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Explore. Discover. Take Part.
Explore. Discover. Take Part.
Tree Stories is a long-term, county-wide project, developed in partnership with community groups, arts organisations, and local artist Lauren Saunders. It combines participatory creativity with grassroots climate action to inspire care for our local trees.
The project emerged from Hull and East Riding Friends of the Earth’s priority around Protecting Trees, a recent campaign about the Right To A Healthy Environment and various local polls that demonstrate the public desire for more green spaces. It's aim is to encourage new trees to be planted, existing trees to be better cared for, and help contribute to local climate resilience, biodiversity, and long-term stewardship through creativity and education - embedding environmental action into everyday community life.
You can get involved in lots of ways:
You can get involved in lots of ways:
Spend time with a tree and help tell it's story in whatever way makes most sense to you both. You can respond in whatever way feels right: creatively, scientifically, historically or personally - every kind of response is welcome. Submit your 'Tree Story' using the details outlined below.
Take part in any of the local 'Tree Stories' activities put on by HERFoE and it's community partners. Learn how to better care for existing trees, plant new ones, explore creative, scientific, heritage or spiritual connections with nature, find inspiration to submit a Tree Story, and discover fresh perspectives on the living world we share. Learn about the ever-growing activity programme below, or follow HERFoE on social media.
Encourage your family, friends, colleagues or people you support to get involved. Plan your own tree-loving family activities, organise something in the workplace, or simply help promote the project by printing off and putting up posters, resharing on socials and telling everyone you know about it.
If you are part of an organisation that could help support the public in connecting with trees through free tree-themed events in the community... please read the 'Encouraging Our Community' section below. We are keen to bring all corners of the community together under the Tree Stories canopy and help highlight all the fantastic projects that take place on our doorsteps.
Tell the tale of a local tree
Tell the tale of a local tree
... any tree that matters to you.
... any tree that matters to you.
You can respond in whatever way feels right: creatively, scientifically, historically or personally. There may be a tree that inspires or calms you, or maybe you enjoy watching the wildlife that lives in it. You may know of an unusual tree, a tree with an interesting history or folklore, a tree that is important to local wildlife, or a tree planted in someone's memory. Maybe it's a story from your imagination, or a tale that the tree itself might want to share! Whatever makes this tree special, please tell us its story.
If you're stuck for ideas... explore the Digital Forest below! We will also be releasing a helpful zine jam-packed full of approaches you could take to help tell a Tree Story.
Submitting your Tree Story online is easy!
Submitting your Tree Story online is easy!
Submit each story using the online form. Simple as that!
Please complete all the sections required as we will otherwise be unable to process your submission.
Once you've shared your submission with us using the form, we will upload your Tree Story into the Digital Forest! However, we ask for your patience, as there is only one or two people 'planting' these stories and there's a lot of 'saplings' to get through!
Not online?
No problem!
Not online?
No problem!
If you are unable (or not confident) in using the internet, there are a two alternative ways to submit your Tree Story:
Hand your submission and accompanying information (see below) to a HERFoE volunteer at one of our events or at a stall.
Post your submission to:
Tree Stories, Artlink,
87 Princes Avenue,
Hull, HU5 3QP
All offline submissions must be no larger than two sides of A4 and able to be scanned. Please do not send memory sticks/USBs or 3D items (send a printed photo instead!). You must also share your name (as it will be published), your telephone number, submission title, and the exact location of your tree (using street names, intersections and/or postcodes). You will telephoned at a later date to verbally confirm for our legal records that you hold copyright and have not used generative AI.
Translated Resources
Translated Resources
We want Tree Stories to be truly open to everyone across Hull and the East Riding. To help remove language barriers and welcome more diverse communities within the Digital Forest, we’ve partnered with local language specialists Language Is Everything - who kindly translated our flyer into the four most commonly spoken community languages in the Hull area; Arabic, Kurdish (Sorani), Polish and Romanian. By doing this, we hope to reach people who may not usually engage with environmental projects and make it easier for them to take part, share their experiences, and connect with local nature.
You can download the translated flyers below and share them within your community. While we will do our best to support all submissions, our capacity for translation may be limited. If possible, we encourage submissions that are image-based or performance-based, or to include an English translation alongside your work. This helps us celebrate and share your Tree Story more widely as part of the project.
Arabic Tree Story Flyer.pdfKurdish (Sorani) Tree Story Flyer.pdfPolish Tree Story Flyer.pdfRomanian Tree Story Flyer.pdfOur 'Digital Forest'
Our 'Digital Forest'
Tree Stories submissions form an interactive online archive of beloved local trees - our own Digital Forest. Explore other people's submissions and events through the map below - which will be updated periodically with new submissions. Please be patient whilst we launch the Map and get yours added!
Be inspired: Explore the Public Programme
Be inspired: Explore the Public Programme
To support local residents with creating their Tree Stories and to learn about the wonderful world of trees, HERFoE will be offering a programme of free events and activities across Hull & East Riding.
We'll also be promoting tree-related activities and events from our partners in the community, to help you find amazing projects, initiatives and sites right on your doorstep.
When we have Tree Story events to share, we will share them across our social media platforms and add them to our HERFoE Digital Calendar.
