Faith in the environment

MEMBERS of the Bradford District Faiths Forum have braved the wintry elements to plant trees with the Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust (YDMT).

For several years YDMT’s Learning in Limestone Country (LILC) team has been working with community groups from inner cities, providing them with the opportunity to experience the wonderful environment of the Yorkshire Dales National Park.

Last Saturday a group from Bradford District Faiths Forum visited Beamsley and Bolton Abbey. The Forum is committed to promote social inclusion and combat religious discrimination by communication, understanding and partnership between faith communities and with public, voluntary and private sector bodies.

The morning was dedicated to planting new trees in an area of Resphill Wood, a woodland project which is part of the Trust’s Dales Woodland Restoration scheme. The Forum made a donation to YDMT to support its work in tree planting and the visit also gave members the ‘hands on’ opportunity to place them in the ground.

Nasar Fiaz, the Forum’s development coordinator commented: “All faiths have a perspective on the environment and the overwhelming consensus is that they have the same message of respecting and looking after the world that we live and work in. We wanted to plant trees to do something practical by putting something back into the environment. We chose to do this in the Dales to raise awareness of the beauty we have on our doorstep.”

The second part of the day was spent taking in the scenery around Bolton Abbey Estate and visiting Bolton Priory. The Forum is made up of members of the Christian, Muslim, Hindu and Sikh faiths and as part of their activities they enjoy visiting and learning about each others’ cultures.

Dave Tayler, LILC Project Manager added, “The day was a wonderful event and went very well largely thanks to our visitors being such a lovely and fun group of people. It was particularly pleasing for the Trust because it brought together the strands of everything we do including creating new woodlands as well as building relationships with communities over several years. This was a great start to the final season of the Learning in Limestone country project’.

The Trust’s ‘Dedicate a Tree’ scheme runs throughout the year. Each year a new donor woodland is created and supporters are invited to visit that woodland once planted. To find out more about the scheme or to make a dedication, visit the Trust’s website on www.ydmt.org, email: info@ydmt.org or telephone 015242 51002/4.

Photo shows Bradford District’s Faith Forum & YDMT taken at Resphill Woodland, Beamsley.