It’s hard to believe that a whole year has gone by since the wonderful evening in the Marine Theatre, Lyme Regis that saw the premiere of The Word Forest Organisation’s short documentary #TreesAreTheKey, narrated by Kate Winslet.
Beautifully filmed and edited by talented filmmaker Tim Tyson Short, it captures the positive difference that planting trees and supporting education in Bore is making and shows the resilience and determination of the local community to effect positive change.
We were hoping for a good turnout but were astounded and touched by the number of people who attended – in fact, we pretty much ran out of chairs! There was delicious vegan food available, provided by The Flour Pot Vegan Bakery, Chard and tables with some of our lovely merchandise. Our volunteers who were manning the tables answered many questions about the work of TWFO and plenty more were asked during the Q & A session after the film. There was much interest and enthusiasm for the option of free screenings of the film by individuals and groups local to where they lived.
The atmosphere was warm and positive and we left with a spring in our step.
Roll forward a little and we began to receive requests from various people wanting to put the film on local to them. This was thrilling, enabling us to get our message out to a wider audience and, wherever it was possible, some members of our team attended to run a Q & A session at the end.
The schedule was becoming really quite full when unfortunately Covid–19 reared its ugly head and put all those dates on hold. Health must absolutely come first, so of course all screenings and indeed all our fundraising events were postponed indefinitely or cancelled. Undeterred, the work goes on. We have been blessed to welcome many new volunteers during lockdown who have been just astounding with their energy, time, ideas and talent. The team at The Word Forest Organisation diligently and determinedly continue to raise both money and awareness so we can keep on supporting the communities in Kenya who have been so severely affected by the lockdown there.
Our film is still available to watch for free. Group screenings via a video conferencing app might be a possibility and we would be happy to attend and answer questions. If you are interested, please fill in the contact form here.
Or, until we can safely get together again in village halls or community rooms, we would like to invite you to your own private screening of #TreesAreTheKey, in the comfort of your living room with a nice cup of tea or hot chocolate. As the nights draw in, get comfy in your armchair, click on the link and see what a difference planting trees in the tropics can really make!
Izzy Robertson and The Team
