Between 1996 and 2001 the Woodland Trust undertook Woods on Your Doorstep - an ambitious and exciting woodland creation initiative which established 250 new community woods throughout England, Wales and Northern Ireland to celebrate the Millennium.
As the name implies, the aim was to plant woods close to where people live – creating an enduring community asset as well as establishing important new places for wildlife.
It was an ambitious vision, which involved working with over a million people and thousands of different partner organisations to plant nearly 3 million trees on approximately 3,000 acres.
Woods on your Doorstep was based on a previous community woodland project called the Cambridgeshire Woodland Fund (CWF). This was a much smaller-scale initiative which enabled local communities in the county to plant new native woods near their homes. Achieved in partnership with Cambridgeshire County and District Councils, this experience gave the Trust the confidence to offer the same opportunity to communities across the UK.
Planting trees was a fitting tribute to the passing Millennium and WoyD became possible thanks to a large funding grant from the Millennium Commission. The project was also generously supported by the Sainsbury Family Charitable Trusts and the Forestry Commission, alongside organisations like Homebase who also helped create a number of woods.
Woods on your Doorstep was a success because local communities were at its heart. Wherever possible, each location was put forward by local people who then helped to fundraise, design and plant the wood. Crowds of 300+ people, all eager to take part in tree planting, was not uncommon!
Each wood also contained a unique millennium feature. Depending on what local people wanted, this could be anything from fruit trees, benches or wooden sculptures to large granite boulders or bronze centrepieces!
Communities also decided upon the name of their wood which often reflected the local history of the area; Fox and Parrot Wood for example was named after the local doctor and his amusing pet bird, whilst Spud Wood used to be a former potato field.
Even the inhabitants of Ambridge, immortalised in Radio 4’s The Archers, established their own WoyD wood – the Aldridge Millennium Wood!