present indeed, the charity that supports one of the county's most popular tourist attractions has won £190,000 for a major community project.
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The charity, Friends of Westonbirt Arboretum (The Friends), has been awarded a £190,000 grant from the Julia Rausing Trust to support Westonbirt Arboretum’s Silk Wood Community Planting Project (SWCPP) over the next two years.
Silk Wood, which comprises 150 hectares of ancient semi-natural woodland, is a critical part of the arboretum’s ecosystem.
The funding partnership will not only allow SWCPP to restore five hectares of the habitat lost to Chalara ash die-back, safeguarding the natural heritage for generations to come, but will also help facilitate new audience engagement in nature and the work at Forestry England Westonbirt, The National Arboretum, encouraging diversity and inclusivity.
The two-year partnership will support planting of 9,000 trees incorporating a diverse range of species.
It will also enable Silk Wood to contain new physical interpretation, delivering a series of both artist and educational workshops. Multiple groups will be involved in carrying out ongoing work onsite, from tree planting, mulching, ground clearance, and providing aftercare, to conducting flora and fauna surveys as well as tree monitoring.
It is anticipated that the project will lead to improvement of the woodland habitat, while enabling more people to actively connect with nature and heritage by identifying and removing barriers to engagement.
The Julia Rausing Trust is a prestigious charitable fund that gives away £100 million each year to UK charities and organisations.
Relaunched this year to honour the late philanthropist Julia Rausing, the funder does not accept unsolicited applications and invites organisations that align with the aims of the programme to apply.
Emma Griffiths, CEO, The Friends said: “We are over the moon and beyond grateful to The Julia Rausing Trust for partnering with us and offering this significant award which will result in the delivery of such an important project at Westonbirt Arboretum.
“The Silk Wood project is all about inclusion and community; it would be easy to simply bring in contractors to ‘put things right,’ but instead the heart of SWCPP focusses on young people, those from disadvantaged backgrounds, and those with physical and neurodiverse conditions, across a broad range of ethnicities.
“This means that the arboretum’s beautiful newly restored woodland is designed, planted, managed, monitored and cared for, now and in the future, by Westonbirt Arboretum teams, community groups, schools and other volunteers.
“Beyond vital reforestation, the innovative engagement plan, devised through a series of consultation, participation events, and interpretation activities will help more than 2,000 people make personal connections with nature, building skills and creating treasured memories.
“This restored woodland will provide an accessible space for people to enjoy the wellbeing benefits of connecting with nature and the natural heritage.
“We hope that through having participated in the project, people will get to fully understand Silk Wood’s heritage.
“As a result, we hope to see an increased interest in voluntary work at Westonbirt, which is pivotal to operations and creates a rewarding experience for all.”
Andrew Smith, director of Westonbirt Arboretum said: “I’m delighted with the success of the first year of the Silk Wood Community Planting project.
“We’ve already planted 3,800 trees, so far restoring 6 acres of ancient woodland that had been devasted by ash dieback. Nearly 1,000 people from community and specialist groups have been involved in the planting, providing new opportunities for those people to access nature and forging partnerships for the future.
“This wouldn’t have been possible without the support of The Friends charity and their success in raising the necessary funds for us to be able to embark on such an ambitious project.
“I am extremely grateful for the grant from The Julia Rausing Trust, which will allow us to see the current project through to conclusion in 2026.”
The Friends of Westonbirt Arboretum is a registered charity that supports Westonbirt Arboretum in its mission to protect trees and enrich lives.
For more information, visit: www.fowa.org.uk.
This vital project has been made possible thanks to the generous support from the Julia Rausing Trust, alongside funding from The National Lottery Heritage Fund, The John Horseman Trust, Swire Charitable Trust, the Summerfield Charitable Trust, Garfield Weston Foundation, The D’Oyly Carte Charitable Trust, Miller Knoll Foundation, and Gloucestershire County Council.
The story above is a press release sent to Raikes on 6 December 2024.
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