PLANTING of a new forest in the Tamar Valley is getting under way.

Forest For Calstock Parish is a tree-planting scheme in the Calstock parish area and throughout the planting days, various members of the community armed with wellies, spades, and various gardening implements descended on Calstock playing field.

The previously trimly cut grass bank has now been planted with sleeping trees and bushes, ready to spring into life in the new year. Dozens of residents came out with the trees, tools, and know-how to bring the project to fruition.

Stuart Wood, the Forest for Cornwall Project Officer, was first to break the ground with a planting demonstration. Local volunteers from all over Calstock, led by Calstock coordinator Jane Weatherby, followed suit. Forest for Calstock chair, parish councillor Alastair Tinto, of the South East Cornwall Labour Party, and parish councillor Theo Brown, of South East Cornwall Liberal Democrats, joined the workforce.

Theo said: “Forest for Calstock Parish is a fantastic initiative to promote tree planting, the environment, and community action. Support from the whole of Calstock Parish has been fantastic, and would not have been possible without the help and crowdfunding from local people.”

Over the course of the last week, hundreds of trees are to be planted across Calstock Parish, in Calstock, Albaston, and St Ann’s Chapel. Theo said that the number of trees being planted specifically is 1,300, and the match funding that got the project going was £1,000 from the previous Liberal and Independents administration under the flagship title ‘Projects that Matter’.

If you want to get involved, please contact Calstock Parish Council at [email protected] 01822 748847.

Meanwhile, also in the Tamar Valley in neighbouring St Dominick parish, planting of Forest for Cornwall trees has also got under way at the village’s Lovells Park. Getting involved were Rik Whitford (the chairman of the village Community Shop), Rebecca Coombes (who is a local “green” campaigner), and Dave Fry (local Parish councillor and member of the board of the St Dominick Community Shop).