On 30th November, 53 adults and 24 children, clutching their own spades, spent two hours planting an entire 100m long hedgerow, consisting of 475 trees!
The gathering was organised by Karen Schneider who lives locally and is a member of the Woodland Trust whose initiative to get 1 million people to plant 1 million trees as part of their Big Climate Fightback campaign, sparked Karen’s imagination. She wondered if local people in Abergavenny would be interested in taking part.
After sharing the idea on social media, Karen was overwhelmed by the level of response from people keen to do their bit to tackle the climate crisis we are facing. From that moment, Karen began contacting councils in an effort to find land where trees could be planted and a suitable spot in Govilon was found. Together with Tom Ward-Jackson from the Longforest project who was instrumental in the organisation of the event as well as advising on how to encourage wildlife into the planted area, Karen was able to see her initial idea become a reality.
The people who took part in the planting on the day itself had a great time, made new friends and signed up to be involved in future planting events as well. The Llanfoist Fawr council agreed to oversee the care of the trees once they were planted.
Karen says she is immensely proud of the hard work everyone put in to achieve such comprehensive planting. She plans to organise more tree planting events in the near future, however the ability to do so depends largely on gaining agreement and access to land. If you have a corner of a field or large back garden, then please contact Karen if you would like some assistance in planting it up!
If you would like to plant your own trees in your outdoor space, visit the Woodland Trust website, where you can find useful information and guidance about choosing the right tree.
To find out more or to take part in future tree planting events, join the Facebook Page here, or contact Karen directly by emailing karenamanda79@googlemail.com
