To say thank you to our extensive army of volunteers, the Woodland Trust has established a volunteer award to recognise and reward many of our most loyal volunteers, some of whom have been giving us their time free for several years.
Volunteers are nominated for the award by Woodland Trust staff, and then a panel decides on the winners.
The 2011 winners have been announced! Details below...
The Overall Winner is...
Colonel Frank Hewitt
Frank has worked tirelessly for over 12 years, galvanising Cadets and in particular army cadets, to provide manpower and resources for every public planting event that we are involved with both on our own land and that of others.
Frank steered the celebration of Cadet 150 (150 years for the Cadet movement) at which the Queen is the head. The aim was to plant 150,000 trees as part of the celebrations. This has been achieved and exceeded.
Our Head of Regional Development, Laura Judson, says:
‘It has been a real pleasure working with Frank over the last decade and I very much hope his work and passion for the Woodland Trust will continue. He has overcome all issues that have been put in his path and been a fantastic supporter and advocate of the Woodland Trust and of woodland creation. He is simply fantastic’.
...and the rest...
Kathy Hughes for the North of England: Kathy is volunteer leader of the Murdishaw Nature Detectives Club and continually goes the extra mile to inspire and encourage families and young people to enjoy activities in the woods.
Steve Cook for the Central Region of England: Steve’s knowledge and experience has been priceless and he has volunteered his services for two years almost full time at head office to help with project Excalibur.
John Harvey for the South East of England: John is a credit to our Volunteer Speaker Scheme and has been a great ambassador for the Trust in his area over the past year. For several years he has forged links with a local business and this has resulted in them sponsoring equipment for him to use for his talks.
Russell Harding and Mary Harvey for the South West of England: Russell and Mary have instigated a dry stone walling repair project at Frank’s Wood in Wiltshire. They have organised and led other volunteers on site, fundraised and without them the project would not have happened.
Jim and Jo Monahan for Scotland: Jim and Jo Monahan have been volunteer wardens at Ledmore and Migdale Woods for several years and despite very busy lives they always have time to give to planning and implementing work and events in the woods. They have a wealth of experience and knowledge between them in education, art, environmental issues, sustainable building and most importantly inspiring others to enjoy the woods to the full.
Sandy Montgomery for Northern Ireland: Sandy is a volunteer warden and has taken on ownership of three of our woods in the Faughan Valley. Sandy is an outstanding volunteer, who always carries out all of the tasks that are asked of him and always goes the extra mile.
Jon Parsons for the Speaker Award: Jon has been an absolutely fantastic member of the Volunteer Speaker Scheme. Jon’s passion for ancient trees is so evident in the talks he has given and has really motivated his audiences to do something positive for woods and trees.
Howard Leader for the Ancient Tree Hunt Award: Howard has consistently recorded and verified many trees for the Ancient Tree Hunt project. With his passion he has helped to train other new verifiers who have joined us and is an inspirational person.
Peter Holmes for the Photography Award: Peter is a fantastic example of a great photographer and submits fantastic photos, time and time again. All aspects of photography are covered and all with very high standards.
Brookings Down Wood for the Group Award: The group have a wealth of enthusiasm to not only secure the future of Brookings Down Wood, but also to turn around the poor conservation and amenity values of the wood into a real gem.
Paul Woodhouse for the Local Media Award: Paul has achieved great media coverage in Norfolk for the Woodland Trust and is a perfect example of how a local media volunteer can support our work.
Ann Marshall for the WoodWatch Award: Ann has been volunteering with the Trust for over 12 months and assists the Woods under Threat team by monitoring planning applications and identifying applications that impact on ancient woodland. She is very enthusiastic and cares deeply about protecting woods and trees.
Stephen Middleton for the VisitWoods Award: As one of our most active WebGuides Stephen is responsible for exploring, photographing, and describing his local woods to inspire other visitors. By visiting and publicising almost 100 woods over the last year he’s made a major contribution to inspiring more people to visit and value woods across the South East.
Find out more about our volunteers and our volunteering opportunities.