Man-made Lincolnshire wood officially opens to the public

AFTER two years of planting, a giant man-made wood has been ceremoniously opened to the public.

The Nettleham Woodland Trust (NWT) began work to create Monks Wood in February 2009.

More than 20,000 trees have been planted in the woodland, which spreads across 35 acres in Ashing Lane Nature Reserve, Dunholme.

It is now the largest county woodland organised by a volunteer group.

A choir of excited schoolchildren, from Welton St Mary's Primary School, braved the May showers to sing at the grand opening, which took place yesterday at 1.30pm.

They performed choreographed renditions of celebratory songs Great Day and Summer is Icumen.

The youngest child in the choir then joined Joy Monk, widow of Dennis Monk who the wood is named after, to ceremoniously cut the ribbon and officially open the wood.

Mr Monk was director of Lincoln's Waste Recycling Environmental (WREN) for 13 years.

In an emotional speech, Mrs Monk said: "This really is a wonderful occasion and I'd like to congratulate the NWT for their forward thinking.

"Much hard work has gone into this project and the young people here today are the future users of this wood.

"I hope they'll have lots of fun in the trees for years to come.

"My husband would have been very interested in this project and keen to be a part of it. If he knew it was named after him he would have been surprised, honoured and dumbfounded.

"This wood really is for everyone for ever."

Mike Kennedy, chairman of the local advisory panel for WREN, spoke before the ceremonial opening.

He said: "What a community project we have here. This is exactly what we want for our community, our children and our children's children.

"I call this project one of the best of the best."

Paul Leroy, chief executive of Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust (LWT), said: "It really is a day to celebrate.

"The LWT has played a very small role, but worked with WREN and NWT in the development of Monks Wood.

"The wonderful thing about this project is how the community came together and put in a huge amount of effort to get to where we are today.

"This is one of the most significant community volunteered projects in the East Midlands and the LWT is proud to be neighbours with Monks Wood."

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