Hi, my name is Paul Kemsley and I am one of two of us who help run an informal conservation group in and around Goostrey. I started the group with the aim of improving and conserving wildlife locally, but also, as a Scout Leader, with the aim of involving and engaging young people in the work. One of the biggest anxieties for young people is that they feel powerless in the face of climate change and loss of biodiversity, I hoped to help with that.

We have been running since 2017 and our main activities have been every autumn running hedge/woodland/tree planting days in the local area.

Some of these days have been open to the whole community and others, I have just invited local Scout or Guide groups. We have generally planted on private agricultural land with an emphasis on places adjacent to public footpaths. Our plants have been provided by The Tree Council, TCV and the Woodland Trust. We have also, on occasion, received some charitable donations. Some of the days have been better attended than others, but overall, I would estimate that we have had some 300 different individuals come to one or more event.

The biggest success for me has been the feedback we get from the children, I have a number who came on the first day back in 2017 who regularly go back and look after ‘their tree’. The boost for wildlife and the foraging larder for humans from the orchard planting is only really just getting going now as the plants mature, however I did find a wren’s nest in the fork of one of the hawthorns we planted back in 2017.

I would say the main challenges have been livestock browsing (we are in a dairy farming area) and finding help with any additional costs outside of the supply of trees and hedge plants (for instance fencing). On the whole landowners, local people and volunteers have all been very receptive. We have work planned for the coming year and would like to ‘branch’ out into pond restoration as well.