Arboriculturists can now give a little back

I’m proud to be a founding trustee of charity Fund4Trees. Its work supports urban tree research and the dissemination of arboricultural best-practice.

At the end of May the trustees of Fund4Trees will be cycling over 200 miles, from London to Paris, to promote the charity’s work. It’s a daunting personal challenge but one I’m looking forward to. Seeing a ‘proper’ cycling jersey was in production finally spurred me into action; I realised my fellow trustees were taking this seriously! Over the last few weeks I’ve been trying to fit in training rides totalling up to 100 miles a week around a busy work schedule, with an occasional 50-80 mile ride thrown in for good measure during weekends. I’ve discovered so many new country lanes and stunning views (and steep hills) in the Chilterns.

The ride is not a fundraising activity in itself but we are undertaking the challenge to raise the profile of two regular giving schemes aimed at professional arboriculturists. The schemes are Donate1Job and Donate1Hour. If you work in the industry, please do take a look at these. A regular small donation could make a real difference to our charitable work.

On the ride the trustees will be joined by representatives of national tree professional bodies. We will deliver a French translation of Tree Design Action Group’s (TDAG) latest document Trees in Hard Landscapes: A Guide for Delivery to the 99th French Mayors Congress on 31st May. The translation into French was commissioned from TDAG by Val’hor because the organisation was so impressed by the document, which illustrates best practice techniques in regard to trees and the installation of urban infrastructure projects within France and the UK.

I plan to post some pictures and further news about the ride once my legs recover. You can read more about the ride on the Fund4Trees blog.