A WOODLAND charity in Ceredigion and Powys is celebrating the success of a volunteer activity project and the launch of a new scheme.

Tir Coed, which is based in offices in Aberystwyth and Rhayader, has had much to celebrate in recent months with the successful culmination of its VINE project and the launch of a brand new project LEAF.

Tir Coed engages people with woodlands in Ceredigion and Powys through volunteering, training and activities.

Over the past three years the VINE project has seen almost 3,000 people take part in woodland activities - undertaking 30,227 volunteering hours.

More than 85 local organisations have referred groups onto the project from all sections of the community, with the project seeing 55 improvement works schemes carried out.

One hundred and fifty people have attended woodland skills training courses, with 94 gaining accreditation. The VINE project also created employment for 62 freelance woodland tutors as well as 10 members of Tir Coed staff.

“The exceptional interest throughout the VINE project has resulted in the three-year targets being exceeded by over 300 per cent,” a Tir Coed spokesperson said.

Tir Coed has been busy developing the charity’s next major initiative - LEAF: Learning to Enable Achievement and Fulfilment over the last two years.

It has now been successful in securing funding from the LEADER programme in Powys, Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire, match-funded by Natural Resources Wales for a year-long pilot that started in December, with training courses beginning this month.

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