Contents
- Back Garden Forest Dates
- Free Squashbox Theatre Events
- 5 Year Celebration
- Orchard Management Workshops
- Celebration for Camborne Trees for Streets Project
- Back Garden Forest Free Tree Giveaways
- Winners at the Cornwall Sustainability Awards 2024
- One Million Trees
- Spotlight on agroforestry
- Community Tree Nurseries
- Latest community projects
- Our newsletters
Have a look at our Summer Newsletter 2025 for the latest news and upcoming events and workshops
You can now watch all of our videos on our YouTube Playlist. Find out more about the projects we have helped to get trees in the ground and how we can support you.
Dates for this winter's Back Garden Forest FREE Tree Giveaways Announced
- Callington: Saturday 4th October 2025, 10am-12.30pm, Callington Honey Fair, PL17 7BE
- Torpoint: Thursday 30th October 2025, 2pm-4pm, Torpoint Library, PL11 2AG
- Helston: Saturday 1st November 2025, 9.30am-12.30pm, The Old Cattle Market, TR13 0SR
- Tintagel: Saturday 15th November 2025, 10.30am-12.30pm, Tintagel Visitor Centre, PL34 0AJ
- Newquay: Saturday 22nd November 2025, 10.30am-12.30pm, Newquay Football Club, TR7 2BU
- Camborne: Saturday 29th November 2025, 10am-12pm, Camborne Library, TR14 8HA
- Penzance: Saturday 17th January 2026, 10.30am-12.30pm, St Johns Hall, TR18 2QW
- Perranporth & St.Agnes: Saturday 24th January 2026, 10.30am-12.30pm, Perranporth Library, TR6 0EP
- Bodmin: Saturday 31st January 2026, 10.30am-12.30pm, Shire House Suite, PL31 2DQ
- Redruth: Saturday 14th February 2026, 10.30am-12.30pm, Market Way and Redruth Library, TR15 2AU
- Truro: Saturday 21st February 2026, 10.30am-12.30pm, Truro Library, TR1 1EP
- St. Austell: Saturday 28th February 2026, 10.30am-12.30pm, St Austell Library, PL25 4LD
Come along to collect a free tree for your garden. There is a choice of six species, and you will be given information to help your tree grow. Bring a bag to take your tree home!
Free Squashbox Theatre Events!
- Newquay: Monday 1st September, 11.00am-12.00pm. The Killacourt, Newquay (no booking required). This is an outdoor event. Please dress for the weather and bring a cushion or blanket to sit on.
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Camborne: Saturday 27th September, 10.30am-11.30pm. Council Chamber, The Passmore Edwards Building, Camborne (Eventbrite booking required)
These celebrate how the local community have got involved to plant trees in their streets and gardens.
Celebrating 5 Years of Forest for Cornwall
The team are celebrating 5 years of fantastic work across Cornwall. Over 1.6 million trees have now been planted in 971 projects. There are many more in the pipeline for this winter. Have a look at our latest Summer Newsletter for more details.
Orchard Management Workshops
In early spring the team held three workshops in the east, west and central Cornwall. These were all fully subscribed and had fantastic feedback from the attendees. We are planning to hold a summer pruning workshop for stone fruit trees, and also three more orchard management workshops in the winter. Please get in contact if you would like to go on the mailing list. We will also be sharing these dates on our website and social media.
Celebration for Camborne's Trees for Streets Project
Eighty residents of Camborne have volunteered to plant a tree in their front garden or to look after a street tree. This is as part of the Trees for Streets project. Trees for Streets is a national project that aims to get more trees in our towns and cities. Forest for Cornwall have partnered with the organisation and Camborne Town Council. Together we are running a pilot project in Camborne where there are very few street trees. Our project officer Alex Forrester organised a celebration evening to hand out the trees. We also provided useful advice on planting and establishing them well. We were also joined by Cllr. Martyn Alvey and members of Camborne Town Council who shared the important work that is going on across Cornwall and in the town.
