News, Events

Woodland Heritage to launch Founders Appeal at RHS Chelsea Flower Show

Gaze Burvill are proud to be supporting Woodland Heritage’s Founders Appeal, aiming to raise £250,000 in aid of British Woodland, on Monday 23 May at RHS Chelsea Flower Show Press Day. The launch will take place in the morning on the Gaze Burvill stand, where they are set to be joined Geraint Richards, Head Forester for the Duchy of Cornwall, Tony Kirkham, Ex Head of Arboretum at Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Dermot Doyle of Whitney Sawsmill and a special guest (to be revealed!) who will be bestowed with a special 100-year-old Herefordshire oak timber round carved with key dates from her life and career on behalf of Woodland Heritage.

Founded in 1994 by Peter Goodwin and Lewis Scott, Woodland Heritage quickly secured the backing of a group of traditional cabinet makers, who collectively wanted to improve the way in which trees were grown, maintained and harvested in the UK. The Founders Appeal aims to continue their legacy by bringing British woodlands back into management, improving the economics of harvesting and educating the wider public on the benefits of sustainable woodland management and silviculture.

As the second largest importer of timber in the world, there is a great opportunity in the UK to support the management of British Woodlands to develop the production of high-quality classic hardwoods that can be used to create furniture and other beautiful objects. Doing so helps us to lock in the trees’ absorbed carbon long term in the wood products created, and so help us in the battle against climate change.

Over the last few years Woodland Heritage has already accomplished many milestones, including the acquisition of Whitney Sawmills in Herefordshire and an 85-acre landholding ‘James Wood’ in Somerset, creating a woodland workshop to educate and help over 300 UK tree growers as well as backing a number of research projects. With your generous support the Woodland Heritage can achieve their ambitions for 2022, which include:

Developing Whitney Sawmills to enable more people to learn about forestry and woodworking
Introducing more people to woodworking through events, internships and work experience
Developing the charity’s research and demonstration capabilities to help tackle some of the challenges facing UK forestry

We will be supporting Woodland Heritage with a 10k ‘Tread for Timber’ on 17 June. Having raised £2,500 last year, we have set ourselves the lofty target of raising £10,000. A new route has been devised for participants to either run or walk a history trail of Gaze Burvill in glorious Hampshire countryside.