More than 2,000 saplings planted in Oswestry
A tree planting project in support of the Queen's Green Canopy has been completed on time.
Pupils from Woodside Primary School, alongside community volunteers, planted in the region of 1900 hedging trees as part of the Queen's Green Canopy project at Gatacre Pavilion. The planting started on the November 4 and was completed over four days.
The Queen's Green Canopy is an initiative that began in May 2021 in honour of the Platinum Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II in 2022. Following the sad passing of her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, his Majesty The King, became the Patron and in accordance with his wishes, the initiative was been extended to the end of March 2023.
Oswestry Town Council said it was proud to be supporting the initiative and thanked all the pupils and partners for their involvement in four days of dedicated planting.
The project is supported by Oswestry Town Council and the Woodland Trust and forms part of the Town Council’s ambitions to plant 17,000 trees, one for each resident in Oswestry. Every school pupil from Woodside Primary School had the experience of planting a tree, providing learning, early guardianship, biodiversity and a reduction of the town's carbon footprint.
Cae Glas Cricket Club, opened up the Pavilion for volunteers during the four days, with key members dedicating time to support the project throughout the week. North Shropshire College also took part with over thirty Foundational Studies students from the Oswestry Campus offering their help. Other partners included Oswestry in Bloom and some tiny tree planters from the local nursery, who arrived with their own trowels to have some outdoor fun.
The Marches School also held a tree planting event which saw a further 600-1000 trees being planted in the school's grounds. This was organised in conjunction with Shropshire Council’s Community Tree Scheme, Defra’s Trees Outside Project and Woodland Trust.
Shropshire Wildlife Trust provided outdoor classroom lessons through CPRE’s Hedgerow Project and was thanked on both sites for providing and loaning spades and gloves to enable the planting.
Deputy Shropshire Lieutenant Veronica Lillis said, “The Queen's Green Canopy has inspired over a million trees to be planted during its first planting season, creating a living legacy. The extension of the QGC initiative will build on this legacy and serve as a lasting tribute to Her Majesty’s extraordinary service for her country and her people. It was fantastic to be on site and watch young people contributing the QGC right here in Oswestry”.
Oswestry Mayor Councillor Jay Moore who helped out with the planting, said, “It has been wonderful to witness young people participating in wider tree planting projects, and we thank them for their hard work this week, along with some very dedicated members of the public and community partners. Our contribution to planting trees in Oswestry along with the Queen's Green Canopy would not have been possible without them.”
Claire Bennett, the Head at Woodside Primary School said, “The children have thoroughly enjoyed being part of this project. It has provided them with an opportunity for outside learning and enabled them to contribute to a community activity - all right on their doorstep. The children are now young guardians of their trees and it provides a sense of ownership and responsibility of their neighbouring environment. The children have been out in all weathers and we are proud of what the young people have achieved.”
