Street Trees for Living becomes an independent charity

This weekend Street Trees for Living is submitting its annual planting order to the council. Residents can expect nearly two hundred new street trees to appear on the streets this winter, the result of a fantastic amount of work over the last six months by our Committee members, Area Reps, Street Reps, Sponsors, Lewisham council and other partners. 

 

However, this year, behind the scenes, there have also been momentous developments for us. Street Trees for Living has been a Brockley Society project since 2011, but this year applied to the Charity Commission to become its own charity, and was granted independent charitable status on 4th September 2019. We are extremely pleased that this was achieved with the blessing of Brockley Society, which has supported the project creatively and generously over the years. We will always be grateful for this. Now we are ready for our close links within Brockley Society to morph happily into a new relationship between two independent charities.

Charitable status enables us to take a more strategic look at our aims. For instance, over the coming year we plan to plant one hundred trees outside schools as part of our annual planting list, to streamline the tree request process, and to set up a new website.

Four existing committee members are to be trustees of the new charity. They will be joined by two additional tree enthusiasts who will bring new skills and experience to our decisions and aims. Our charity number and "objects" can be found HERE on the Charity Commission website. Trustees will have a presence on the new website when it goes live. ​

For the moment it will be business as usual, and sponsors and volunteers and well-wishers will not notice much difference to how we operate. Please look out for emails if you’re on our mailing list, or watch this space for further details.