The Orchards East Project – volunteers required

Orchards East is an exciting environmental and cultural project covering six counties in the east of England (Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Norfolk and Suffolk).
Funded by the Heritage Lottery fund and based in the School of History at the University of East Anglia (UEA), it is devoted to discovering and understanding the past, present and future of orchards in eastern England, and will last for three years.

Working with hundreds of new volunteers, the project will survey and record old orchard sites across the East of England, as well as research the social, cultural and economic history of fruit growing in the region. Results of these investigations will be widely shared through education and publication.

The project also aims to restore important old orchards, and to create new examples, for the enjoyment of local communities.

How can you get involved?

There are lots of ways you can get involved: telling us about an orchard near you, volunteering in the survey, participating in an orchard restoration workshop, helping to set up a new
community orchard in your neighbourhood, or recording stories of local orchards through the oral history project.

You can find out more about getting involved by visiting their website, www.orchardseast.org.uk where you will find information on volunteering as well as lists of events,
such as local Apple Days and information on partner organisations.

You can also sign up online to receive their regular bulletins and quarterly newsletter.