Above and Beyond award-winner Trees For Burnley helps to plant more than one million trees in the town

Trees For Burnley scooped the Green Champion Award at the town’s first ever Above and Beyond ceremony earlier this year.

The community group was recognised for planting 18,000 trees in Burnley last year, including one and a half hectares of woodland in Rowley.

Volunteers, with the help of the public, have been planting trees all over the town for more than 30 years.

Here is everything you need to know about the group:

Why was Trees for Burnley created?

Trees For Burnley was set up in 1992. Back then, woods comprised only 3 – 4% of the town, according to Simon Goff, founding member.

It was the same year as the Rio Earth Summit, which encouraged people to “think globally and act locally”.

With this in mind, the volunteers have helped to increase Burnley’s woodland coverage from 4% to 8% over the past 30 years.

How do trees help the environment?

Simon said: “Woodlands are fantastic for biodiversity. They encourage a lot of species to come and live in them. They're good for the environment in the sense that trees absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. The Forest of Burnley project is absorbing about 4,000 tons of carbon dioxide a year.

What does the group think about winning an Above and Beyond award?

Volunteer Peter Thorne said: “It's thanks for all the work we've done over the years. It's just recognition of what we've done, and that people value it. It is always nice to be valued.

“Over the years, we've planted a million trees. We hope we’ve made a difference to the environment of Burnley. We’ve increased the tree coverage and hopefully made it nice for everybody and hopefully people appreciate what we're doing. I think the award shows that they do, which is nice.”

June Evans, who has been with the group since 1992, was also highly commended in the Lifetime Achievement category.

Trees for Burnley meets on the first Sunday of every month in the winter. For more information or to join a meet-up, visit https://www.treesforburnley.co.uk/ or call June on 01282 439034 or Peter on 01282 421757.