Bearsted Woodland Trust (BWT) has been selected for a Green Flag Community Award for 2024/25, making it a fourteenth year in a row it has received the coveted accolade.
BWT has been recognised for its volunteer engagement under the scheme, with its involvement with the wider community singled out by the judge for particular praise. Feedback mentioned BWT’s links to local schools and its effective training for the team of community volunteers that maintains the site.
In his report, Green Flag judge Dave James MCIhort wrote: ‘It is a testament to the Trustees who had the vision in the first place but also to the volunteers that have made it what it is today. Their hard work and dedication to the site is exemplary and this example should be used as a benchmark as to how to do it correctly.’
BWT Management Committee Chair John Wale said he was delighted that the popular green space had again been recognised for a coveted Green Flag award.
‘This accolade reflects the huge contribution of our many Volunteers and the thoughtful involvement of our Trustees during 2024. To have gained the Award every year since 2011 is a remarkable achievement,’ he said.
The Green Flag Award scheme, is managed by environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy and recognises and rewards well-managed parks and green spaces, setting the ‘benchmark standard for the management of recreational outdoor spaces across the United Kingdom and around the world’.