From the Director

Dear Supporter

Welcome to the April-June 2010 newsletter of the St Helena National Trust.

One of the major challenges on St Helena today is to keep traditional skills and cultural traditions alive. If we don't want this island to end up as a museum, we need to invest in our young people and enthuse them about their cultural heritage. Clint Fowler is one of the young people who give us cause for optimism – someone who is passionate about his heritage and wants to help preserve it. That's why I'm so pleased that the Trust has been able to help Clint to fulfil his dream of becoming an accomplished stonemason, by securing him an apprenticeship with the Prince of Wales's Foundation. Clint left for the UK in late June and I look forward to keeping you up-to-date with his progress over the next eight months.

The huge achievement of the Millennium Forest is sometimes taken for granted – including by those of us working at the Trust. In less than a decade this ambitious project has started to reforest one of the most barren parts of the island, planting 8,000 endemic trees covering 35 hectares. Hundreds of people, both islanders and visitors, have been involved in this genuine community initiative. In August the Millennium Forest will be ten years old, and to celebrate we're setting an ambitious goal – to reach 10,000 trees planted by the end of our birthday year. We're also starting to plant other endemics to ensure that the Forest becomes a living, breathing place.

The development of the new National Trust strategy is moving apace. Over the past couple of months we've sought the input of many of our partners and the general public. The first draft will be written during July and we're working towards having a launch in the UK in late September and on St Helena the following month.

Finally, the significant effort invested in saving the critically endangered Bastard Gumwood tree has borne fruit – see the article later in the newsletter for the latest developments.

With very best wishes

Jamie Roberts

Director

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