On 10 October 2012 we celebrate our 40th Anniversary and we want to say a very special thank you to all of our supporters for their generous contribution and personal commitment to our cause over the years. It is only due to the patronage of people like you that we are able to continue with the work we do.
Over the past forty years, our combined efforts to acquire, protect and restore ancient woodland have been a triumphant testimony to the beliefs and determination of our founder Kenneth Watkins. Today we own more than 1,200 woods across the UK, covering over 23,000 hectares (50,000 acres), all of which are freely open for everyone to enjoy. We have planted over 16 million trees, 3.2 million of them by children, and become the UK’s leading woodland conservation charity. Moreover, we campaign not just for woods for wildlife, but for the values that woodland brings to people’s lives. We couldn’t have done this without your great support.
About our founder
The Woodland Trust’s founder was retired farmer and agricultural machinery producer Kenneth Watkins. Already in his 70s when he set up the Trust with three friends and his wife Mary, Ken was concerned about the rapidly disappearing small broadleaved woods, spinneys and copses cleared in the drive to modernise agriculture and increase production during the last century, or planted with non-native conifers.
None of this important, landscape-changing work would have been possible without your generosity.
Please continue to support us as we begin our next chapter.