The Bodmin rainforest charity that just beat 161 others to a prize

Most people heading past Bodmin would not think of the woods out there as rainforest. A charity working to bring Britain’s temperate rainforests back has just been handed £10,000 to help change that, and the money is going towards a building that has not been built yet.

What the charity has won

Thousand Year Trust has won the inaugural BE:IMPACT Prize at Blue Earth Summit in London, announced on Friday 16 October.

The charity was picked from six finalists, who were themselves drawn from 162 applicants. Alongside the £10,000 prize, it has the chance to access additional match funding through BE:IMPACT partner Big Give, subject to eligibility.

A rainforest research station at Cabilla

The award lands just as the charity prepares to build an Atlantic temperate rainforest research station at Cabilla, near Bodmin. The station is intended to give scientists a base for long-term research into how these habitats can be protected and restored.

Construction is due to begin in November, with completion planned by October 2027.

The charity has proposed using the prize money to fund the station’s media room. The idea is to help share its science and discoveries with a wider audience, and build support for Britain’s rainforests.

A prize that comes with a film

BE:IMPACT is delivered by Blue Earth Summit with founding partner The Kindness Forecast. It combines unrestricted funding with mentoring in storytelling, film production and marketing.

It is aimed at small and mid-sized UK charities that are so focused on delivering their work there is little time or money left to tell people about it. With charitable giving declining, the aim is to help them attract the donors, volunteers and partners who can keep that work going after the prize.

Over the next year, Impact Storytelling Partners from across the Blue Earth network will work with Thousand Year Trust on a campaign film, and a plan to turn the interest it creates into real support.

Reina-Marie Loader, Director of Impact and Education at ImpactWild, said: “Impact production brings together a compelling film and a plan for what people can do after watching it. For Thousand Year Trust, that means helping people discover Britain’s rainforests, understand why they need protecting and find a way to help. Through BE:IMPACT, we’ll work together to make the film part of a wider campaign that brings new supporters into the charity’s work.”

Jon Berry, Founding Partner of The Kindness Forecast, said: “Merlin helped people picture a rainforest on their own doorstep and understand what we stand to lose. With work on the research station due to begin next month, there’s a clear next step for people to get behind.

“That’s what we want BE:IMPACT to make possible. That means giving charities the funding to keep doing the work, and helping them tell a story that brings more people into it. For Thousand Year Trust, we hope today is the beginning of relationships that support the charity long after the prize has been awarded.”

The five other finalists

Blue Earth Summit is a three-day festival held at Woolwich Works in London. It brings together businesses, charities and other organisations across science, sport, food, culture and climate.

The five other finalists, Love The Oceans Conservation, Tea Leaf Trust, Made In Hackney, REUSE Foundation and AzuKo, each receive £1,000 in unrestricted funding. Their campaigns cover coral restoration, education, community food, plastic-waste prevention and housing.

“I’m over the moon”

Merlin Hanbury-Tenison, founder and director of Thousand Year Trust, said: “I’m over the moon. I came here feeling that all six finalists had already won, and after hearing the other pitches I felt very humbled to be chosen. Every one of those charities is doing brilliant work, and I’d encourage anyone who can support them to do so.

“This comes at such an important moment for Thousand Year Trust. We break ground on our rainforest research station next month, and my pledge is that it will be built by this time next year. The funding will make a huge difference, but I’m as excited about the Blue Earth community as I am about the money.

“So many people are only just discovering that Britain has rainforests, and how close we’ve come to losing them. This is a chance to bring more people into the effort to protect them. I hope you’ll come down to Cornwall and see it for yourselves.”

📷Blue Earth Summit 2026