A COMMUNITY woodland group has been awarded £5,000 from a Hampshire charity to go toward the building on a classroom cabin and volunteer base.

CLA Charitable Trust (CLACT) gave the money to Andover Trees United towards its aim of building a cabin at Harmony Woods, a 10-year planting project involving thousands of children and young people in the transformation of 12 acres of land into a natural urban woodland on the outskirts of Andover.

The Andover Trees United team’s vision is to build an off-grid, sustainable, field-study base and volunteer room, sensitive to its surroundings.

It currently has a portable cabin and shipping container and believes the new cabin, which it has planning permission for, will help it further its work.

Youth advisor Dmitrijs Meiksans said: “The community has been at the heart and centre of the charity since its creation, and the community's involvement with the cabin project is no less the same.

"All of the carpenters and volunteers are local, ensuring the charity grows and achieves its goals – with the cabin being a very important one.

"The frame has been raised, so we are now currently looking towards sourcing other companies to finish off the cabin, to get the solar panels in, the walls and more."