Back Garden Forest Free Tree Giveaways
Four Fantastic Winners at the Cornwall Sustainability Awards 2024
To date, Forest for Cornwall has planted two trees for every resident in Cornwall. A remarkable achievement driven by the hundreds of people who have got involved. These include:
- volunteers
- schools
- farmers
- landholders
- communities
- businesses
We celebrate this with our award category Trees for Nature and Growth (sponsored by Defra). This puts a spotlight on projects that have made the most inspiring contribution to increasing tree numbers in Cornwall. We've had applications from a huge range of projects of all sizes from across the region. As usual the choice was very tough for the judges to make!
The Cornwall Sustainability Awards ceremony was celebrated on Friday 6th December. It was held at the National Maritime Museum.
This years worthy winners are:
- Farmers and Landholders:
- Winner: Philleigh Way Wood
- Highly commended: Rosuick Farm
- Community & Urban:
- Winner: Plant One
- Highly commended: Women's Institute Climate Ambassadors
Congratulations from all of us for your incredibly hard work, engagement and innovation. It has made a major contribution to increasing tree canopy across Cornwall. Thank you also to all the brilliant applicants for this awards.
National Tree Week 2024 Events
For National Tree Week (23rd November - 1st December) we've celebrated with some fantastic events. These were organised by the Forest for Cornwall team and our partners. National Tree Week (NTW) is an annual event organised by the Tree Council. It highlights the importance of trees and their multiple benefits.
This year we are continuing with our Back Garden Forest tree giveaways. (This is supported by Morgan Sindall). Each resident could collect a free tree from a choice of native species. These include:
- spindle
- rowan
- whitebeam
- hazel
- crab-apple
- dogwood
Following positive public consultation, the first of this year’s Urban Tree Challenge Fund street trees were also planted. These were in Newquay in St. Aubyn Crescent and Whitegate Road.
Your local library also took part with tree themed displays and interactive materials. These were to spark the interest for all ages in the wonderful world of trees. Camelford, St. Austell, Wadebridge, St. Ives and Falmouth libraries also held tree giveaways. Over 15,000 trees were collected by you. Libraries are also being offered the opportunity to plant a Knowledge Tree in their garden.
Twenty Women's Institutes from across Cornwall are planting 45 celebratory trees. These may be at their hall or in the local neighbourhood. These plantings took place during NTW and will commemorate local people or events.
One Million Trees!
A huge THANK YOU to everyone who has contributed to planting the Forest for Cornwall. This has now reached an incredible milestone of one million trees!
The forest now spans approximately 1,000 hectares, covering:
- woodlands
- parks
- community spaces
- gardens
- farms
This is not only increasing nature for our residents. It is also playing a crucial role in absorbing CO2 emissions to help slow climate change.
This photo shows Stithians Primary School helping us celebrate in their newly planted mini forest.
Spotlight on agroforestry
This winter has seen the planting of over 50 hectares of agroforestry projects. These combine tree planting with current farming production. It can be combined with both crops and livestock. It brings many benefits including:
- shade
- shelter
- soil enhancement
- alternative crops
- flood prevention
At the end of March the team held a very popular agroforestry workshop at Rosuick Farm on the Lizard. This is the site for one of the agroforestry pilot projects which is being funded by Defra's Nature for Climate Fund. Many local farmers and producers joined us for the day. It included informative talks from:
- local agroforestry practitioners
- the national leads in agroforestry from the Forestry Commission and Environment Agency
Find out more about the brilliant work of the Community Tree Nurseries
We've captured some of the work of the community tree nurseries that are being supported with the help of the Woodland Trust Emergency Tree Fund. These nurseries are growing trees from locally collected seed with the help of volunteers and community groups. Have a look at these videos to learn more about the work at Bolghen Community Tree Nursery and Kehelland Trust.
Latest Community Projects
Forest for Cornwall has been supporting local communities to plant trees in a variety of different ways. This has been done through the Woodland Trust funded 'Forest for My Place' project. These two new case study videos show the great work that has been happening: