With spades at the ready, a team of Bridgnorth Endowed pupils and staff headed out to plant 30 trees in a tranquil corner of the school’s Friars Playing Fields, after school last Wednesday.
In a race against the fading daylight, the volunteers worked hard and put their backs into planting the native silver birch, rowan and wild cherry trees donated by UK conservation charity, The Woodland Trust.
Languages teacher and project leader, Mrs Porter, opted to keep the trees together to create a small copse and carefully chose a protected spot, away from nearby houses and football pitches.
She explained: “I wanted to avoid planting the saplings anywhere near the main pitches and houses to prevent residents from having their views obscured in years to come, and also keep the young trees safe from stray footballs.”
The project forms part of the Woodland Trust’s initiative to make sure everyone in the UK has the chance to plant a tree by giving away hundreds of thousands of trees to schools and communities.
As the driving force behind Bridgnorth Endowed’s recent Eco-Schools Green Flag accreditation, Mrs Porter felt tree planting would add something tangible to the school’s current action plan.
“It was fantastic to get some of our students involved in the tree planting and contribute to improving our environment. Hopefully, taking part in these activities will help them to become environmental ambassadors in the future. We look forward to watching the trees grow and maybe one day seeing a small copse on the Friars that we can be very proud of.”
“I’d like to thank everyone involved, and give a special mention to former BES student and apprentice tree surgeon, Sully Tristham, who also came along to provide support with his expertise as well as an extra pair of hands.”
The tree planting team included: Florrie Cole (7SC), Lottie Griffin (7IN), Claudia Fellows (9SC), Ben Emanuel (9SC), Adam Hewer (9IN), Sully Tristham, Mrs Porter, Mrs Anderson, Mrs Griffin, and Mr McAdam with Murphy the dog.
