Woodland Trust Celebrates Five Years of Partnering with WICKED

It's not just the cast of the classic West End musical Wicked that went green last Halloween! Thanks to donations from Wicked fans from across the UK, over £7,772 has been raised in 2015 for the Woodland Trust to create new woods as part of the annual WICKED DAY fundraising activities.

2015 marked the fifth year of a partnership between the musical and the Woodland Trust which has raised £50,684.60 in total, directly helping the charity plant 33,790 trees across the UK over five years- creating new woodland spaces for people and wildlife.

Some of 2015's fundraising mechanisms included an eBay auction where personalised cast items, signed exclusive props from Wicked, Woodland Trust merchandise and other signed cast donations were auctioned off on Saturday 31st October, plus a special photo booth at the Apollo Victoria Theatre offering the opportunity for WICKED DAY photos to be taken for a donation.

Woodland Trust Chief Executive Beccy Speight, said: "I want to say a big thank you to everyone who has made a donation to support our work creating new woodland across the UK. Every tree we plant will make a real difference and we're incredibly grateful to Wicked's 'For Good' programme for supporting us over the past five years."

Michael McCabe, Executive Producer (UK) of Wicked added: "We are extremely proud of our 'For Good' charitable programme and of our long-standing and successful partnership with the Woodland Trust. This remarkable charity is at the forefront of the fight to protect, plant and restore UK woodland and we are delighted to have been able to raise funds for the planting of over 33,790 new trees so far and we thank our audiences for their generosity".

Some of the trees funded by Wicked have been planted at Heartwood Forest near St Albans in Hertfordshire. Over half a million trees have been planted by the Woodland Trust since 2009 at the 850 acre site, creating new wildlife habitats for species like the rare corn bunting, meadow brown butterfly and pygmy shrew and helping link up existing pockets of rare ancient woodland.

Find out more about the charity's work at www.woodlandtrust.org.uk.

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