We hear from The Sherwood People’s Forest who are bringing the greenery of our northern woodlands a bit closer to the city

Back in the mists of time, in the year 2018, two friends made a cheery pact in a local hostelry. As Robin Hood (aka Ezekial Bone) and I chatted about all things green and creative in The Angel, we thought what a pity it was that visitors enjoying his Robin Hood Town Tour could not experience everyone’s favourite outlaw amongst the greenery of his woodland home (unless they were willing to undertake a 45 minute bus journey!)

Then it dawned on us! We might not be able to move the city closer to the Forest, but we could reforest the city! And with that, we clanked our tankards together, spilled a little fine quality ale and the seeds of the Sherwood People’s Forest were set. What better gift to leave future generations than a rejuvenated ‘garden city’ and to instil a love and sense of stewardship for our shared green spaces in our younger generation?

The initial concept was to plant oaks and other native tree saplings in a spiral from the heart of the city of Nottingham, through Nottinghamshire and out to the Major Oak in the heart of Sherwood Forest. But to be truly a ‘people’s forest’, it couldn’t just be us, it needed to be lots of people from every community over a multitude of generations. And it shouldn’t be just trees - forests are far from monocultures – we should encourage shrubs, flowers, edible crops and the all-important mycorrhizal fungi of the wood-wide-web! 

I am a proud board member of Nottingham Open Spaces Forum, which brings together the volunteer gardeners in the city, sharing good practice, news and communicating with the Council. Enthusiasm for the idea of Sherwood People’s Forest was strong amongst the members and Council colleagues and NOSF began to crowd-fund for trees and resources. In 2019, the then Head of Parks and Open Spaces, Eddie Curry, managed to source funding for us to plant eighty mature oak trees as a celebration of the renovations at Nottingham Castle – one to mark each of the primary schools and special schools in the city. These were trees of around 2m high and grown at Green Mile Trees, in Retford.

The first three oaks were funded by Nottingham Open Spaces Forum to demonstrate our commitment to the Sherwood People’s Forest mission and the planting took place in Woodthorpe Grange Park on the most atmospheric of mornings in November 2019. We all helped to dig the huge holes and plant the trees – local friends and members of NOSF, Eddie Curry, Sally Longford, then Deputy Leader of the Council, Patrick Candler of The Sherwood Forest Trust and the most appropriately named, Ian Major (aka Taff), Sherwood Forest Ranger and absolute sylvan legend. No-one was more passionate or knowledgeable of all things verdant than Taff. RIP, Taff.

Jess Kemp, my late beloved friend and creative ally at Curious? (our Sneinton shop and studio) had prepared a special Sherwood People’s Forest blessing, borrowed from multiple sources of Pagan and wassailing traditions. We bless each planting with these words and actions to ensure their long and fruitful life. It was an incredible and moving event, a true commitment to good, green things for our city. And as a be-cloaked Robin Hood approached through the swirling mist, it could not have been more perfect. I will hold the joy of that day in my heart forever.

At Christmas-time 2019, word was out that the Hockley Hustle music festival had raised its usual hefty wodge of cash for good causes. Included in this amount was £1,000 ear-marked for the planting of 1,000 trees in the local vicinity. Several chums flagged up this opportunity and I contacted a young man named Adam Pickering. Little did I know that not only was this fortuitous meeting with this whirlwind of positive energy going to result in the Hockley Hustle Holt (the first Miyawake style forest of 1,000 trees within Nottingham city) at Woodthorpe Park, but that Adam would go on to become one of my most trusted friends and comrade in so many future escapades!

As the leaves turned golden and fell and the young trees lay dormant in the ground, we made plans for the Castle Oaks to be gently lifted from the earth and moved to their permanent new homes during the winter tree-planting months of 2020. We began with an appropriate level of enthusiasm, gaggles of excited children, Robin Hood in full regalia, local councillors and representatives from the Castle. It was just as we had envisaged.

Then, of course, the world stood still as we went into the first Covid lockdown. We tried to struggle on gamely, planting at times with just a school site manager in attendance, other times with groups of children standing watching us plant the trees from the obligatory 2m safe social distance. Little did we know that lockdowns would be multiple and that life would throw us some terrible personal curve-balls, as the planting continued.

The 1,000 trees of the Hockley Hustle Holt were finally planted in 2021 under the invaluable expertise of Rachel Richards of Plant NG Wild Tree Nursery and are a thriving example of what can be achieved when people commit to plant and care for newly establishing trees. The last batch of the Castle oaks were planted by volunteers in Colwick Woods just weeks ago and we hope for the same level of care for them. This month, we’re working with Green Hustle to plant their 10,000th trees (with another 5,000 or so going in along the way) at King George V Playing Fields in Aspley and Southglade Park in Bestwood.

Fortunately, we set a hundred year timeframe for the establishment of Sherwood People’s Forest, knowing that we would not necessarily see the fruits of our labours, but that we would definitely set the seeds, broadcast the philosophy and firm as many bare roots into the ground as we could in the time granted to us. A century seems like a good round figure. We plant on.

To find out more about and help support the Sherwood People’s Forest, head to nosf.org.uk

Sign up to volunteer for February’s tree plantings via @greenhustlefest

@sherwoodpeoplesforest