By Wendy Davis | Trustee & Project Leader
Hopes were dashed of bringing the rest of the schools to the wood to plant their trees when England entered its third Covid lockdown in January. Not to be daunted, volunteers met in small groups in February and March to complete the planting for the children and their schools. Youngsters volunteered their time and brought up their mums, dads and siblings at weekends to plant on behalf of their classmates. Bit by bit, slowly but surely the trees went into the ground.
Regular weekly workdays resumed at the start of February and, as well as completing the children's planting in Harmony Woods, the regular volunteer team planted 500 trees into 100 metres of new hedgerow.
Late February saw us once more being able to support the Nature in Harmony Youth Team, who are working towards their Junior Forester and John Muir Awards. The 6-strong group planted trees to narrow the woodland rides, which have become too wide as a result of increased human footfall, making it difficult for small mammals to cross. These newly-planted 'pinch points' should reduce the wear on the edges of the rides, allowing plants to regrow and providing improved cover for smaller creatures to move between habitats. Adult volunteers helped by extending the planting and putting up ‘Wildlife Crossing’ signs designed by the youth team.
Fundraising has also figured large in the last 3 months as we work hard to secure the funds needed to look after the wood and for a sister project, building a woodland classroom for all the children and young people and the wider community in the wood that they have planted together. The A5AnonArt fundraiser was supported by over 50 artists, amateur and professional, who generously donated A5 artworks, which were eagerly snapped up by art and nature lovers.
Two fantastic initiatives in 2020 saw 1000s of oak whips, destined for the compost heap, rescued from nurseries in the UK and shared out amongst tree planting projects across the country. Thirty of these rescued oaks made their way to Andover and, as the tree planting season came to an end, were planted in our community tree nursery to be cared for over the coming months. When the next tree planting season arrives in November, a rescued oak will be given to each school to be part of the 10th and final massed planting in Harmony Woods.
As we near the end of our 1st decade of tree planting and as the Harmony Woods planting nears completion, strategic planning continues with fortnightly meetings to plan for the future. The ambition of the charity to continue tree planting with all the young people in our community, empowering them to be the next generation of Ambassadors for the natural world remains as strong as ever. The ambition extends to other communities and, although the pandemic may have delayed this, a key component of the next decade is not only to find planting sites for another 10000 trees to be planted by another 10000 children in our own local area, but also seeks to support other communities to do the same.
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By Wendy Davis | Trustee & Project Leader
By Wendy Davis | Trustee & Project Leader
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