THE tree planting efforts of Warrington school children have helped to secure £160,000 of extra funding for more trees in North Cheshire and Merseyside.
Last winter, pupils from Glazebury Primary School, Cobbs Infant School and Nursery, Culcheth Primary School and Culcheth High School joined forces with other groups across the region to plant thousands of new trees with The Mersey Forest to brighten their neighbourhoods.
The projects were funded by the national Big Tree Plant campaign, led by Defra and the Forestry Commission.
Now their hard work has paid off with the news that The Big Tree Plant has awarded a further £160,000 to The Mersey Forest to continue to work with communities across Merseyside and North Cheshire over the next three years to plant even more trees.
Defra’s Forestry Minister, Lord Taylor of Holbeach, who recently visited the region for a tour of local sites which benefited from the initial funding, said: “It was excellent to see the positive impact that these community tree planting projects are bringing to the local area, from helping to re-connect children with the natural environment, to making our towns and cities healthier and more attractive places to live.”
Paul Nolan, director of The Mersey Forest, said: “The first winter of the Big Tree Plant campaign was a huge success across the local area, with more than 17,600 trees planted with volunteers and partner organisations – outstripping our original target for the season by more than 2,000 trees. We can now look forward to thousands more.”
Schools or community organisations interested in tree planting can contact The Mersey Forest on 01925 816217 or at [email protected] for more information.
Many of last winter’s projects were co-funded by The Woodland Trust through their MOREwoods project.
THE tree planting efforts of Warrington school children have helped to
secure £160,000 of extra funding for more trees in North Cheshire and
Merseyside.
Young tree planters win £160,000 funding
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Gary Skentelbery
Experienced journalist for more than 40 years. Managing Director of magazine publishing group with three in-house titles and on-line daily newspaper for Warrington. Experienced writer, photographer, PR consultant and media expert having written for local, regional and national newspapers. Specialties: PR, media, social networking, photographer, networking, advertising, sales, media crisis management. Chair of Warrington Healthwatch Director Warrington Chamber of Commerce Patron Tim Parry Johnathan Ball Foundation for Peace. Trustee Warrington Disability Partnership. Former Chairman of Warrington Town FC.
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This is very good news to see so many local schools involved in the Big Tree Project and it was one of the highlights of Paul’s report at the last Steering Group Meeting at Risley Moss on the 19th July.
I remember working at Culcheth High School last year, as an associate for Young Enterprise, when one team chose as their project to help local Primary Schools set up their own gardens. In addition the school was looking to set up an orchard within the High School grounds not to mention its very green roof.
Paul also mentioned that Warrington is 2nd to Liverpool out of 7 local authorities in percentage of Street Trees to Woodland. This reflect well on our Town and provides a vital green canopy with the shade that will be very beneficial when and if the impact of climate change kicks in.
To read about this and many other things that the Mersey Forest are doing and promoting log onto our web site http://www.merseyforest.org.uk/ and see how you can help. You can record your thoughts about local favourite woodland areas and help us develop, improve and expand the woodlands of Warrington and surrounding area.
We want to explore how the Mersey Forest can bring greater Health Benefits to the area by working with local Health initiatives and if you have been to Risley Moss recently you may have taken part in the Woodland Rings Project and run around the two courses through the trees.
As Warrington’s representative on the Mersey Forest Steering Group I would welcome any feedback about the Mersey Forest work and any ideas and observations to feedback to Paul Nolan and the group that will benefit our Town and enhance the green infrastructure.