THE Woodland Trust is re-opening its free tree packs scheme.

A total of 77 schools and community groups in Dorset took delivery of 12,180 trees from the end of February to March 11, with the next round of applications back open for business today (April 4).

A record-breaking spring giveaway saw more than 42,645 saplings delivered across the south of England to 275 organisations.

Woodland Trust senior project lead Vicki Baddeley said this spring giveaway surpassed the previous spring delivery record by just over 106,000 for a total of 623,910 trees in total.

She said: “We strongly believe everyone should have the opportunity to plant a tree, and our spring planters are really showing us how it's done,” she added.

The trees were sent out as part of the Woodland Trust’s Big Climate Fightback.

A total of 3,865 schools and community groups received packs and will be joining the fight by sharing their tree planting stories and photos with us on social media using #BigClimateFightback.

The tree packs have been generously funded by lead partners: Sainsbury's, Lloyds Bank, OVO Energy, DFS, Joules, Bank of Scotland and Sofology.