TREE 37

Kerry Bennett, Community Projects Officer at the South Yorkshire Forest Partnership (SYFP) writes:

The Tree 37 project was inspired by the demise of a large root-damaged beech tree in public woodland in Sheffield, which was earmarked for felling as part of the City Council's sustainable woodland management scheme. The SYFP saw an opportunity: to create a working coalition of local independent artists and crafts people to use timber the tree to create furniture, sculptural pieces and other objects which will then be exhibited in a gallery - housed at a local authority owned sawmill - that the group has set up as a co-operative showroom for their work. Local people will be able to visit the gallery and order items made from locally sourced timber and the group has also created an online gallery at www.workingwoodlandsproducts.co.uk

It has been very exciting bringing together a range of creative individuals and seeing the development of a very supportive community that is bursting with ideas.! and also to connect local people with their woodlands. We hope to demonstrate the importance of using and managing trees as a sustainable resource and provide a fresh perspective on tree-felling, which can be a highly emotive subject. The launch event in Feb brought hundreds of local people into the woodland to watch the tree being felled and see wood-workers demonstrate their skills. Many even had a go at carving themselves!