🌳 Grow Slow, Grow Beautiful - Summer
🌳 Summer update;
Grow Slow, Grow Beautiful
Hello from 9Trees!
It's been a little while since our last newsletter, and we'd like to start with a thank you!
This summer we've spent far more time amongst the trees than behind our computers. Between maintaining woodland sites, welcoming volunteers, supporting corporate teams, attending festivals and preparing exciting new projects, we've been busy doing what we love most: creating healthier landscapes for people and wildlife.
That means our newsletter has taken a back seat—but the trees certainly haven't!
We're delighted to share some of the highlights from the past few months, give you a glimpse of what's coming next and invite you to become part of the next chapter of 9Trees.
As always, if you've recently joined us—welcome! Whether you're an individual supporter, business, landowner or volunteer, we're delighted you're here.
🍔 You're Invited!
9Trees End of Summer BBQ
We'd love to invite you to spend an afternoon with us for a BBQ & some live music.
Meet volunteers, landowners, business supporters and the wider 9Trees community.
Bring friends, family or colleagues and enjoy great food, riverside & woodland walks and conversations about future projects.
12 - 6pm
Saturday 26 September
Come and join us at 9Trees HQ
Powys, Wales, LD2 3SJ
Enjoy a chat around our wildlife pond!
🌳 This Quarter at a Glance
5 New Sites - Now 16 Woodland Sites Across 10 counties in England and Wales.
🌿 New projects planned in Scotland and Northern Ireland
🤝 Hundreds of volunteers and corporate volunteers helping care for young woodlands.
🌱 Contacting Landowners, forging partnerships & preparing our planting season yet for Winter 2026/27.
Tawny wood - planted 2020 - photo taken at our recent maintenance day July 2026
🌿 Join Us Near Bristol
Volunteer Day at Third Wood,
Chew Magna / Bristol
Thanks to everyone who has joined us this summer for planting and Eco matting days!
Thanks also to Landowner
Little Green Rooms Team Green Away Day. Capturing some moments 📸
Gavin Spittlehouse & The Gallimaufry for connecting us all!
We have two more volunteer days coming up in the summer holidays.
🌍 Why we're planting more than trees
Trees have never been more important.
As we experience hotter summers, heavier rainfall and increasing pressure on our countryside, woodland creation is becoming one of the simplest and most effective ways to help communities adapt.
Native trees and hedgerows can:
💧 Reduce flood risk by slowing rainwater before it reaches rivers.
🌡️ Cool towns, villages and cities during heatwaves.
🐝 Increase biodiversity by providing homes for wildlife.
🌾 Improve soil health and help farms become more resilient.
🚗 Filter pollution from roads before it reaches rivers.
🐄 Provide shade for livestock during increasingly hot summers.
Healthy woodlands don't just absorb carbon—they help protect communities for generations to come.
That's why we're increasingly working with landowners on woodland creation, hedgerows, agroforestry and natural flood management projects across the UK.
🌿 What We've Been Up To
Over the summer our team has been visiting many of our older planting sites carrying out essential maintenance.
We've been working across:
Llandrindod Wells
Rhayader
Derbyshire
Staffordshire
Dorset
A huge thank you goes to Ryan and Owain for all their fantastic work helping care for our growing network of woodlands.
Could your county be next?
Every conversation helps another woodland become possible.
Matt Rising helps a Hawthorn in need of some TLC - Glascwm site, Powys
📊 Sneak Peek — New Impact Report
We're currently putting the finishing touches to our next Impact Report, which shares how 9Trees has evolved over the past few years. (Last chance to be included if your on the edge of sponsoring trees with us!)
Inside you'll discover:
The growth of our woodland network
New partnerships
Volunteer achievements
Business support
Biodiversity outcomes
The future direction of 9Trees
We're incredibly proud of what our community has achieved together and can't wait to share the full report with you soon.
🌿 Join Us In The Field
Volunteer Days are taking place throughout the UK, including our growing base at Third Wood, Chew Magna.
Come along to:
🌳 Plant trees
🌿 Carry out woodland maintenance
🪵 Learn practical woodland skills
☕ Meet the team
Everyone is welcome.
Register your interest using our volunteer form and follow our Eventbrite page for upcoming dates. 9Trees CIC | Eventbrite
Chew Magna (Third Wood)
📅 Wednesdays over summer holidays
🌿 Growing people as well as trees
One thing that makes 9Trees different is that we're passionate about helping people grow too.
Whether you're completely new to conservation or looking to build a career in forestry, arboriculture or ecology, we offer opportunities to develop practical skills alongside experienced professionals.
When you volunteer for 9Trees you can get 50% funding through Welsh Gov - No need to live in wales or do courses in Wales!
Volunteers have opportunities to gain experience in:
Tree planting & Woodland Management
First Aid / Chainsaw courses
Ecology surveying
Habitat restoration
GIS and mapping
Event management
Community engagement
Business / Finance / Marketing
We're also helping volunteers access funded professional training, including First Aid, chainsaw qualifications, quad bike training and woodland management courses, with some programmes offering up to 50% funding.
