Charity plants 18,154 trees across 18 days

A rewilding charity says it has completed a project to plant 18,154 trees in 18 days to create a space for people to visit.

Cambridgeshire-based Creating Nature's Corridors said it finished work on Rory's Wood at Grafham Water Reservoir on Friday, with 794 volunteers joining to help over the course of the project.

Founder Vhari Russell, from Brampton, set up the charity to commemorate the life of her brother Rory after he died from sudden adult death syndrome, aged 37.

She said: "He was a carpenter, so I decided to channel my grief into planting trees and leaving him a legacy that he was not able to leave any longer, so Rory's Wood has been planted."

Rory created structures from green oak which led to his sister planting a large oak tree in his memory.

A dedicated memorial was also created for people to plant a tree or sponsor a bench in memory or celebration of someone.

"That is the ultimate accolade, when you can give people a space where they can come and remember someone really special, it maybe Rory's name in title but it is very much a community project," Russell said.

On Friday, more than 80 volunteers planted the final 1,163 trees at the site, also creating bug hotels.

The charity said the green space would offer the community a place to reconnect with nature.

Russell added: "We are trying to get even more community engagement and get people to visit this quite unique spot."

She said the project had allowed her to talk about Rory more and that it was "truly heart-warming to see the impact" the site had had.

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