New forest shelter for Marston Forest

20 July 2019, 09:02 | Updated: 20 July 2019, 09:05

£15,000 been given to the Forest Centre & Millennium Country Park in Marston Moretaine to build a new Forest Shelter.

The Forest of Marston Vale charity covers 61 square miles between Bedford and Milton Keynes and the new shelter would be for visiting school-children and other groups, including the brownies and cubs.

The money's from a range of sources including the People's Postcode Lottery.

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Thanks to £9k funding from the Postcode Local Trust and the players of the People's Postcode Lottery, £4k from Tesco Bags of help and a lot of fundraising activity by their Forest Volunteers, they've achieved the total £15k required and building work is now underway.

Senior Ranger Nicola Ceconi says:

"We're so excited about the new Forest Shelter - it not only gives groups somewhere to shelter from the rain but also means their visits aren't broken as much as they can stay out in the Millennium Country Park for longer!"

The Forest of Marston Vale (Registered Charity No. 1069229) covers the 61 square mile area between Bedford and Milton Keynes and has planted over 1.5 million trees to date, taking tree cover from 3% (the lowest in Europe) to over 15%. Their aim is to plant another 5 million trees, creating a greener heart of Bedfordshire.

The project has been made possible by a grant from Postcode Local Trust, a grant-giving charity funded entirely by players of People's Postcode Lottery.