UPDATE 2nd March 2021: I'm very sad to announce that Avon Needs Trust are unable to go ahead with the purchase of land at Seend. Here's their note:

If anyone would like a refund then please do get in touch via my email address at josimon@weaverswood.co.uk.

UPDATE: buying land can be a tricky business and this week Avon Needs Trees let me know that the purchase process may have hit a snag relating to possible archaeology on the site (I don’t have any details to give at the moment). ANT are working very hard to resolve the issue in such a way that protects all interests. We’ll know more over the coming days and weeks. With this in mind you may want to hold off sponsoring me if you haven’t already - I’ll keep my JustGiving page open after my ‘tree run’ next weekend.

Avon Needs Trees is an excellent charity who work with academic and conservation partners and they will use any of our donations for a similar scheme in our region if the land at Seend is unable to go ahead.

For those who have already sponsored me, thanks you so much! It’s amazing to have made it to £1k. Hopefully the land purchase at Seend will go ahead, but if it doesn’t then I will offer a refund at that time.

I'll be covering the JustGiving processing costs so that 100% of your generous donations will reach Avon Needs Trees.

My story and more about the project

I'll be running 10k on 27th Feb dressed as a tree (I'm not sure quite how I'm going to do this yet) to help raise funds for Avon Needs Trees who have an option to buy 19 acres of land in the heart of Seend and create a forest, a community orchard and meadow (land outlined in red in the map below).

They are not far off raising the funds they need by spring but still need further support. They hope to have acquired the land by this summer so that a pond can be created, basic biodiversity studies performed and preparations made for planting approx 10,000 native broadleaf trees and around 100 orchard trees in the winter.

The main aims of this project are to lock-up carbon, improved biodiversity and create a beautiful public space. Avon Needs Trees are supported by the Environment Agency, the Woodland Trust, the Bristol-Avon Rivers Trust and the Wildlife Trust.

Our community will be be stakeholders in this project and Avon Needs Trees will encourage volunteers to help with the development and long term management of this space.

I'll be doing the run, covered in twigs, leaves and branches around a route in our local villages. If you have any ideas for how to create my costume let me know!