Residents of Fownhope are not only concerned about the effects of climate changes but have come together to do something practical to tackle it on a local level.

From sharing advice to organising tree planting Fownhope is well on their way to averting a climate catastrophe by reducing their carbon footprint. Led by the Parish Council and the Environment Working Group, this is very much a community venture and they hope it can act as a blueprint which could be replicated by any rural town or village. Every year National Tree Planting Day is held on the last Saturday of November so on Saturday, November 30th Fownhope held a ‘Tree Planting’ event at the Pavilion on the Recreation Field and distributed over 7,000 tree saplings to residents and land owners in the parish, courtesy of the Woodland Trust.

A spokeperson for the group told the Ross Gazette: “We were blown away by the response of our community and the support for planting new trees. Sadly we will be losing a number of trees in the parish to Ash Dieback and it is great that so many new trees will be planted to help replace those lost.

“In fact we have a few trees left (Aspen, Downy Birch, Silver Birch, Dog Rose, Bird Cherry, Common Oak or Field Maple) so if you can plant one, or are interested in learning more about our project, please get in touch with the Parish Clerk via email at [email protected]”