Holyland Community Woodland: Pembroke project receives £8,000 from Tesco scheme for refurbishments

HOLYLAND COMMUNITY Woodland in Pembroke has managed to successfully bag a share of Tesco’s Bags of Help initiative.

The supermarket, teaming up with Groundwork to launch its Bags of Help scheme, dispensed a series of grants with values between £8,000 and £12,000.

The money, which was raised by Tesco’s 5p carrier bag charge, is given to local environmental and green space projects.

To whom the grants were given was decided by over eight million shoppers around Wales who voted in Tesco stores up and down the country.

It was recently revealed that the Holyland Community Woodland Project in Pembroke, which is managed by Pembroke 21C Community Association, has been awarded an impressive £8,000 of funding.

Following this announcement, it is expected that work on the site will begin soon, bringing the project to life.

John Hayes, Chairman of the 21C Community Association, said: “We are delighted to have received the grant and thank all those who voted for us in the local Tesco stores.

“It is now nearly ten years since we installed paths and a boardwalk through the reed bed and marsh areas of Holyland to create a circular walk around the woodland which has a wide range of important habitats.

It has been very well used and is much loved by the local community for walking, recreation and monitoring biodiversity.

“However, the boardwalk is now suffering wear in several places and needs upgrading.”

The project is hoping to improve access to the beautiful woodland area by upgrading the popular boardwalk. The group will raise the sunken sections that are prone to flooding as well as straightening other sections of the boardwalk which have been buckled by willow roots.

Additionally, the group will alter the boardwalk to help ensure that it can be safely enjoyed by wheelchair users by adding raised wooden edges all along, and installing posts to prevent movement of the walk.

Caroline Silke, Head of Community at Tesco, said: “Bags of Help has been a fantastic success. We have been overwhelmed by the response of our customers and the feedback has been brilliant.

“We can’t wait to see the money being put to use bringing these projects to life.

“Nominations for the next round of the initiative will open in April and we look forward to helping a further round of groups and projects bag their share of the bag charge fund.”

The grant will be used to pay for the additional materials needed, as well as the tool hire and the cost of labour to carry out the work, which will be done alongside a team of experienced volunteers.

Graham Duxbury, Groundwork’s National Chief Executive, said: “We have been delighted to have been involved in the Bags of Help project. It has been wonderful to follow the projects through the application process to the final announcement.

“This is money that will go directly back into the communities up and down the country creating places to meet people, be active, play or simply relax.

“This initiative is really putting something back into the local environment, transforming green spaces and helping the community at a grass-roots level.”

Voting ran in local Tesco stores between February 27 and March 6, with supermarket customers choosing which group they’d like to get the top award using a token given to them at the check-out in store.

Nominations and applications for the next round of the Bags of Help initiative’s funding will open on Monday, (Apr 18) and votes can be cast in local Tesco stores.