How it started

Two Cotherstone 'incomers' David Martin and Ian Moorhouse were taking a break from cutting up a fallen ash tree into logs. As they did, they were talking about trees and lamenting the fact that although Cotherstone had many fine specimens, almost all were mature and some were being lost in every gale that came along. If more were not planted, field boundaries in particular would die out, the local wild life would be depleted and the landscape around the village would look very different in the future. It was time, they decided, to do something about it!

They were the ideal people to do something, David had been a forester all his life and Ian, a life-long conservationist and birdwatcher, has his own wood. They agreed to see what interest there was in setting up a community group to plant trees and make people more aware of the importance of trees in the landscape and for wildlife. It was also felt that the local school should be involved in order to help youngsters appreciate trees and understand their importance.

Preliminary approaches were made to several landowners and local farmers who indicated that they would be happy to have trees planted on their land.

A meeting was held in the village hall on 12 March 2004, to which everyone in the village was invited. Very promisingly, almost 30 people turned up! At the meeting a steering group was formed to set up a community organisation which was sustainable and which would attract new volunteers as it progressed.

A lot of help was given by Durham Rural Community Council in focussing on what the group really wanted to achieve and in drawing up a constitution which would reflect the aims of the group. The constitution was agreed and signed by the steering group in April 2004, which included the name "Trees for Cotherstone", suggested by a steering group member, Sam Forsyth.

The challenge now was to obtain funding since most of the trees would be in field boundaries, necessitating a considerable amount of protection if they were going to flourish in an environment which could include rabbits, sheep, cattle and, increasingly, horses. It was estimated that the cost of each field boundary tree would be some £25.

Approaches were made to the County Durham branch of the Campaing to Protect Rural England, who very generously donated £200, Cotherstone Parish Council, who gave £100 and the Cotherstone Village Design Group, who gave £150. In addition there were several private donations.

This funding we felt would surely convince larger funding bodies that Trees for Cotherstone was worth supporting, and so it came to pass. An approach to the North Pennines AONB Partnership produced a grant of £2,000 from their Small Grants Scheme for the planting season during winter 2004/5. Trees for Cotherstone was on its way!

The First Year-Summer 2004 to March 2005:

A further grant of £150 from Durham County Council, together with funds already received, enabled the group with its helpers to plant and protect more than 100 trees on four separate sites around the village.

Cotherstone schoolchildren collected seeds and planted them under guidance of group members for planting out in future years.

A community "Spring Walk" to view interesting trees around the village, was led by group members, and more than 50 people took part.

Also a well-attended "Tree Evening" was held in the village hall with talks by tree experts, quizzes and a buffet supper with drinks.

David Martin of the group, also found a previously-unrecorded set of cup and ring markings in Baldersdale at one of the first tree planting sites. The details of this important finding have been lodged with the Durham County Council Archaeologists.

Finally, a newsletter about the group's work was distributed throughout the village.

The Second Year-April 2005 to March 2006:

A grant for £2,000 was obtained from "Volunteering England" and this, together with a further "Tree Week" grant from Durham County Council and private donations, enabled the 2005/6 winter planting programme to be undertaken.

More than £250 was also given to the local school in order to help with environmental projects, particularly relating to trees.

In July, the group won joint first prize and a cheque for £250 in the North Pennines AONB Conservation Awards. The other joint winner was the RSPB, which planted over 100,000 trees on their Geltsdale Reserve in Cumbria.

Up until Spring of this year, over 300 trees were planted on five separate sites around the village, all with appropriate protection.

A further community walk was also held in the Spring, along with another social evening with expert guest speaker following the AGM this year.

In addtion, a tree walk leaflet was prepared and printed, which covers interesting trees in the Cotherstone area. Over 700 copies were distributed for both visitors and residents in various local outlets, including the post office, the village hall, both village pubs and the local tourist information offices. A copy of the tree walk is also available on this website (see Tree Walks around Cotherstone).

Finally, another important find in the form of a particulary fine Rowan tree was brought to the attention of the Durham Tree Register. Its compiler, Den Gregson, visited the site, took measurements and after consulting with the National Tree Register, discovered that the tree in question is one of the "top ten" Rowans and the largest in the country!

The Third Year-April 2006 to March 2007:

The third year got off to an exceptionally fine start with the award of a three year grant of over £16,000 from the Local Heritage Initiative, which will cover not only treeplanting but the costs of website production, a detailed tree survey of the local area, a detailed map of all trees planted to date(for information go to the website link on the Tree Survey and Map page), an educational interpretation board for the local school, as well as the production of a more comprehensive booklet on important local tree varieties. It is also anticipated that the tree survey to be undertaken this year will culminate in a paper in the Teesdale Record Society's annual Publication.

During the Spring of this year, representatives of the Trees for Cotherstone Group were delighted to be invited to the North East Community Forest Awards Ceremony held in Durham, at which they won second prize for their work and a cheque for £500.

Finally, two training sessions have been held this spring in order to prepare for the tree survey work, in conjuction with Den Gregson, who maintains the Durham Tree Register and advises the group on its activities.

At present we are all working hard to complete the demanding schedule of events which involves the planting of 70 trees in protective cages, including 8 specially-dedicated trees to commemorate people and events, past and present.