South Yorkshire plays part in record-breaking tree send-out

A total of 289 schools and community groups across the region, including in Sheffield and Doncaster, took delivery of their trees from the end of February to March 11, with the next round of applications back open for business on Monday, April 4.

In South Yorkshire 9,765 trees have been sent to 58 organisations.

Woodland Trust senior project lead Vicki Baddeley said: “We strongly believe everyone should have the opportunity to plant a tree, and our spring planters are really showing us how it's done.“We're seeing such a wide range of motivations for communities to take the simple, positive action to plant trees. They're getting their hands dirty to combat climate change, support local wildlife, green up their local spaces, boost their wellbeing, and celebrate the Queen's Jubilee to name but a few.”The trees were sent out as part of the Woodland Trust’s Big Climate Fightback where the UK’s largest woodland conservation charity encourages people to plant trees at events, at home and with their school or community to help fight climate change and create new havens for wildlife.A total of 3,865 schools and community groups received packs and will be joining the fight by sharing their tree planting stories and photos with us on social media using #BigClimateFightback.The tree packs have been funded by lead partners: Sainsbury's, Lloyds Bank, OVO Energy, DFS, Joules, Bank of Scotland and Sofology.Vicki added: “We couldn't do this without the generosity of our funders so our thanks go out to each of them for their vital support. We would advise any interested groups to apply sooner rather than later to secure their saplings.“The appetite to plant trees is clearly growing as demand for our free trees scheme has never been stronger, so we can't wait to open applications again on April 4, when we'll have a further 700,000 trees available for planting in the autumn.”

The Woodland Trust is giving away hundreds of thousands of trees to schools and communities to make sure everybody in the UK has the chance to plant a tree.To apply, or see terms and conditions, visit: www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/freetrees