Friends of Tarvin Woodland

STO Form Friends of Tarvin Woodland

We scarcely need to remind villagers of the huge benefit derived from Tarvin Community Woodland by the whole community (especially over the pandemic) – but our woodland requires a good deal of maintenance. Thankfully, much of this is done by our wonderful volunteers but the Trust must also spend out to provide them with the appropriate safety gear and tools with which to work. Sometimes, money has to be spent repairing fences and gates or doing expensive safety work on trees (for which a qualified arboriculturist must be employed.) Without this, the woodland would degenerate into a wild and possibly unsafe area – an unthinkable prospect, I'm sure you would agree.

Tarvin Woodland is financed entirely by the people of Tarvin. The insurance and some running costs are covered by a £1,000 grant provided by the Parish Council (which comes from your Council Tax). The remainder must be met by fund-raising and by donations from kind Tarvin folk. Our aim is to have a woodland which costs around £2,500 to £3,000 each year.

So, fundraising is something with which the Woodland Trustees must concern themselves each year. The annual Plant Sale has generated a large portion of these funds over the years but, the two incredible ladies who grew the bulk of the plants have now retired and alternative sources of funds must be sought. The plant sale will continue (perhaps on a reduced scale unless our recent appeal for plants proves very fruitful) and there are plans afoot to organise "Tarvin's Woodland Runs" in the Autumn.

However, there is another possibility. We regularly hear from local people who ask how they can help us to fund the running of the woodland and up to now, there has been no official scheme whereby this can be done. We have decided to try an experiment – we are going to introduce a scheme called the. "Friends of Tarvin Community Woodland".

Becoming one of the "Friends" is easy – it involves you donating a gift of money that can be used to help to run the woodland. Gifts to the Trust can be large or small – all donations of whatever value are really useful. Attached to this article you will find a pro-forma which will enable you to instruct your bank to make regular donations directly to the Trust by Standing Order. Singly fill in your own name and address, the name and address of your bank, together with your bank account number and sort code, the sum you wish to donate and how often you wish to make this donation. Once completed and signed, this form must be sent directly to our treasurer, John Daines, who will send your form off to your bank for you once he has noted and securely stored the necessary details.

These details are particularly important because they will enable us to say "thank you" to those who have been kind enough to donate to the Trust. In the case of a regular gift, the donor automatically becomes a "Friend of Tarvin Woodland" and it is particularly important that, as such, we are able to keep you up to date with what is happening in the woodland.

Our intention is to keep the business of becoming a Friend of the Woodland a really simple process.

If we are to manage our woodland properly, the Trust really needs to be able to rely on a dependable income. By becoming a Woodland Friend, you can really help us to look after and develop our lovely woodland. If it is to be maintained well, we all need to do our part. We hope that becoming a 'Friend' will involve a minimum of effort and will play a large part in helping us to care for our lovely woodland in the way that it deserves.

To everyone who becomes a "Friend of Tarvin Woodland", we all say a most sincere "Thank you"!

Ed – This article is published with the permission of the Tarvin Woodland Trust and is an edited version of an article in the Tarvin Woodland Trust Newsletter.