Timeline

The following is a timeline on our progress as a co-op:

March 2020

The idea of forming an organisation to buy land and plant native trees was first suggested after launching a Facebook page to highlight the issue of native trees in Ireland and initial members were invited to register their interest in becoming a shareholder.

May 2020

We went ‘Sale Agreed’ on our first site in Coolteige, Co. Roscommon. The site had a forestry license already in place.

August 2020

The Co-Op was officially registered with help from The Irish Co-Op Society.

November 2020

The Co-Op bank account was established and we raised just under €100,000 in our initial round of shares, from 91 shareholders.

February 2021

We closed on our first site in Coolteige, Co. Roscommon.

March 2021

We secured Platt Reily as the sponsor of the Woodland Environment fund for our first site, in Coolteige, Co. Roscommon.

June 2021

We went ‘Sale Agreed’ on our second site in Brickeens, Co, Mayo. The sale was subject to a forestry license.

August 2021

We held our first AGM over Zoom. Our accounts were audited and a new Board was elected for the year.

December 2021

We went ‘Sale Agreed’ on our third site in Ballindrumlea, Co.Roscommon. The sale was subject to a forestry license.

January 2022

Our first site in Coolteige, Co. Roscommon was planted with 8,050 native trees.

March 2022

We received two forestry premiums for our first site in Coolteige, Co. Roscommon.

April 2022

We closed on our second site in Brickeens, Co, Mayo.

May 2022

Shareholders agree to a 4% dividend. The dividend was paid out as ‘bonus shares’, which is a method of paying out the dividend as additional shares. Members had the option to receive cash for these shares or allow their investment to compound by receiving extra shares in the Co-Op in lieu of a cash dividend.

August 2022

Completed a successful second fundraising round to raise additional funds for purchase of our third site, increasing our number of shareholders to 106.

December 2022

We held our second AGM over Zoom. Our accounts were audited and a new Board was elected for the year.

Feburary 2023

Our second site in Brickeens, Co. Mayo was planted with 5,600 native trees.

March 2023

We received two forestry premiums for our first site in Coolteige and our second site in Brickeens.

December 2023

We held our third AGM over Zoom. Our accounts were audited and a new Board was elected for the year.

January 2024

We received two forestry premiums for our first site in Coolteige and our second site in Brickeens.

March 2024

Shareholders agree to a 2% dividend. The dividend was paid out as ‘bonus shares’, which is a method of paying out the dividend as additional shares. Members had the option to receive cash for these shares or allow their investment to compound by receiving extra shares in the Co-Op in lieu of a cash dividend.

May 2024

We closed on our third site in Ballindrumlea, Co.Roscommon.

September 2024

We went ‘Sale Agreed’ on our fourth site in Ardmoyle, Co. Roscommon. The sale is subject to a forestry license for planting native woodland. We launched a new fundraising round aimed at existing and new shareholders.

December 2024

Our third site in Ballindrumlea, Co. Roscommon was planted with 11,400 native trees.

We held our fourth AGM over Zoom. Our accounts were audited and a new Board was elected for the year.

February 2025

We received three forestry premiums for our first site in Coolteige, our second site in Brickeens and our third site in Ballindrumlea.