If you've been thinking about changing careers or learning new practical skills, we'd love to hear from you.
🌳 Opportunities For Everyone
🌱 Individuals
Receive personalised updates and discover how sponsoring trees can create lasting benefits for nature, communities and future generations.
🏢 Businesses
Looking for meaningful ESG and CSR opportunities?
Partner with 9Trees to support biodiversity, employee wellbeing, volunteer days and woodland creation across the UK.
From sponsoring a single tree per employee to funding entire woodland projects, every contribution helps create long-term environmental impact.
Could your business plant one tree for every new customer, every contract won or every hundred coffees sold?
Together we can make it happen.
🚜 Landowners
We're always looking to work with landowners interested in restoring biodiversity through native woodland creation, hedgerows and agroforestry.
We provide guidance throughout the process and work with partners to help make projects happen.
If you've got land you'd like to discuss, we'd love to hear from you.
🤝 Volunteers
Whether you can spare one day or become a regular volunteer, there's a place for you. Come and help us plant, maintain and monitor woodlands while learning practical conservation skills and meeting like-minded people.
📅 Upcoming Events
We're looking forward to seeing many of you over the coming months.
Royal Welsh Show (Free ticket when you give Mike a 2 hour break on the stand!)
Valley Fest (1 ticket remaining for volunteer help!)
Wake the Valley
Between the Trees Festival
Environmental Services & Solutions Expo (1 ticket remaining for volunteer help!)
How The Light Gets In London (2 tickets remaining for volunteer help! bring a friend)
9Trees End of Summer BBQ – Saturday 26 September
Fill in this form to help!
Helping on the 9Trees Stand at the Mindfullness station!
👋 Meet Mike
Founder Michael Cunningham is now back with 9Trees full-time after supporting Protect Earth over the past year.
Alongside leading 9Trees, Michael continues investing in his own professional development and is now:
Associate Member of the Institute of Chartered Foresters
Member of the Royal Forestry Society
Member of the Arboricultural Association
He is currently working towards Chartered Arboriculturist status while continuing to spend around half of every week working alongside volunteers in the woodlands.
If you'd like to discuss sponsoring a woodland, becoming a landowner partner or supporting one of our future projects, feel free to book a short meeting—we'd love to chat.
🌱 Looking Ahead
Planning is already underway for our next planting season.
Projects currently being developed include:
🌳 Hedgerows along the John Muir Way, Scotland
🌳 Community planting in Pembrokeshire
🌳 Hedgerows across Wiltshire
🌳 Agroforestry in Hillsborough, Northern Ireland
🌳 Wildlife hedgerows across South Wales
🌳 Fruit tree and hedgerow projects on the Herefordshire borders
It's shaping up to be our biggest and most exciting season yet.
🎪 Summer Festivals
This year has been another fantastic festival season.
Thank you to everyone who came to meet us, sponsored trees or volunteered on our stands.
Highlights included:
Festival of Nature & Natures Blueprint at Ashton Court
We loved helping families create woodland crafts at the SPARKS Nature Space and introducing thousands of people to our work.
HowTheLightGetsIn Hay
A brilliant weekend meeting new supporters, businesses and landowners.
Thank you to everyone who signed up to our newsletter and helped us continue growing our woodland network.
🌳 Ready to Get Involved?
Whether you're an individual, business, landowner or future volunteer, there's a place for you at 9Trees CIC.
Every woodland begins with someone choosing to take the first step. Together we can create healthier landscapes, support biodiversity, reduce flooding, cool our communities and inspire the next generation to care for nature.
🌿 Join us at an upcoming event
Meet the team, visit our woodland sites and experience the impact of your support first-hand.
👉 Browse our upcoming events:
Events with 9Trees
https://www.9trees.org/events
🤝 Volunteer with us
From tree planting and woodland maintenance to ecology surveying, photography, marketing and professional skills, there are opportunities for everyone.
👉 Explore Volunteer Opportunities:
Volunteer Opportunities
https://www.9trees.org/volunteer
🌍 Partner with us
Looking for meaningful ESG, CSR or employee volunteering opportunities? We work with businesses of all sizes to create lasting environmental and social impact.
👉 Discover Business Partnerships:
Business Partnerships
https://www.9trees.org/business-subscriptions
🌳 Sponsor Trees & Woodland Creation
Support native woodland creation across the UK through monthly or one-off sponsorships and receive updates showing the difference you're making.
👉 Sponsor Trees Today:
Tree Sponsorship & Carbon Balancing Projects
https://www.9trees.org
💚 Thank You for Growing With Us
We’re currently preparing our next Impact Report.
If you’d like to be part of this Grow Small, Grow Beautiful non-profit movement — or know a business that might — please share this newsletter or get in touch.
Together, we grow forests. 🌳
Follow us & stay connected! 🌿 ✨