Friends of Thorne Community Woods

Friends Of Thorne Community Wood is Doncaster based and was founded in 1994 when the council first purchased the land. They are an independent group that works closely with council, individuals, businesses, voluntary organisations and charities.

The organisation maintains and promotes a community woodland and holds activities for all ages. They make it their priority to involve all groups within the community and are especially focused on making the woodlands accessible to individuals with disabilities.

The group is solely managed and run by volunteers who decide together on the best ways to support the woodlands. Thanks to the groups efforts, footfall at the woods has increased, including visits from local schools. Their work to make the area more accessible, which has included removing old gates and installing ramps has also increased its
popularity.

An award of £6,367 from the Tween Bridge Wind Farm Community Benefits Fund has allowed the volunteer group to upgrade their equipment and to train their volunteers so they can conserve the area better. This has included the purchase of a lawn mower which means they are now able to maintain the woodland two times a week compared to the contractor they used to hire twice a year, to make the area more inviting.

They also bought a chainsaw to maintain the trees and to keep them healthy and not overgrown.

The funding has covered the cost of accredited training in chain sawing for local volunteers in addition to their other available training in bush cutting, First Aid and leading walks. They now have three qualified chainsaw operators and after the recent flooding in November 2019, these skills are more essential then ever in helping the
woodland recover from flood damage.

The fund has also been used to pay for insurance for their 26th anniversary event in 2019. The group regularly runs children activities, as well as monthly events and activities for school children They also proudly hold events such as tree planting once every year, in memory of those recently passed and celebrating the births of new-borns.

Over the years the Friends of Thorne Community Wood have vastly improved the woods for local people as well as for local wildlife including installing a bike rack, updating the car park and tidying up the canal.

They also work hard to create a sense of ownership locally for the woods so residents help keep it looked after and cared for.

Find out more

Visit our Tweenbridge Windfarm page to learn more about the application process, eligibility criteria, and the incredible projects we've funded in the past.