** Success - we're fully funded! **

Friday evening update: Thanks to online and offline donors over the last couple of days we've now met our target. I've reduced the online target to account for offline donations, it now shows that we're 100% funded. I've just paid the sponsorship money to the council - they have now received a total of £885 from us to cover three replacement trees. This is just the start of the story, it's not over until we have three new happy healthy trees growing in Berkeley Road. We'll let you know online and through local media when they are planted. Thanks again everybody who contributed online, offline or with kind words of encouragement and support.

** Friday afternoon update **

We're very nearly there with just a few hours left - sponsorship must be completed by the end of today otherwise it will have to wait until next year's planting season. Thanks everybody who's contributed so far and everybody who's sent messages, it's great to know that so many people care about having trees in the streets.

Three large street trees in Berkeley Road are decayed and will be felled in the near future. Bristol Council will only replace them if sponsors can be found to cover part of the cost. The money must be raised by 7th January 2018 for the new trees to be planted this winter.

The total required is £885 but a JustGiving won't show the off-line contributions already received. We have raised about 78% of the total so far. The total shown here is the remaining amount we need to raise to replace all three trees.

We are a group of Berkeley Road residents hoping to raise the sponsorship cost in the very limited time available. The trees were condemned in December and we've been granted an extension to the usual sponsorship deadline of 31st December but time is very tight.

The council will cut down the decayed trees. If we can sponsor replacements then they will check for buried services under the pavement and grind out the roots. They will the supply and plant a 3-4 metre tall tree; install protection for the new tree with two stakes and a steel cage; and a circle of mulch. Sponsorship includes watering for the first two years to ensure it establishes (20 visits in year one and 10 visits in year two).

For the first two years, the council will replace a sponsored tree that is both planted and watered by the council in the unlikely event that it fails to establish and dies. If a tree is vandalised within two years and is no longer viable or dead, the council will replace the tree only once.

The trees are close to local business Nailsea Electrical and Applegreen and we're hoping that they will contribute to the cost.

The decayed trees are due to be cut down this winter and will not be replaced unless they are sponsored. If the sponsorship is not raised by 7th January then replacements will not be included in this winter's planting programme. The council is likely to leave stumps where the tree trees currently stand. We may have the opportunity to sponsor replacements in 2019, but the sponsorship fee of £295 per tree is only part of the total cost of the service and we're concerned that the council may not have funding for trees in future years.

You can read more about sponsoring a tree at www.bristol.gov.uk/museums-parks-sports-culture/treebristol-planting-trees-in-bristol and www.bristol.gov.uk/treemanagement

If we raise only some of the total then we will replace one or two of the trees. Any unspent funds will be returned to donors in proportion to their contribution (but only if we know who you are, please consider this if you make an anonymous donation). A total of £940 will sponsor the three trees including JustGiving fees. We'd be very happy to receive contributions off-line, please contact us (details are at the bottom of this page).