A third of all the work we do is made possible by gifts in wills. Lucy and Andy, who have been Woodland Trust members since the early 1980s, share their passion for Nidd Gorge and the vital work their woodland legacy will support.
Video length: 00:03:02
Andy: I think I've always been interested in trees. I certainly remember cycling about in the Kent countryside and you always ended up going to a wood, to explore in a wood, and I always found them quite fascinating, like secret places. So yeah, I suppose I was always interested anyway.
Lucy: Hello, I'm Lucy and this is my husband, Andy, and we've been members of the Woodland Trust since the early 1980s.
Andy: Besides being a member, I started volunteering with the local Nidderdale group, Conservation Volunteers. And then the Woodland Trust set up a little group here and I started volunteering doing practical conservation work actually in Nidd Gorge, which was great.
Lucy: So I volunteer as well. I'm what's called an event volunteer. So, I volunteer at, I volunteered at the Great Yorkshire Show, at Countryfile Live and several other events. So, and I give away trees to people and it's fantastic because you get to talk to people about the trees and they're always really interested. They want to know where they can plant it and that sort of thing. I also do volunteer-led guided walks both here at Nidd Gorge and at Hackfall.
Lucy: So if I was encouraging somebody to leave a donation to the Woodland Trust in their will, I think I'd tell them just what an amazing organisation they are. They protect the trees, they create new woodlands, they restore ancient woodlands. And it's just, you know, this is what we need. The woods are so important to us. You know, there's climate change, you know, rushing up against us, and the woods are what we need to mitigate some of that.
Andy: I hope the legacy gift that I'll be giving is going to help not only plant more trees but look after the trees they've planted, and in the future we'll see much more woodland for everyone to enjoy.
Lucy: Leaving it to the Woodland Trust just seemed the right thing to do. The organisation is just so important. They're doing so much important work that it was just the natural thing to do. Do you agree?
Andy: Yeah, I think you're right. As you say it just does feel natural to, it's something we all, we've believed in all our lives, so it may as well carry on.
Lucy: Yeah.
A third of all the work we do is made possible by gifts in wills, no matter how small. Help us do even more by leaving a woodland legacy which will restore woods to health, protect trees from destruction and create thriving new wild places for people and wildlife.
Leave a gift in your will
