Congratulations to Brian Palmer, a retired Leadership Development and Programme Manager from Llandderfel near Bala in North Wales, who has landed the prestigious Woodland Trust Chairman’s Award, made annually to recognise outstanding voluntary work in support of the Woodland Trust’s work.
Brian has volunteered for the Trust (Coed Cadw) over the last eight years in a huge variety of roles. He is a voluntary speaker, going out to tell local groups about the importance of restoring the small areas of ancient woodland that still remain, as part of the project funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund. But he has also branched out to organise seed collection at woodland sites for the Millennium Seed Bank in Kew. He also leads guided walks in woods for groups and families, represents the charity at shows and events, sits on the charity’s Wales Advisory Group and, to top it all, regularly collects water samples at the Trust’s Cwm Mynach site in North Wales to monitor of the effects of acid rain.
“I’d certainly recommend it to other people”, says Brian. “It gets me out in the fresh air in some wonderful locations and I love the opportunity it gives me to do something positive for the environment. More than that, the reaction you can get when you explain the importance of ancient woodland can be inspiring. In some cases I’ve managed to identify landowners who have subsequently gone on to restore ancient woodland that they own. That’s really rewarding.”
Brian was presented with the award at a special ceremony by our Chair, Baroness Barbara Young. We’ve been working with volunteers for over 40 years and offer volunteering positions which range from green-fingered woodland working group members, to tree health recorders and woodland creation champions. Anyone keen to get involved can check out the opportunities on our volunteering pages.
