November 2024
Dùn Coillich Community Land has been named overall Community Woodland Winner and recipient of the prestigious Tim Stead trophy at this year’s Scotland’s Finest Woods awards.
The awards ceremony – held at the Scottish Parliament during National Tree Week and presided over by Mairi Gougeon MSP, Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and Emma Harper MSP, the ceremony’s sponsor – also saw Dùn Coillich take home the Large Community Woodland Award.
The Community Woodlands Award is a national competition open to woodland-related community-based projects from all over Scotland, with entrants needing to show ‘significant and sustained community input’.
Judges, who carry out a site visit and in-depth interview alongside reviewing award entries, look for how community woodland projects contribute to sustainable development across ‘social, economic and environmental’ strands.
“Our Project Officer Heather Hamilton really brought to life our three core aims of restoring biodiversity, supporting rural skills development and encouraging people of all ages to embrace the outdoors during the judges’ visit,” said our Chairman, Richard Paul.
“This award is testament to her unrelenting hard work and enthusiasm, alongside Assistant Project Officer Fred Cochrane and our Forest Manager Willie McGhee who put their hearts and souls into this place.
“It’s also recognition for the many volunteers, trainees and Trustees who love and care for this land, for its wildlife, and for the trees that are regenerating and transforming what was a bare hillside just over 20 years ago – and for those who had the original ambition to raise funds to buy the site for the benefit of the community and nature in the first place.
“Thanks must also go to our funders, and to our members, whose support is vital in continuing this important work.”
The Scotland’s Finest Woods Awards – run by independent charity, Scotland’s Finest Woods – celebrate the contribution that woodlands can make to the people of Scotland and to its environment and economic prosperity.
According to the organisers the Awards provide a way to recognise and reward “the achievements of people from across Scotland who work hard to support their local communities and the environment, and so identify exemplars for others to follow”.
Take a look at https://www.duncoillich.org/our-story/timeline/ to see how the hillside has been transformed.
