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The NHS Forest is partnering with Grown in Britain who is aiming to create more opportunities for woodland management and creation. A programme will be created with different partners brought together including; woodland supply chain, woodland owners and environmentalists to identify a way forward.
Grown in Britain has 3 central aims:
"1) To create a new and stronger market pull for the array of products derived from our woodlands and forests.
The last funding round for the Big Tree Plant is now open with the deadline for submission being the 30th August 2013. The Big Tree plant is funding community lead tree planting projects that will be completed by the end of February 2015.
"Funding is available to any community and voluntary group, or other non-profit organisations that are keen to establish a community-led tree planting projects. Groups working in deprived areas where trees would help to improve residents’ quality of life are strongly encouraged to apply."
For more information:
School children from Mount Steward Primary School have been busy designing posters to gain sponsorship for trees to be planted at Northwick Park Hospital. They will be displaying their posters around the hospital in the hope that it will encourage staff, patients and the local community to sponsor the trees and increase the greenspace on site. Charles Hurford, a radiographer and sustainabiltiy champion at the trust has been instrumental in managing this project.
The latest FAO conference on Food Security and Nutrition from the 13-15th May had a number of key messages which fit very much with the aims of the NHS Forest.
It is too early to say, but we know that focusing on sustainability helps us achieve better quality with fewer resources. We know there are many good examples out there and CleanMed Europe 2013 will assess what we can achieve if we:
The University Hospital of North Staffordshire NHS Trust have planted over 12,000 trees as part of the creation of a new hospital site.
Healthcare practitioners from Frithwood Surgery have created greenspace and designed a health walk from the GP surgery through the village demonstrating the practice’s commitment to the health and wellbeing of their staff, patients and the local community.
Capita CMS has sponsored 35 trees which have been planted at the Countess of Cheshire Country Park. The trees were planted on the Countess Health Park, to the rear of the main Staff Car Park and all have burst into bud already!
The Countess of Cheshire Country Park has seen the planting of over 2000 trees as part of the project.
Lancashire Care NHS Foundation Trust launched their Grow Your Own Project on NHS Sustainability Day. The project will provide organic produce to 131 service users on their Guild Park Site. As part of their recovery process, 33 service users will be given the opportunity to develop their cooking skills using produce from the garden. The scheme has already supplied the new self-catering Step down Unit (SDU) with local, seasonal and fresh vegetables and fruit. This has been a great success and has been achieved entirely through staff volunteering their spare time.
