Does Charity begin at Home?

(All photos taken by me 17/09/2021)

The Woodland Trust is the largest woodland conservation charity in the United Kingdom,

concerned with the creation protection and restoration of native woodland heritage,

they’ve planted 50 million trees in over 1000 sites across the UK.

……….and my financial contribution is £4 a month, yes I know a small amount but they do have 500,000 members!

• 

  This large English Oak tree marks the entrance to Eynsham woods

• 

  Eynsham Wood, created 25 years ago on land purchased with charitable donations

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Charity begins at home (he says tongue lightly in cheek). Now there’s a controversial statement if ever I read one, even more contentious awkward and perhaps slightly racist when written by a middle-aged white male, so I was born with white privilege, I’m sorry but it’s the cross I have to bare! And as we’re all aware, men do become extreme and right wing as they get older, whilst women lovelier and maternal for a second time as they become grandmothers.

(It’s true! Don’t disagree with me 😀 )

There was a time in my youth I donated money to causes in Africa and India, (wide eyed and in your twenties you want to save the world), I remember causes such as Live Aid in 1985, the question how that money’s spent is something you ask yourself when you’re 55! Sadly I watched that BBC Panorama documentary……. enough said 😦 .

Yes poverty remains in these not so Third World countries today, but they’re both fabulously wealthy in their own right, and it’s not an issue I worry about remembering both are corrupt as mine own, a patchwork of States where riches and wealth don’t trickle down to the poor and needy.

Today I gift my hard earned cash to charities closer to home (yes a conscious decision), there’s a hospice with family connections, others, also The Woodland Trust which is now the largest woodland conservation charity in the UK, they’ll lobby government and environmental policymakers, bring damaged woods back to life, create urban woods for local communities to visit all year round and enjoy free of charge.

I would suggest ensuring public access to local woods has been the key to this wonderful Charity’s success.

Ok so now that I’ve labelled myself right wing and extreme, though most definitely NOT racist, why is The Woodland Trust a favourite charity? Well to answer that question I’m sharing today’s photos ‘snapped’ on a sunny September walk around Eynsham Woods earlier today.

(Taken especially with WP in mind.)

Twenty five years ago TWT purchased what amounted to a brown soiled agricultural field on the outskirts of Eynsham, a smallish village in the heart of Oxfordshire, and proceeded to quietly create also plant a typically native British woodland. Volunteers tightly packed sapling trees allowing little space for humans to wander through, nurtured Blackthorn and Hawthorn sided pathways with native Silver Birch, Holly, Crab Apple, Oak, Hazel, Elder and Rowan trees within. Wandering around I could hear birdsong, caught site of several rabbits and even ate a few wild blackberries alongside other families enjoying their day.

The Woodland Trust has created a natural wildlife habit also woodlands for my local community to enjoy, perhaps environmental charity should begin at home and then we can go about saving the world?

A. Shepherdson 2021 (I know a little controversial but hey makes for an interesting discussion)