^the Eternal Forest Trust ^ltd

Charity No. 1110801

Connecting the Cycles of Life

Getting Involved

The Eternal Forest Trust depends on volunteers.  We have no staff and nobody gets paid.  The work gets done by a small group of Charity Trustees, and important others who help maintain the woodland and keep the office running. 

Trees need more people to get involved.

The planet is getting short of trees, particularly mature trees.  The only way to remedy this is to plant more trees now and protect them into natural old age.  For too long, humans have seen trees as commodities, things we can carelessly exploit.  Both the trees and we are suffering the stresses of the modern world, but by coming together we can alleviate this.

The Eternal Forest Trust believes that we can help each other.  By restoring our relationship with trees, and acting in our mutual interests, we can help to heal the environment for the benefit of all life.  

Practical Involvement

There are many different ways you can work with us and help to further our objectives.  If you live locally, or visit the Llŷn frequently, you might enjoy working in the woods.  There’s always plenty to do: it’s like having a huge garden. 

It’s great fun doing the work in the open air, surrounded by birdsong.  All those who do it, feel better for doing so.

We always need people to help keep the paths open, because brambles and other plants are constantly trying to take them over.  You could join the bramble-pullers – leather gauntlets are provided to protect hands and arms.  Clearing brambles by hand can be surprisingly satisfying.

If you like working with wood, you could make bird-boxes and bat-boxes to hang in the trees.  Or, if you are a skilled wood-worker and you want to make something on a larger scale, you might consider turning some of our unwanted trees into seats, so that elderly or disabled people – indeed, anyone who wishes – can rest in the wood. 

Perhaps you’d like to use the wood as a green gym.  If so, you can choose physically demanding work, like taking out tree roots with a mattock. 

There are trees to be potted, hedges to be planted, ground to be cleared, containers to be painted – plenty of work, all kinds of work, for people of all abilities. 

We meet officially to work in the wood on the last Sunday of every month, and share well-deserved vegan/organic apple pie and coffee in the afternoon.  But some of us work in the wood as often as we can, in between Apple Pie Sundays.  If you’d like to join in, please ring Bella on 01758 612006. 

For those who want to become involved in other ways, there will be increasing opportunities as the charity evolves.  Check out Woodland Services to discover more. 

You can get involved in other ways, of course.  As well as volunteers to do the work, we need money to keep the charity running. 

And we need money to expand, buy more land and plant more trees!

Do we have to tell you why this is important?   We’re sure you know that, as well as being beautiful and providing shelter, trees soak up carbon from the atmosphere, improve the air and the soil, encourage plant and animal life, and ultimately make human life possible.  It is too easy to forget how necessary they are.

            You can help in any of these ways –

• Give a casual donation, or a series of casual donations if you like.
• Join the Friends of the Eternal Forest for £50 a year.  For this you will receive all our publications and news, plus a special yearly report, and an invitation to our Midsummer Picnic with music and singing in the woods.
• Dedicate a special tree or part of the forest to yourself or your family, as a gift to someone, to celebrate a special life event, or in memory of someone who was important to you.
• Join our unique ‘Pay Now, Die Later’ scheme.  For around £10 a month you can, if you wish, choose the place where you would like to spend eternity.
• You can of course make a larger donation to pre-book your woodland burial.
• Bequests.  Whether you would like to use our woodland services or not, making a specific bequest in your will is one of the most significant ways you can help the work of the Eternal Forest Trust.

Remember, if you pay income tax, the government will add to your donation – all you have to do is confirm on the form that you are a UK taxpayer.   

Why should you give us your donation, there are many others, aren’t there?  Simply because we are brilliant!  Everything we do – from fencing, planting trees, and woodland management, to planning for the future, is done to the highest possible standards – just look at this website as an example. 

Also, we have used non-intrusive technology to plot every square metre of the wood and relate this to the Ordnance Survey grid.  If required, we can plot every tree!   If you dedicate a particular tree, you will receive a Certificate of Dedication giving the map co-ordinates, an A4 map marking this location, and a photograph of the actual tree.  You will also receive our contract for its preservation.  See Woodland Services to find out more.

To make a donation, click here to access the donation form.

To access the standing order form, click here.