With the support of our amazing volunteers, we planted multiple new woodlands during this year's National Tree Week.

Despite Storm Bert providing some challenging weather, 82 brave volunteers helped plant 1600 whips at The Closes in Hillingdon on the 23rd of November.

At our 30th anniversary celebration event on November 30th in Ashburton Playing Fields, 180 volunteers joined us to plant 3615 whips, creating a new woodland for the nearby bird sanctuary. It was a mild, dry day - perfect planting weather, and the sun even came out near the end!

The Carribé Steel Band kept up the high spirits with festive tunes, and the Roaming Trees provided tree-mendous entertainment throughout the day. The Museum of Memorable Trees, an immersive art installation exploring the deep connections people have with trees, provided an informative break in between planting, and attendees could get their face painted by the talented ABC Face Paints. We were also joined by our partner in improving accessibility to nature in the Collective Climate Repair project, The Sensory Trust, and St Christopher’s Hospice who set up a community memorial tree in the park at our last planting event.

Our Planting Healthy Air project at Town Farm Primary School was featured in the Bupa Foundation's latest documentary, Healthy Cities, highlighting initiatives that are working to make cities greener and healthier places to live. The documentary not only aims to educate about the health issues we face today due to our built-up environments, but to also give a feeling of hope - change is happening!

In Birmingham, we funded 65 trees as part of the Benjamin Zephaniah Forest, each tree to represent a year of Benjamin's amazing life as an activist, writer and poet, whose love for nature has left an impactful legacy.

We hosted several school workshops throughout the week, including whip planting sessions with local schoolchildren in Croydon. At Millbank Gardens Primary Academy in London, our build team established a new Healthy Playground for over 400 students to enjoy.

A record-breaking Big Give

Not quite within National Tree Week - but still a cause for celebration - thanks to our amazing donors and match-funding from the Big Give Christmas Challenge, we raised £91,868! That’s the equivalent of planting 15,311 trees in parks, streets, and playgrounds in towns and cities across the UK.

This is a record amount raised for a Trees for Cities campaign and we couldn’t have done it without our Trees for Cities community. Whether you donated, liked a post on social media, or spread the word among your networks – you made a difference.

Looking ahead

The 30th anniversary celebrations may be over, but the partying (and planting!) continues on. We'll be back in January with more volunteer events for you to take part in, so sign up to our mailing list to be the first to hear about opportunities near you.