Between 16-27th November Andover Trees held their 9th annual school’s Tree Planting Fortnight in Harmony Woods.
During the fortnight, 21 standard trees and 250 hedgerow trees were planted by 10 school groups plus volunteers from the community. They were able to buy 26 British native standard-sized trees thanks to a grant from The Tree Council.
10 schools came up over the fortnight out of the 26 that have signed up to take part. The other 16 schools will join them in the new year to add more whips to the hedge (supplied by The Woodland Trust) and to hang their own special labels on their arboretum trees, taking the total number of trees planted up to the yearly amount of 1000.
Some schools have dedicated their arboretum tree to someone special – and all of the trees are dedicated to the lives affected by the pandemic. 3 of the schools each brought along and planted around 20 of their own trees that they had nurtured in their school nursery beds since they had been given to them by us last winter.
In the middle of the fortnight, they held a fundraising quiz night. It was a lot of fun, a great way to spend the evening and they were pleased to welcome 80 attendees who together raised an outstanding £740. All money raised will go towards the new woodland cabin.
On Saturday, December 5th, the community tree, a whitebeam, and the remaining 4 school dedicated trees will be planted by families and friends of the schools, the Mayor, Cllr Hatley, and the ATU youth team -completing the planting of the arboretum. The planting of the community Whitebeam on the 5th December symbolises a time to reflect on the year, the generosity and kindnesses of community, and the lives lost and lives changed.
Now that the new arboretum is taking shape they can’t wait to see it in spring. They hope everyone will come and visit it, too.
Andover Trees give a huge THANK YOU to all the volunteers whose hard work ensured that the fortnight was a great success.
