From Monday 23 – Monday 30 August Westonbirt Arboretum will welcome 12 of the UK’s most talented sculptors to the Sculptree woodcarving event at its annual Festival of the Tree.

Around 24 tonnes of sustainably felled wood from the Westonbirt estate will be transformed and auctioned on Bank Holiday Monday in support of Tree Aid, the UK’s only forestry-based development charity. Proceeds will be split between Tree Aid, the sculptor and Westonbirt Arboretum.

How does Sculptree support Tree Aid?

Transforming lives with trees is at the heart of Tree Aid’s work with rural communities in Africa. During almost two decades, Sculptree has raised over £200,000 for vital projects.

Training in forestry and agriculture has helped communities increase harvests. Villagers have improved their landscapes by planting millions of trees, and have been empowered with the skills to care and protect them.

Using money raised from the Sculptee auctions, villagers have set up enterprises using tree products and are now able to pay for education and healthcare.

Communities are learning from each other’s successes and challenges. Migration to the towns is slowing down and villagers are experiencing the fruits of their hard work as they see their lives changing, their children going to school and their environment regenerating.

Making a difference

Simon Toomer, Director of Westonbirt Arboretum explains why Sculptree is so important to Westonbirt:

“The Festival of the Tree at Westonbirt has always been the event that allows us to most clearly demonstrate the important links between trees and people.

“Sculptree provides a focal point for the Festival of the Tree, with visitors able to watch the giant wood sculptures being created from trees felled during management work in the arboretum.

“Increasingly the Festival of the Tree has taken more of a focus to helping visitors understand the reliance Human Beings have on trees, exploring biodiversity and threats to our forests, such as climate change. But of course the event is still really good fun with an amazing array of stalls, exhibitions, master classes and hands-on activities to inform and entertain anyone with a love of trees and the great outdoors.

“Westonbirt Arboretum and The Forestry Commission are very proud to work in partnership with Tree Aid. The charity’s work in Africa and their involvement in the event help us all to understand the wider significance of trees in meeting fundamental needs for so much of the World’s population.

“This in turn helps us to make the link between the beautiful trees seen in the arboretum and their wild counterparts in the forests around the world. It also gives us the opportunity to support their important work in protecting trees and the people who rely on them.”

2010 Sculptree designs

This year’s Sculptree masterpieces will cover an array of themes, from fantasy through to the natural world. The sculptors have each given a short description of their visions and the design sketches are available to see on www.forestry.gov.uk/westonbirt.

Returning to the event in 2010 is Stroud based sculptor Dan Hunt, whose stag beetle creation ‘Massive Attack’ broke auction records in 2009 and sold for £6,200.

Dan’s design for this year is titled Karma Chameleon. He describes the giant chameleon climbing the world’s tallest building to catch a fighter plane as “representative of the battle raging between man and nature”.

If you would like to participate in the auction you can:
1.    Register interest at [email protected]
2.    Register at the festival at the Forestry Commission’s information marquee.
3.    Just bid at the auction by raising your hand and we’ll take your details after.

For more information visit www.forestry.gov.uk/westonbirt or www.sculptree.org.uk/

The Festival of the Tree is open from 9am-5pm. From 23 to 26 August, admissions are adults £8, concessions £7 and children go free (18 years and under). From Friday 27 August to bank holiday Monday, adult admission is £10, concessions £9 and children go free.

Westonbirt Arboretum is three miles south west of Tetbury on the A433 (Tetbury to Bath Road). It is 10 miles north east of Junction 18 of the M4, and south-east of junction 13 of the M5.