Thanet benefits from 1,192 new trees and many more to come
Eighteen months ago a local teacher, Luke Evans, had a vision for Thanet: greener open spaces, increased bio-diversity and more trees. He enlisted the help of Colourful Margate, Thanet Community Forest School, Sunken Garden Society, local Councillors and Thanet District Council and then applied for a Forestry Commission Urban Tree Challenge grant for £500,000, little believing he would get it. But he did! Luke recruited Peter Hasted and the Isle of Thanet Trees and Woods Initiative (ITTWI), was born on January 11, 2020.
The Urban Tree Challenge Fund (UTCF) awards payments once the work is done and money has already been spent on planting. But ITTWI had a problem. How to buy the trees and all the kit to start with? Thanet Community Forest School could subsidise some of it, but not all.
Grants and donations were needed to bridge the gap as trees don’t come cheap! The new owners of Manston Airport, RiverOak Strategic Partners (RSP) kindly agreed to help fund the buying of trees for Thanet. They initially donated £20,000, with the promise of more money later. The dream was becoming reality.
The first tree was planted in Dane Park with the help of volunteers and then 99 more. The next phase of planting was 286 trees in one day at Dane Valley Green, by Peter and more than 300 volunteers from the community.
Next came a further 362 trees at the Thanet Community Forest School and six trees at the Sunken Garden at Westgate.
Despite Covid, and when safe to do so, the Spring and Summer 2020 saw the Community out and about again watering the trees with the help of Quex Estates, who helped out with a Water Tanker for Dane Valley Green and Dane Park.
The new planting projects for Autumn/Winter of 2020/21 were disrupted and volunteers were no longer allowed to help. However, since then, Peter and a small team including Karen McKenzie, Tree Warden for Broadstairs & St Peters, have managed to plant 363 more; Tivoli & Hartsdown Park in Margate now enjoys 180 new trees, 50 at Westover Gardens and 50 at George V Avenue. In total, by the end of its first year, Thanet is already benefiting (at the time of writing in March) from 1,192 new trees, with the remaining 68 trees in the Urban Tree Challenge Fund to follow next year. While ITT
WI continues to negotiate with many organisations to continue ‘planting trees for our future’.
A further donation of £15,000 was gratefully received recently from RSP towards the payment for more trees, with the promise of even more in the future. Further grants, sponsors and donations will continue to be vital for the project to continue its life beyond the end of the initial grant from the Forestry Commission. Their aim is to create and stimulate interest from people of all ages and encourage them to become “champions of trees and wildlife” throughout Thanet.
With a new Board who are focused on training, education and employment, it is proposed and hoped that primary and secondary schools will get on board as soon as they can, so that in the future, generations will be keen to appreciate, possibly even own and maintain the trees in their local area and across the whole of Thanet. Planting from seed is one way of getting youngsters to appreciate how things grow and mature. Remember the saying: from tiny acorns the mighty oaks will grow.
If you or your school would be interested in any aspects of the seed growing and/or tree planting projects, or would like to donate, or if you are a local company that can see the benefit of linking to ITTWI, please contact [email protected]. You can also find us on Facebook by searching Isle of Thanet Trees & Woods Initiative.
Written by:
Angela Stevens