The £190,000 grant by the Julia Rausing Trust has been awarded to the Friends of Westonbirt Arboretum to invest in a planting project involving 9,000 trees by the Silk Wood Community Planting Project (SWCPP).
Silk Wood, which comprises 150 hectares of ancient semi-natural woodland, is a critical part of the arboretum’s ecosystem. The funding allows the SWCPP to restore five hectares of the habitat lost to Chalara ash die-back and help facilitate new audience engagement in nature and the work at the national arboretum. The project has been made possible by support from the National Lottery Heritage Fund and grants from trusts such as The John Horseman Trust, Swire Charitable Trust and the Summerfield Charitable Trust.
The Julia Rausing Trust grant will allow for a diverse range of species to be planted, as well as adding new physical interpretation of the woodland by a series of artist and educational workshops. Multiple groups will be involved in carrying out ongoing work onsite, from tree planting, mulching, ground clearance, and providing aftercare, to conducting flora and fauna surveys, as well as tree monitoring.
The Julia Rausing Trust is a charitable fund, which was relaunched this year to honour the late philanthropist Julia Rausing. In November, the Trust awarded the National Garden Scheme a grant of £1.5 million grant for their Community Garden Grants programme.
Emma Griffiths, CEO, the Friends of Westonbirt says “We are over the moon and beyond grateful to The Julia Rausing Trust for partnering with us and offering this significant award which will result in the delivery of such an important project at Westonbirt Arboretum. The Silk Wood project is all about inclusion and community; it would be easy to simply bring in contractors to ‘put things right,’ but instead the heart of SWCPP focusses on young people, those from disadvantaged backgrounds, and those with physical and neurodiverse conditions, across a broad range of ethnicities. This means that the arboretum’s beautiful newly restored woodland is designed, planted, managed, monitored and cared for, now and in the future, by Westonbirt Arboretum teams, community groups, schools and other volunteers. Beyond vital reforestation, the innovative engagement plan, devised through a series of consultation, participation events, and interpretation activities will help more than 2,000 people make personal connections with nature, building skills and creating treasured memories. This restored woodland will provide an accessible space for people to enjoy the wellbeing benefits of connecting with nature and the natural heritage. We hope that through having participated in the project, people will get to fully understand Silk Wood’s heritage. As a result, we hope to see an increased interest in voluntary work at Westonbirt, which is pivotal to operations and creates a rewarding experience for all.”
Andrew Smith, Director of Westonbirt Arboretum, said “I’m delighted with the success of the first year of the Silk Wood Community Planting project. We’ve already planted 3,800 trees, so far restoring 6 acres of ancient woodland that had been devasted by ash dieback. Nearly 1,000 people from community and specialist groups have been involved in the planting, providing new opportunities for those people to access nature and forging partnerships for the future. This wouldn’t have been possible without the support of The Friends charity and their success in raising the necessary funds for us to be able to embark on such an ambitious project. I am extremely grateful for the grant from The Julia Rausing Trust, which will allow us to see the current project through to conclusion in 2026.”