We are absolutely thrilled to welcome Wendy Desyllas to the Co-forest team as our new Volunteer Coordinator. Wendy has joined us this month ready to start planning and running our volunteer planting days over the winter season. 

Wendy has been working in horticulture for 25 years, so brings a great depth of knowledge to her role, along with a broad range of relevant experience and skills. She has worked in private gardens, botanical gardens, on organic herb farms, and most recently for horticultural media outlets.

If you have signed up to volunteer with Co-forest, helping us prepare for and plant over 10,000 trees this coming winter at our Almondsbury site, you’re likely to get an email from Wendy (if you haven’t already!) offering you the chance to join us and be part of the Co-forest story. 

Wendy says: “I have been lucky enough through my career to see how incredible our natural world is and feel the benefit of working with it. Helping people to access that is a real privilege.

“So many people I speak with have a positive connection with woodlands and trees, and walking amongst them is proven to be good for us. But they don’t just benefit us, they offer wildlife a home to expand and diversify and they improve the ground flora and fauna meaning the ecosystem around them strengthens with each day that passes.

“Trees slow the passage of rainwater which helps prevent flooding, their shelter helps cool the air around them and they even provide oxygen which we need to breathe. If all that wasn’t enough they are one of the best solutions to removing carbon from our atmosphere and locking it away. With every year they grow the benefits they provide grow with them.”

When she isn’t working, Wendy enjoys gardening at her home in Bristol, growing flowers and vegetables. She has two school-aged children, so loves to pack up some cake and head for the woods or the coast to explore and recharge. 

If you haven’t signed up to volunteer with us yet but would like to be part of creating brand new forests in the Bristol and Bath area then please do get in touch with Wendy and she’ll keep you up to date with opportunities. We provide all the training you need to get involved, and there is no minimum time commitment – you don’t have to have any experience just a willingness to muck in! We are also running a number of family-friendly planting sessions which children are welcome to join. 

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