Today Woodland Heritage announces a £238,442 grant from The National Lottery Heritage Fund to create ‘Woodland Heritage Skills’; two years of educational workshops, digital educational assets and collaboration with its members and partners to deliver the charity’s new Open Woods & Workshops initiative.
A tremendous £13,547 of this grant is matched funding from the outdoor furniture B-Corp Gaze Burvill, a corporate member of Woodland Heritage, alongside fellow personal and corporate members of the charity.
Thanks to National Lottery players
Woodland Heritage is creating a thriving UK wood culture that benefits our environment, all people and our economy. It champions the good use of home-grown timber from sustainable, productive woodlands for the benefit of present and future generations.
Its Chief Executive, John Orchard said: “I am filled with gratitude to National Lottery players, The National Lottery Heritage Fund and our generous matched funders and supporters for this tremendous news. On behalf of the charity’s staff, trustees, members and our stakeholders I share my deepest thanks.”
“I also thank those hundreds and hundreds of members, host teams and visitors that made the Open Woods & Workshops trial in 2025 a huge success. Your eagerness to share the value of growing trees and using wood for our future helped bring this all about.
“We’re excited to get to work on Woodland Heritage Skills!”
Although the importance of planting trees and protecting ancient woodlands has been communicated and is accepted by many, the importance of growing trees and using our homegrown timber is less well understood. This presents a significant challenge to our response to climate change as the UK is the second largest net importer of forest products in the world(1) while at the same time, huge areas of its woodlands lie unmanaged(2).
The charity’s volunteer trustees added their thanks for the support of the Woodland Heritage Skills project and shared their excitement for what it can achieve:
"We are all extremely grateful for the generosity of The National Lottery Heritage Fund towards an exciting, innovative project which will have real impact and recognises the true importance of Woodland Heritage Skills." said Clare O’Reilly, Co-Chair of Trustees.
“This is a fantastic project to grow sustainable forestry and timber processing skills which are much needed across the UK. Woodland Heritage looks forward to delivering a truly ambitious project that makes a difference to the future of woodlands and woodworking across the country.” said Huw Davies, FICFor, Co-Chair of Trustees.
"Woodland Heritage creates awareness of the benefits of growing trees and using wood. This awareness is best created through direct experience. This money and resource will enable the Woodland Heritage Skills project to create hundreds of hours of diverse experience and awareness for future generations throughout the UK.” Alex Mowat, Trustee.
"As a founder member and then Trustee of Woodland Heritage and former Chair, I would like to pay tribute to everyone who has contributed to this significant milestone in the charity's history. This is the result of a collective effort, stretching back over three decades, to signify the importance of Wood Culture to all our futures. We can all be very excited about the opportunity that Woodland Heritage Skills creates to deliver this message in an active and inspiring way, in particular to young people who hold the future in their hands". Simon Burvill, Trustee
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