Thinking about joining HERFoE as a member and taking more action? Our calendar also features details of our monthly meetings - just turn up and start your journey with us!
Watch this space!
Encouraging our Community
Encouraging our Community
We hope you will also encourage other people to take part and get involved - there's plenty of ways to do so!
Bring Tree Stories into your workplace, school, family or community
Bring Tree Stories into your workplace, school, family or community
Tree Stories doesn’t just happen online, in parks or public workshops - it can start anywhere people gather. Workplaces, schools, universities, community groups and families can all take part by exploring the trees around them and creating a response together.
You might choose a tree near your building and create a collective artwork, poem, display or noticeboard, run a short lunchtime or classroom activity, gather memories or observations about a tree people pass every day, organise an on-site tree-planting or woodland litter picking day, or simply encourage colleagues, students or family members to spend a few minutes noticing and responding to a local tree.
These responses don’t have to be public events or formal projects. Small, in-house activities can be just as meaningful - and they often inspire people to look at familiar places in new ways.
And if you do create something together, you’re welcome to share it with the Digital Forest, adding your story to the growing map of trees and communities across Hull and East Yorkshire.
Collaborate with Tree Stories to help your community project reach more people
Collaborate with Tree Stories to help your community project reach more people
HERFoE is delivering a series of in-house volunteer-led workshops and activities to support residents to both meaningfully engage with trees and create responses for the Digital Forest.
To increase tree kinship opportunities for our shared communities, we are inviting VCSEs, community groups and other public-facing organisations to also deliver at least one tree-related activity between May 2026 and August 2027, as part of their existing funded, planned or volunteer programming. This activity could sit within, nurture and be promoted under the Tree Stories canopy, helping you increase visibility and encouraging residents to begin engaging with amazing projects on their doorsteps. This might be:
A one-off session
A short series of workshops
A recurring or seasonal activity
A tie-in to something you're already planning
There's lots of benefits in taking part - especially since the aim is to help draw attention to the good work that is already happening within our shared community. Learn about the possibilities, the benefits and support available by downloading our Partner Pack. And don't forget to tell us about your community event so we can help promote it under the Tree Stories canopy.
Let's organise and promote your community-focused Tree Stories activity!
Let's organise and promote your community-focused Tree Stories activity!
Why Tree Stories matter in Hull & East Riding
Why Tree Stories matter in Hull & East Riding
Our Tree Stories interactive storymap shows the state of trees, green spaces, and environmental challenges across Hull and the East Riding.
It highlights areas where tree cover is low, heat and flood risks are high, and air quality could be improved - showing why trees matter to our communities, our wildlife, and our climate. By noticing, connecting with, and caring for the trees around us, we can protect what we have, plant more, and help build greener, cooler, and more resilient neighbourhoods for everyone.
Explore below, or click here to interact with the map in full screen.
Our Ethics and Values
Our Ethics and Values
Please note that HERFoE retains the right to reject or withdraw submissions, or events submitted by partners, where individuals and organisations are not reasonably or appropriately engaging in the spirit of Tree Stories, or where submissions oppose the community and planetary values that we are actively promoting within this project.
Tree Stories is not a neutral space: we stand firmly against all forms of discrimination and harm, including (but not limited to) racism, xenophobia, sexism and misogyny, ableism, homophobia, biphobia and transphobia, or any discrimination based on age, class, faith or migration status. We also stand firmly against organisations known to cause serious damage to the environment using nature-based community projects like ours for greenwashing purposes.
Additionally, we cannot support submissions that use or promote the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI), owing to the devastating impact that generative AI increasingly has on the environment. We expect that the work you submit is your own original work, unless you also submit evidence of written permission to use copyrighted work. You will be asked to confirm that you have full permission to share the work you submit to Tree Stories, that it is not AI-generated or AI-enhanced (this does not include necessary use of accessibility tools), and that you accept responsibility for any IP liability claims that may arise in future in relation to your submission.
Partners, Supporters and Friends
Partners, Supporters and Friends
Building on our longstanding support for local climate-arts initiatives, Hull and East Riding Friends of the Earth are proud to be collaborating with our Arts Lead, Lauren Saunders, to co-design and manage the creative delivery of Tree Stories. Lauren is a local visual and participatory artist with extensive experience in creative, nature-based and community storytelling projects. We’re also excited to be working with a range of community partners across East Yorkshire, who are supporting Tree Stories in different ways:
Encouraging participation - helping communities create and share their tree stories.
Hosting activities - offering free events, workshops, walks, talks and other opportunities to celebrate and learn about trees.
Providing specialist advice - sharing expert knowledge to help shape the project, ensure good conservation practice, and support participants.
Thank you to all those supporting us to support our shared communities - we couldn't do something this special without you!
Key Funder
Key Funder
In October 2025, Hull and East Riding Friends of the Earth secured £17,000 of National Lottery Community Fund money to deliver 'Tree Stories', an exciting county-wide arts and conservation project designed to engage, inspire and help people to connect and care more for our local trees. We want to extend a huge thank you to the National Lottery Community Fund in sharing our vision and supporting our campaign for tree protection and conservation.
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